On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (November 22, 23, and 24 respectively), the Regional Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Mohamed Bonnie Sannoh engages two Secondary Schools across Freetown (The Government Rokel Secondary School and the Government Model Secondary School) as part of the proposed Ambassador's engagement on tree planting, environmental justice, and sustainability. This engagement was vital because it helps built the capacity of pupils and school administrators to prepare, mitigate and recover from floods, inculcate tree planting practices, clean environment, and a pollution free ecosystem. It helps raised awareness on climate change that will go a long way in helping pupils, school administrators and community people to take action to build safety and resilience, and reduce future hazard impacts. Above all, it is hoped that in so doing, community members and school going children can become champions of environmental sustainability in Sierra Leone. 

This comprehensive capacity building approach on climate change recognizes that disaster mitigation has the highest effectiveness at community level where specific needs are met. Thus; an efficient disaster management system becomes mandatory in order to mitigate recurring losses and manage the disaster in a successful manner. Hence, the need for this school engagement to encourage pupils, teachers and community people including parents to change their perception on conservation, farming and agriculture, and to promote the growing of trees as a business and a way of life. 

GOAL OF THE SCHOOL AWARENESS RAISING

The overall aim of this school awareness raising was to encourage community people including school going children to change their perception on conservation, climate change and effective management of our natural resources, thereby promoting the growing of trees as a business and a way of life. Above all, it is hoped that in so doing, community members and school children can become champions of environmental sustainability in Sierra Leone. Thus, as an Eco-Generation Ambassador, my focus has been to employ an indigenous social work approach in raising awareness on environmental bullying by engaging, educating, empowering, and encouraging community members and school pupils through promoting a consistent message on climate change in selected schools and coastal communities across Freetown.

SPECIFIC APPROACHES 

1. Developed relevant approaches in providing tree planting information and education.

2.  Developed youth friendly tree planting and environmental conservation week including adolescent capacity building on the benefit of planting trees.

3. Contributed to the reduction of negative practices that affect afforestation, specifically degradation, farming, construction, etc.

4.  Improved the knowledge and practices of community members through information education, and communication (IEC) on environmental conservation and environmental justice.

OUTCOMES

1.   The far-reaching impact of this awareness raising would be reflected in community members and children’s understanding of what environmental conservation is, as until they are correctly able to identify issues like climate change, any efforts towards its mitigation or dealing with the challenges associated with climate change and its mitigation efforts would be futile.

2. Over 1,000 pupils and 50 school administrators including teachers were empowered on ways to explore, enjoy, and protect the environment; to practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources; to be able to educate others and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out these values.

3. In the next two months, time would be created for regular classroom meetings in 10 selected junior and secondary schools during which 60 pupils/students and 12 teachers will be engaged in discussion, role-play, and artistic activities related to environmental justice and other forms of conservation among students leading to a sustainable environment being created in which behavioral change message on climate change are adhered and sustained over a long period. 

4. The two schools engaged created 20 minutes for Questions and Answers Sessions and came up with measures of tree planting, hygiene, avoiding flood losses and also volunteer to serve as ambassadors in their various communities in bringing up measures to stamp strategic places in all the coastal communities that are prone to disaster. 

5. Community members, school administrators, pupils received adequate and effective behavioral change information, education and communication on all aspects of conservation.

TARGET BENEFICIARIES

The primary beneficiaries of the school awareness raising was 50 school administrators including teachers, over 1,000 school-going pupils from 2 selected schools in Freetown while the secondary beneficiaries included a total of 1,470 people in six (6) coastal communities inclusive are residents, teachers, and community stakeholders that are prone to disasters.