Rural awareness and capacity building of the local inhabitants is key to addressing climate change. The United Nations and other development partners working to address climate change impacts, must identify and work with local partners within the media and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to undertake rural awareness and capacity building on climate change. And, in rural awareness, we must ensure public participation in program designs and implementation.
Rural awareness and capacity building will lead to people changing their beliefs and behaviours towards climate change. It will also help them to make informed decisions that will encourage mitigation and adaptation.
Through our “Community Voice Project” MAWA-Foundation is teaching local inhabitants the impacts of climate change and how to address them through mitigation and adaptation. The awareness and capacity building, help them understand issues around climate change, eliminate fear and narratives that are often painted as doom-disaster, and motivate the locals, especially the youth to act.
MAWA-Foundation is tapping into the “Community Voice Project” to educate the rural populace about climate change and capture their minds to embrace mitigation and adaptation.
Through this initiative, we work to help the rural population understand climate change and its impacts. And, also counter the common narratives that Climate Change is not real.
Also, read We can’t address climate change without community awareness
We are working together with community organizations, change agents, media, and environmental personnel in the local government. We are working with local organizations to form a “Climate Change Network” targeting over one million rural populations yearly.
Through this initiative, MAWA-Foundation has trained 11 communities in FCT Nigeria’s capital city on climate change literacy. Some of the beneficiaries, leveraging the “Climate Change Network” are now embracing mitigation and adaptation.
We hope to scale up the awareness to community radio for wider reach and impact. And, by 2025 a huge number of FCT residents will have a good knowledge of climate change and become advocates.