Environmental Justice & Climate Action
Youth-led climate initiatives and environmental advocacy to protect communities and ecosystems.
The Challenge
Young people in Ghana and across Africa bear the heaviest burden of a climate crisis they did not create. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, coastal erosion, and food insecurity disproportionately affect youth - particularly girls and persons with disabilities. Meanwhile, Africa's vast Blue Economy potential remains underexplored and underrepresented in youth policy spaces. Climate action requires youth voices not just in classrooms, but in negotiating rooms and policy halls.
Our Approach
AYA positions youth as credible climate advocates and knowledge producers. We connect the lived realities of young Africans to global climate conversations, integrate gender and health into climate programming, and build platforms that elevate African youth expertise on the Blue Economy and environmental justice. We work at the intersection of climate, menstrual health, and community resilience; a distinctive positioning that reflects how climate change actually lands in young people's lives.
Current Initiatives
A trauma-informed wellbeing programme integrating peer mental health support across all AYA programme areas, drawing on Anita McKaney’s curriculum expertise.
- Peer mental health champions embedded in community engagements
- Trauma-informed wellbeing curriculum co-developed as extra learning/teaching support
- Wellbeing check-ins integrated into all AYA programme activities