Voi children's program blazing the trail in environmental conservation awareness

 

Voi children’s project blazing the trail in environmental awareness

As environmental issues such as climate change and global warming continue to pose a threat to many governments all over the world, it’s becoming more and more apparent that communities need to be empowered and sensitized on how to cushion themselves from the emerging challenges.

Towards that end, an ambitious children’s environmental program in Voi is slowly changing the way communities undertake environmental conservation initiatives, putting children efforts and innovation at the centre of the picture.

The Toto Mazingira project is blazing the trail on environmental issues targeting young people, including creative recycling and tree planting as well as general environmental matters.

“At Toto Mazingira, we believe that children are not just leaders of tomorrow, they are the change makers of today” says Rachel Mwakazi Skjaerpe, the founder and coordinator of the program.

She says that the children’s program provides a safe, inclusive and inspiring space where young minds can interact, learn and lead.

“Through hands-on activities like clean-ups, tree planting and up-cycling, children are immersed in environmental action while having fun at the same time” she says.

She pointed out that beyond physical activities, the project equips children with access to digital tools such as Chrome books, which enable them to explore new horizons through coding, digital storytelling and climate tech innovations.

                         Eco-warriors

This ensures that the young “eco-warriors” are empowered both on the ground and on the internet.

“At Toto Mazingira, we are nurturing a generation that doesn’t just dream of a better world, they are already building it” says Rachel, adding that the program is on a visionary mission to not only create a better environment but also to generate employment opportunities and expand its positive impact to neighboring sub-counties.

She says that climate change poses a serious risk to current and future generations and children must be put at the centre of environmental conservation and education programmes in order to equip them with knowledge on how to tackle the emerging challenges.

“At the moment we are concentrating our environmental activities within Voi sub-county before we extend the program to other parts of Taita-Taveta County” says Rachel.

Through skills training and capacity building programs, Toto Mazingira aspires to empower local residents to become active participants on issues such as recycling and reusing glass bottles and eventually establishing local production units which will contribute to waste reduction and employ individuals from the surrounding communities.

By establishing strategic partnerships, collaborating with local authorities and leveraging existing networks, Toto Mazingira aims to replicate its successful model of glass bottle recycling and waste management in other parts of Taita-Taveta County and beyond.

This expansion will extend the positive environmental impact as well as help in creating employment opportunities and catalyze sustainable development in previously underserved communities.

So far the program activities have continued to gather momentum, attracting both children and supportive adults, with efforts being put in place to come up with educational materials on climate change that are easy for children and adults to understand.

Towards this end, the program has continued to lay emphasis on the use of online lessons using clips and a language that is easy to understand with interactive lessons being used to convey various environmental concepts.

So far the Toto Mazingira model results have attracted attention outside Kenya including countries such as Sierra Leone, Madagascar, Fiji and Mozambique.

The environmentally-friendly village program is powered by ManGo Development CBO based in Voi sub-county.

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