CLEAN Africa - Community Level Environmental Awareness Network Foundation - Für ein nachhaltiges Africa!

Clean-Africa Environmental Awareness Clubs (Programme) was established in 2006 at Wa Polytechnic with branches in most of the secondary schools in the Wa municipality. The focus is to educate, inform and conscientize students, the youth and the general public on environmental issues for sustainable development.

The programme will soon take off in Koforidua and in other regions of Ghana. The route to sustainable development may be tough and arduous but in order to ensure the safety of our environment on which life depends, all of us must work together to achieve this common goal.

Vision:

The vision of Clean-Africa Environmental Awareness Clubs is to ensure environmental consciousness among students, the youth and the general public.

Mission:

To empower students and the youth to improve and protect the environment through innovative actions and educational programs that motivates and influences others for sustainable development.

Objectives:

• 1. To raise students and the communities awareness on environmental issues
• 2. To sensitize students, the youth and the general public about the need to make hygiene a priority in their households and surroundings
• 3. To motivate, encourage and challenge students, the youth and the general public to provide support for environmental protection
• 4. To positively influence their behaviour and perception toward the environment
• 5. To bring cleanliness, beautification and sanity into educational institutions and communities through clean-up, tree planting and other landscaping exercises

Target Groups:

• Primary and Junior Secondary Schools
• Senior Secondary and Technical schools
• Teaching and Nursing Training Colleges
• Polytechnics
• Universities
• The General Public

Activities :

Clean Africa club has been involved in educational campaign on environmental protection at the basic and second cycle schools. Besides, the club has engaged in various activities such as clean up exercise at the Wa Regional Hospital and the main lorry station as well as tree planting exercise on Wa Polytechnic campus. Our major interest are: personal hygiene, waste management, climate protection, energy conservation, renewable energy, biodiversity conservation, preservation of forest resources, bioremediation, use and re-use of environmental friendly products. This target, we hope, would be achieved through the organization of conferences, seminars, workshops, debates, competitions, quizzes, video shows and publications on environmental matters.

Challenges :

Environmental issues have become a global concern and Africa is not an exception. It has been identified that most of the environmental problems in Ghana today are as a result of the attitudes and perception of people towards the environment. These misguided perceptions must be changed. Clean Africa aims at creating environmental awareness through educational programmes so as to address various environmental challenges facing the region and the country as a whole. Clean Africa would employ members of the clubs in the various institutions to influence the lives and attitudes of their peers in the region. The key environmental challenges affecting the region are sanitation, bush burning and indiscriminate felling of trees for charcoal production. These anthropogenic activities have affected water resources, soil and the climate of the region. It is about time something pragmatic was done about this.

Expected Outcome:

The activities of Clean-Africa Environmental-Clubs will address most of the environmental problems affecting the Continent. Among these are reduction of flooding during raining season as a result of choked gutters and blocking of waterways with solid waste, proper management and disposal of waste, improved hygiene and sanitary conditions, reduction of malaria, diarrhoea and other infectious diseases, and preservation of biodiversity, thus creating an enabling environment for successful living. The tree planting exercise will ensure ecological balance; prevent desertification, soil erosion and climatic change.

The environment is us. Let us work together to ensure that the environment is clean, green and safe. You and I have a role to play.