Empower Africa's Youth to Lead Climate Action

Our First Campaign Update

What if a school garden could do more than grow food? What if it could help children learn, improve school meals, reduce costs and equip young people with skills for the future?

That's the ambition behind the Foundation for Environmental Education's (FEE) first GlobalGiving campaign, Empower Africa's Youth to Lead Climate Action. We're inviting supporters to help strengthen Eco-Schools in Rwanda and create opportunities for more young people across Africa to turn learning into action. 

75 schools reached. Thousands more opportunities.

In Rwanda, our national partner, ARCOS Network, has already engaged 75 schools, more than 65,000 students and 1,602 teachers and tutors through Eco-Schools. It's an encouraging foundation, but Rwanda has almost 5,000 schools across its education system. There is enormous potential to extend the benefits of practical environmental education to many more children and communities. Yet for many schools, limited resources, teacher training and practical support can make it difficult to turn environmental learning into sustained action.

At Groupe Scolaire Kibungo, students and teachers have transformed unused land into a Green Learning Zone, with vegetable gardens, tree planting and rainwater harvesting. The gardens have supported school meals and reduced food costs, while giving young people practical experience of sustainable agriculture. Elsewhere in Rwanda, school nurseries have produced more than 85,000 tree seedlings for restoration. These examples show how school based environmental action can create benefits far beyond the classroom: helping children learn, improving access to nutritious food, reducing costs for schools and families, restoring nature and equipping young people with practical skills for the future.

Building on African leadership

What makes this work powerful is that the solutions are locally shaped. Eco-Schools is led in Rwanda by ARCOS, working alongside educators, students and communities who identify their own priorities and decide how to respond. FEE provides technical support and opportunities for shared learning, while helping locally rooted organisations mobilise the resources they need. Our ambition is to help ARCOS extend Eco-Schools to more Rwandan schools, while strengthening the teachers, institutions and community partnerships that will sustain the work. The experience and learning can then be shared with other African member organisations, helping them develop programmes shaped by their own priorities and communities.

Will you help us get started?

We're at the beginning of our first GlobalGiving fundraising journey, and we'd love to welcome our first supporters. Your contribution can help equip more teachers, support student-led environmental projects and strengthen the local organisations working to bring these opportunities to more schools and communities.

Our first major fundraising moment will be GivingTuesday on 1 December, when eligible donations made during GlobalGiving's 36-hour campaign can help us earn a share of its US$500,000 matching fund.

Over the coming months, we'll share more stories of young people improving access to water, growing food, restoring nature and developing skills for the future. We'll also keep you updated on the progress of this campaign and what your support helps make possible.

Whether you choose to make an early gift, support us on GivingTuesday or share our campaign with someone who might be interested, we'd be delighted to have you alongside us. Thank you for helping us take this first step towards bringing the benefits of Eco-Schools to more children and communities across Africa.

Links:

• Groupe Scolaire Kibungo embraced the Green Learning Zone
• Eco-Schools Rwanda Produces Over 85,000 Trees