Every journey no matter how long or short it may be,begins with one step.This is also similar to every tree planted helps fight/mitigate climate change.
Green Agriculture Youth Organization-GAYO in partnership with The Climate Reality Project Zambia , Embarked on a project titled mitigating climate change one tree at a time.
This project saw GAYO and ZCRP plant over 70 trees at Chishiko Primary School.
Why plant at Chishiko Primary School ?
On 22 November 2021, strong wind coupled with heavy rains blew off the roofing sheets of the classes at the school.
After some investigation, it was discovered that the school was very open and it never had trees to act as wind breakers. After launching the project, GAYO and ZCRP planted trees like Eucalyptus around the school, which help in mitigating climate change in the long run. The trees will also act as a shed for the pupils and teachers who are exposed to the intense heat from the sun.
Fruit trees like guava, mango and oranges where also planted , which helped in making the schools first ever orchard. Not only will these trees help in mitigating climate change , the fruits from the trees will help in scaling up nutrition for the children and also generate revenue the fruits can be sold once ripe.
Speaking during the tree planting project, Chishiko Acting Head Teacher Ms. Mwakawele Faustina , says the trees will go a long way in solving some of the challenges the school faces.
"We have challenges such as few infrastructure as well as furniture, but today we are witnessing tree plantation as well as introduction of an orchard; this will eventually make our school a green environment and add economic value. once again we would like to thank you very much", she said.
GAYO Executive Director-Lilly Singelengele has called on the marrying advocacy with service delivery so that people are educated and have the tools to mitigate climate change
"One major factor that advocacy does is that it also plays a role in bringing awareness towards a problem; and through advocacy people are educated and can better know how to tackle the problem, if we marry this with service delivery like we have done today by planting trees, we will have a strong grip on fighting climate change",she said.
Gayo in a consortium with Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition-CSO-SUN are also also raising a voice on Climate in a programme titled Voices for just Climate Change -VCA.
The program is a funded and guided by Dutch NGO HIVOS; and it looks at Strengthening community Led Advocacy for climate Resilient Livelihoods, the project is currently being implemented in Luangwa, Chongwe and Rufunsa.