A day’s community sensitisation campaign geared towards leveraging green skills for sustainable development has been held in Tamale.
The campaign, which formed part of two week-long activities to commemorate this year’s International Youth Day celebration, was climaxed with a community recovery and buy-back activity at Changli and Bulpeila in the Tamale Metropolis.
It was dubbed: “Youth Day of Service”, and was designed to harness the urgency, creativity and voices of the youth towards the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by equipping them with the resources, skills and tools for personal and community development.”
It was organised by Ecowillow Ghana, an NGO, under its Green School Project, which is being implemented in the Tamale, Sagnarigu and Savelugu Municipalities of the Northren Region.
Mr Selorm Adzimah, Lead Strategist at Ecowillow Ghana, speaking during the event, said the project was characterised in different folds targeting plastic segregation, tree planting, radio sensitisation programmes, and providing support to deprived schools by reviving their school farms.
He said the project had been successful, adding “We set out to plant 500 trees in the beneficiary communities, but we ended up exceeding our target by planting 650 trees.
He said the project also witnessed the setting up of numerous plastic waste collection points at hotels, restaurants and schools, which resulted in the collection of 700kg plastics within the areas.
Mr Adzimah added that the project also helped in reviving the Savelugu Girls’ Model School by fencing its 80mx40m school farm to ensure food security and create opportunity to generate income to support the pupils.
He was optimistic that community members would continue to engage the recycling centres in segregating plastics and other waste substances to ensure that they did not end up on landfills.
Mr Desmond Harrison Awalime, Director of Green School at Ecowillow Ghana, rallied community support to protect the environment to enhance rapid socio-economic development in the country.
The Youth Day of Service, an initiative of LEAP Africa, is a week-long Pan African youth-led social impact campaign that is celebrated alongside the United Nations International Youth Day on 12th August every year.
GNA