International Climate Challenge

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In Kenya,  the International Climate Challenge (ICC) is in its pilot year (July 2008 to June 2009) and involves 50 secondary schools across four regions of Kenya – Rift Valley, Central, Eastern and Nairobi.

Initially, school principals, teachers and students were introduced to ICC through a series of exciting regional symposia which aimed to inform and motivate the student/teacher focus groups from each school. Project Officers worked in schools, alongside Lead Teachers and student groups, to tease out the local issues of concern and draw connections to climate change. Each group was then asked to identify a project which in some way helps to address the problem and start working to develop their ideas, using locally available resources.

Schools will be invited to present their projects at regional showcase events in March 2009, and if successful, at a national event in May. The top three presentations will go forward to an international presentation in June 2009.

Discussion and debate in many schools have been animated and inspiring. Students have already come up with a wide variety of innovative projects that include:

  • New forms of fuel for cooking
  • Awareness-raising community drama
  • Use of Kiswahili and other local languages to reach non-English speakers
  • Leaflets and posters to steer school and community towards more sustainable living.

There has been a noticeable difference between urban and rural schools in the type of projects being devised, reflecting their very different concerns. Urban schools have tended to identify concerns related to environmental pollution, including air pollution from industry and transport, as well as waste management concerns which focus on the pollution of land and water. In contrast, rural schools have reflected local priorities such as deforestation, soil erosion, drying rivers and decreasing production. This dichotomy of ideas promises to support a wider learning for students, between regions and even between countries, bringing new perspectives into the understanding of disparate communities. In turn, the goal is to build an interdependence that enables everyone concerned to work together and act on these most important issues of climate change and sustainable development.

Here are some of the projects from Nakuru region

projects from various schools in national event at samaj

projects from Thika region

projects from Nyahururu