YALI members encourage greener life as #YALIGoesGreen

BY DOYIN ADEOYE

OVER the past month, the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Network has continued to charge its members to embrace a greener life through its #YALIGoesGreen initiative, which is aimed at spurring climate change awareness and action.

Challenging its members to support and spread the word about climate change, each member is to find a small aspect of climate change that affects their community the most and research solutions related to that issue.

“Find an audience in your community who is interested in solving this issue or has the time and ability, convene those community members to discuss the problem and solutions you can take action on. Continue to work with these interested community members, until you turn your conversations into actions,” it stated in its YALIChat group.

The members at the end of the programme would then earn a Green Champion certificate.

In a three-day Facebook #YALIchat last week, community organisers from the YALI Network in Nigeria, Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe fielded questions on how to mobilise and motivate their audience. The chat was focused on raising awareness about the need for adaptation and mitigation in the face of climate change.

One of the members, Alf Sidibe of Mali, said: “What I did in my community was to take practical examples and then, I gathered people, especially community leaders, and we spoke with them on how the environment is being affected by our daily actions. It is important that people know the causes and the actions to be taken to protect the environment.”

Speaking on engaging communities in rural Lesotho, an organiser, Obrien Makore said: “Rural dwellers usually respect their local administration institutions headed by a chief, so engaging chiefs to disseminate information will be key.”

Established in April 2014, the YALI Network in an initiative that provides virtual resources and vibrant physical spaces to equip young African leaders with the skills and connections they need to foster change in their communities and their countries.