Earth Day 2007 in Togo, West Africa

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An interview by EDN International Director Joshua Forgotson
with Executive Director Sena Alouka of Young Volunteers for the Environment
March 2007

Background:

Jeunes Volontaires de l'Environnement (JVE), or Young Volunteers for the Environment, www.ong-jve.org, is an NGO based in Lomé, Togo, West Africa. JVE's Earth Day 2007 events and activities, April 21-29, are focused on promoting solar energy and solar water pasteurization as a means to meet people's need for energy and safe water, and at the same time, to reduce poverty. They will be held in Togo, Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Mexico. Participants and partners include Earth Day Network, Togo's Ministries of Water and Water Resources, the Environment, Mines and Energy, and Communication, several private organizations, and 15,000 members of the public.

The group's ambitious package of events includes Togo's first International Solar Energy Fair, accompanied by several conferences and debates. Within local schools, academic contests will test students' knowledge of environmental issues, and of course, climate change. Also planned are a march and solar caravan that will navigate Lomé's largest avenues.

JVE's branch in Benin will host its first National Youth Conference on Climate Change, while the branch in Ghana is organizing a Renewable and Sustainable Development Conference. In Cameroon, members of JVE will plant a thousand trees, and organize a conference on climate change and poverty. A seminar educating young people about climate change and the actions they can adopt to mitigate it will take place in Ivory Coast. And finally, in Mexico, the University of Toluca will host a JVE seminar on water and climate change.

For more information about JVE's schedule of events, please see its summary within our events registry. Search for events happening in Togo in 2007.

Interview:

Joshua: To start off, can you tell us about Young Volunteers for the Environment?

Sena: Thank you Joshua for this great opportunity first thing. Actually, the Young Volunteers for the Environment started in a small village called Chico in a mountainous region of Togo. What happened was that one night some young people were sitting outside – it happened that I was a part of the group – and as we were appreciating the moon, our discussion came to the point that the big forest which used to encircle the village was disappearing progressively and it was a big forest which used to be like a greenbelt around the village. So we tried to do something about it. Then we went to see the chief of the village who was very happy about our initiative, and who sent us to some forest authorities. And we started talking to people about how the forest was disappearing and how everyone can be involved in trying to rehabilitate this big forest. What happened at the end was that the forest destruction rate eventually was reduced. And we proceeded along with some other NGOs to put together all villages and communities sharing the forest to draft a project which is now awaiting the funding to start rehabilitating the forest. So we started that way. And today we are based in Lomé which is the capitol city of Togo. About fifteen people are working in the staff here. And how we try to fundraise is physically to go to people, to ground breaking foundations both in the U.S. like Greenbelt Fund. We are working with some European foundations like the Norwegian Fund for Development, Sida , which is a Swedish institute for development and also some French NGOs who are working with us on various issues. We have been working with Earth Day Network for some time. My first contact with Earth Day Network was in 2000 and since then we have been organizing every year Earth Day activities in Togo.

Joshua: You have some exciting events planned for this Earth Day which we will talk about in a moment, but before we get to that could you describe for us some of your past Earth Day successes?

Sena: Earth Day is a big day in Togo. We since 2005 have changed it to Earth Week. Starting from the 15th of April until the end of the month we organize some activities. The new events started actually in 2002 when JVE as a young and growing organization succeeded in organizing the first youth conference on sustainable development, because at that time as you know we were preparing for a summit on sustainable development which happened at that time in Johannesburg. In 2003 we organized the first carfree day in West Africa, we succeeded in blocking a big road which drew lots of attention to our event because we could organize a conference on a major street in Togo and we talked about climate change and other issues which are pertinent to our environment. And in 2004 we were very successful because we organized a national campaign throughout the whole country from Lomé up to the north and we discussed how it's important for everyone to get involved in environmental protection activities. In 2005 we organized a conference again and then last year in 2006 we had a mega-success because we could train teachers, especially biology teachers, on climate change issues and how they can also add climate change activities and materials in their school curriculum. And last year again we had training for about 30 environmental journalists which helped in the creation of an environmental journalist network in Togo. So these are some of our past successes.

Joshua: What are your plans for this Earth Day?

Sena: So, for this Earth Day we are planning to draw attention to how climate is changing but also how the main strategy against climate change which is solar energy can be linked to poverty reduction. So this year we are planning to organize a big solar fair which will draw participants form the whole of West Africa but also from other countries and from Solar Cookers International, and of course from Earth Day Network. And apart from that we are planning to organize a solar caravan which will pass through the city to distribute leaflets to try to talk to people on the street directly. Apart from that, we are planning also to host several conferences in Lomé. At the same time, there are several activities which are going to be organized in other cities because JVE, the Young Volunteers for the Environment, we have several branches which are going to do activities in almost every city. So, in April we are going to occupy the first topic in the news here in Togo.

Joshua: How do you see solar energy relating to the reduction of poverty?

Sena: In the Togo midterm review of the Millennium Development Goals, it has been said that climate change and lack of water are the main threats to development. So, by talking about solar energy, by empowering people to use solar instead of charcoal and other non-renewable energy by employing communities to solar cook, to solar heat, but also to pasteurize water using solar energy, we are addressing the two issues of climate change: desertification and again the issue about access to water. So, solar energy is a wonderful alternative and a good way to fight poverty.

Josh: How does climate change fit into West Africa's environmental priorities?

Sena: Most of the West African countries share the coast, meaning that we live near the sea. Already we have lost about 10 to 15 meters and most of the restaurants that used to be on the coast in my city, Lomé, here, most of the bungalows and already, again, two roads which we used to use from Togo to Benin are already swallowed by the sea. The same situation is happening in Nigeria, in Benin, in Ghana, but also in Guinea. So, in West Africa climate change is a serious issue, because especially if nothing is done coastal erosion is going to jeopardize development in the city. They are those who are in the south. So, the government is very concerned about an effective way to fight climate change. And talking about climate change on Earth Day is of interest to all West African countries.

Joshua: When you first brought your events to the attention of Earth Day Network, you mentioned they were aligned with national priorities. Could you describe how this is so?

Sena: My country, Togo, is currently in the process of improving its environmental governance. Very soon there will be an environmental protection authority which will be set up, and the main goal of this EPA will be to increase people's awareness of climate change issues and other environmental issues. So, this year as we are trying to talk about climate change and solar energy, we are definitely working with the government, and this is in line with the national priority then.

Joshua: I'm aware that your Earth Day events will take place in several different countries in West Africa as you mentioned. How many groups are you working with exactly and how did you form this coalition?

Sena: JVE started as a small group, like I said before. But thanks to the internet and to our attendance at several international conferences and meetings, many people have been surprised about how JVE – even though the country, Togo, by the European Union was banned, which means there was no money coming to the country – but still JVE was active and internationally recognized. So many young people but also many well established groups came to us and asked advice about how they can also improve their activities in their various countries. And some groups even asked us if we can allow them to start some of the projects that we are doing here in Togo in their countries. And this is how some groups developed in several countries in Africa. But also in every city we have several local branches, meaning that we head environmental clubs in schools, in churches. In every city here in Togo for instance we have clubs, and we are working with thirteen international branches and about twenty local branches in Togo.

Joshua: How many participants are you expecting to attend your events this April 22nd?

Sena: In Togo we expect to reach a minimum of 10,000 people and JVE international will add another 5,000. So roughly, we are going to reach a minimum of 15,000 people.

Joshua: How do you publicize your events and reach out to potential participants or volunteers?

Sena: Actually, thanks to Earth Day Network's media kit, which can be seen in Earth Day in a Box, which is on the Earth Day website, we have seen some wonderful ways of working with the media. So, thanks to this advice and how to write first an information paper and the day before you write a press release, and how to talk to them, how to respond to interviews, we have developed a good expertise in dealing with the media. So, anytime we have activities, they are informed. And right now you can be sure that all of them know about our activities, and they are informed on a daily basis about how things are progressing. And thanks also to our website, which is www.ong-jve.org, some people also keep track of our information and we can even reach international volunteers.

Joshua: What kind of materials, such as educational pamphlets, posters or clothing are you producing to support your events, and how are you planning to distribute them?

Sena: This year we are going to stress how to capture people's attention thanks to audio, video, et cetera. We have already ordered a hundred t-shirts because t-shirts are very common here. Also big banners are going to be put in very special corners and junctions in the capital city here in Togo. And also we are going to print a thousand leaflets about Earth Day Network activities but also some important figures about climate change which are going to be distributed. We are going to send some of the materials to our local branches, to our international representation, and most of the other materials are going to be distributed during the solar fair.

Joshua: What kinds of media coverage are you expecting, and how important do you feel media is to the success of your events?

Sena: JVE has a weekly TV program called Eco Development which we use to channel most of our activities and information to the population. And thanks to this program we reach about fifty percent of the local people who have access to television here in Togo. And we have a good relationship with the national radio, which is called Radio Lomé, and also with the national TV, the television of Togo, and several media, private media. And for your information, myself, I am a freelance journalist. So most of the journalists, they know me, they know my organization, they know what we do and they come to us every time we plan something. And thanks to the media coverage, people will know about our activities and especially people will be directed to our solar fair, because we want people to come there, to see how solar energy is effective, how they can solar cook, how they can solar pasteurize. So, media will help us reach the people. So, those who are not in the city, those who are living in the big forest, in the remote areas can also be reached with our message.

Joshua: Now, I'm sure many of your fellow event planners around the world, of which there are over 14,000 organizations in EDN's network alone, would be very interested to know how you have been raising funds to conduct your events, and if you have been able to receive any support from local charitable partners, governmental agencies, businesses, or people on the street.

Sena: To be honest, fundraising is very difficult here. Most of the time we don't expect people, especially the government, to give money. But what we do is we ask the government to support us, with some letters provided by the minister of environment. It's possible for us to go to the UNDP or to other UN agencies to ask for support. Our members, JVE members, also do support us, but also what we do is we ask companies, especially private companies, because we work with some of them, we don't ask them for money directly, we ask some of them, "Please, can you pay for our transport? Can you give us some t-shirts that we can distribute? Can you pay for the media coverage? Can you pay for the room? Can you help us to…" you know, these kinds of smart things, which are quite concrete. So we don't ask for money, and thanks to this we end up collecting about fifty percent of our financial resources. So currently, we haven't had any big amounts of money yet. But in the coming days, people are definitely going to support our activities.

Joshua: Do you have any advice for people who may want to produce an event on a small budget or with even no budget at all?

Sena: We have developed here in Togo what I call a no-money strategy. Within this no-money strategy we just think about which activities can be done in a cost-effective way. There are some activities that you can do without money, or just a little. The first is to organize a conference. It's very easy to organize a conference – you just go to the school, talk to the head master. "We are this group, we would like to organize a conference on climate change on Earth Day, which is the 22nd of April. Do you allow us to come?" Then you go and talk to someone from the ministry of the environment or a forest specialist or someone, who comes with you to the school. Then you talk to people, they ask questions, and then you discuss. And by this way you also participate in the Earth Day activity. The second is you talk to the radio. We have a wonderful amount of information on the Earth Day Network website. I encourage everyone to go there. There are sheets on climate change, biodiversity, and all the other relevant topics that people can just take. Draft a small press release. Then they can go and talk to the radio, the TV. And the news people will be interested in receiving all of these fact sheets. So, these are other ways to organize some Earth Day activities without money. On the whole, it is very productive. We are very modest. If you don't have the means, you just organize something within your limits. Talk to a school, go to a church, talk to a small club, join some NGOs who are already planning to do something, and by this way everyone, I'm sure everyone can do something on Earth Day.

Joshua: We at Earth Day Network have found that the way to attract and keep participants coming back to your events year after year is to show them that your events actually produce results. What long term benefits are you anticipating your events will have, and how are you planning to measure your results?

Sena: Every time we organize an activity here in Togo we always keep track of those who participate by taking their address, especially their e-mails and then we send them the report of the event. And then we point to them if there are some follow-up activities in a group which they can join in their village or their city, in a follow-up movement or a follow-up event they can again attend. So we keep track of them, and we put them in our network or our mailing list, and they receive our news on a daily basis. The second is that there is a forest which is quite threatened in our country, and because the ministry is planning to exploit it for timber collection, we are going to ask people to sign a petition. And the number of signatures that we succeed in collecting will give us a figure of how successful our event has been.

Joshua: What system do you have in place to communicate your results with those people who participate in your Earth Day events such that they know what they accomplished?

Sena: Yes, we have a website which is www.ong-jve.org which is used to send people information about what happened. Also, thanks to this TV program that we organize every week, people watch the TV program and they can see what happens next. And they will ask if necessary to show some other activities. And by giving them information through the mailing list they can still see how successful their event has been and how they can be involved after Earth Day in working for the climate and for the planet.

Joshua: Thank you, Sena. It has been a real pleasure speaking with you today, and we at Earth Day Network wish you the best of success this Earth Day April 22nd.

Sena: Thank you.