First Academy 2020 at the Ivory Coast

The first academy of the year was held in the Abidjan district of Marcory, specifically at the municipal high school on February 1, 2020. This academy consecrates the beginning of the "Green Hope" project with Plant-For-The-Planet Côte d’Ivoire . 60 participants attended the academy as well as the 4rd Deputy Mayor of Marcory, Mr. N’dir Marcel, and the staff of the Municipal High School headed by the Principal  Mr. Tra Bi Voh Lambert. The staff demonstrated real solidarity by providing volunteers and what we needed which helped facilitate the progress of the academy. In addition, private nurseries helped to acquire plants.

After a brief welcome and registration process, the academy began with a welcome from the Head of the establishment. Afterwards, all of the attention turned to the Plant-for-the-Planet Program Coordinator Zokou Hervé and Mrs. Lago who held the initial presentation "Now we children save the world". It gives an introduction to Plant-for-the-Planet, sources of CO2, greenhouse effect and global warming. A question and answer session dispelled the children's misunderstandings.

A short break allowed the children to relax while singing before moving on to global distribution and climate justice in the “World game”. With play figures, candies and balloons as symbols of the world's population, wealth and CO2 emissions in the world, the children could understand the mechanism by the distribution of balloons, candies and tokens according to their knowledge and distribution for equitable sharing and equal rights.

After that, in groups of 10, the children trained for the presentation like the one they had heard at the start of the day and thought about what is important to make a good presentation.

In an atmosphere of joy, a lunch break allowed the children to relax and discuss the topics already covered.

Back for the rest of the program, the following questions related to the "Green Hope" project were addressed: "How to organize a tree planting party?", "How to mobilize the population on the Green Hope project?", "How to involve the sponsors?", “How to get the media to talk about the project?”.

Afterwards, the children settled in the school yard for one of the most important part of the academy: the planting of trees! They listened carefully to the advice of Mr. N’Goran, member of the ECO-plus Municipal club of the environment, on when and how to plant a tree before actually planting on their own. A total of 40 trees, such as mango trees and other shade trees were planted.

After a long, successful and enjoyable day, the 60 participants received their own Plant-for-the-Planet shirt, the book "tree by tree" and, most importantly the certificate: They are official Plant-for-the-Planet Climate Justice Ambassadors now!

Our organizing team of the academy thanks all the guests and the staff of the Lycée Municipal.

We captured some beautiful moments of this day. You can finde all photos taken here.

Do you want to become a Climat Justice Ambassador yourself ? Click here to find academies in your area.