Leveraging Grassroots

WE DO GREEN is a youth-led organisation in Rwanda working toward a cleaner and healthier environment. We promote climate resilience, the wellbeing of people, and the conservation of biodiversity through collaboration. We are a team of highly passionate scientists, activists, and educators driven to achieve green growth in our country and our world. We are driven by evidence to do high-impact work, focusing on local engagement in global issues. Our mission is to leave no one behind in environmental conservation. We do this by involving youth in climate change mitigation while enhancing community resilience through access to clean water, food security, and green energy.

Our current society is living at the expense of future generations. Environmental degradation and climate change are threatening human lives. It is time for a change...and young people have a central role to play in reshaping the world and saving their own future. However, they often battle alone with limited resources and little experience. There is a mismatch between youth energy and access to power. If more youth-led initiatives can be supported and integrated in wider society, the impact will be greater, to everyone’s benefit. The work of WE DO GREEN grows environmental consciousness and prepares the next generation to be sustainable climate stewards.

At WE DO GREEN, we believe that science literacy and ecological civilisation starts with young minds. Environmental education and a conservation ethos should drive school curriculum.

Our flagship program involves partnering with schools around the country to teach children about climate change, environmental conservation, and green entrepreneurship. The initiative is based on cooperation and benefits for all stakeholders. Schools receive a quality addition to their lesson plans. Students partake in experiential learning that helps them best retain and share information. And our volunteers build their leadership and communication skills, while contributing to the greening of Rwanda.

During our sessions in primary schools, we first talk in the classroom about the reality of the climate situation. These interactive lessons build science literacy and help young people understand the urgency of environmental action. But we know how children learn best, and that they are more likely to remember experiences than classroom conversations. So we go outside and get our hands dirty. Planting trees with kids is an amazing way to foster a love for nature and a responsibility for environmental stewardship. Once children have planted a tree, they feel a special connection to it. They take care of it for years to come, and are proud to see it grow. It helps them realise how much time and care went into mature trees they see around the country, valuing our forests. And the children we talk with go home to their parents and their villages, talking about trees and the importance of environmental conservation.

a young student shares:

The people who have visited us today are the people from the WE DO GREEN Organization, and they have come here to encourage us, the youth, how to conserve the environment. So we children, we can save the environment. So here we also learned how we can plant a tree, and this is very important to our lives.

I have a message to tell my fellow students: You can also save a life by doing a small thing of planting a tree, because one single tree can save you and your family. So this is a very good thing. And also we can just attend other different sessions to encourage us how we can save our environment, doing good things, because our human activities that we do like industries, these things have influenced the climate.

Through our work in schools, young girls like Isaro see role models like Josiane, and know they can study anything they want to at university – including engineering, medicine, and environmental science. Boys like Joseph meet leaders like Felix, and witness how important it is to value teamwork, diversity, and nature.

Last year, the country of Rwanda launched a tree planting season. The theme was “Trees for Community Livelihood”. To support our national project, WE DO GREEN partnered with other civil society groups and 8 Billion Trees to increase forestation.

Felix, another WE DO GREEN member, shares:

Today’s project: We have focused on planting trees in partnership with 8 Billion, and we have planted trees at Kamatamu village. And these different kinds of trees, like fruit trees and ornamental trees. We also have involved the communities around this village so that we have sustainable communities, engaging them in planting the trees in order to tackle climate change and also to fight against food insecurity in the place, because this is going to have a greater impact in this sustainable community. People are going to have clean air, and they are going to have fruit harvested from the trees, and we are going to have trees in general.

It’s going to have a great impact, and the people are very happy for this project. It’s a great initiative, and we’re so happy to have initiated this thing of planting trees where they haven’t been, to tackle many environmental problems. So I think this a great thing. We all together fight against climate change. We all together work in order to have sustainable communities.

Bugesera is a district in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. It is a peri-urban area, with economic development expanding at an accelerating rate. New industries, new infrastructure, and a new international airport require a green growth strategy for carbon offsetting and sustainable planning. On March 3rd, just before we experienced the lockdown effects of COVID-19, we were proud to work with the International Federation of Medical Students Association (IFMSA) to plant 400 trees in the area. The day involved 1000 international delegates, giving us a chance to share in environmental diplomacy and learn more about youth climate action around the world. When full grown, the 400 trees we planted together will offset 6.8 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, also providing multiple social and ecological benefits.

an IFMSA delegate shares:

I’m a medical student from Belgium, and I’m here in Rwanda. Today, we did a very nice activity with my organization, IMFSA, and another organization named WE DO GREEN. This morning, we planted trees – one tree for one country (but we did more!). That was a very nice activity, because it allowed us to participate in a way for climate change and to discover the place near us and to discover a fantastic organisation.