The effects of climate change on the Earth's surface can be seen from space. We live together on one planet and we are all affected by climate change. From February to April 2021, ActionAid is working in partnership with the Space for Art Foundation on a global art project, which will bring together young people’s voices from around the World. They will create a spacesuit made of artworks depicting young people’s vision for Earth as they see it from space. They aim to include one piece of art from every country in the World. They want to involve young people from every country around the world, especially those who are most affected by climate change.
To support this ambition, we have conducted workshops including awareness sessions in our 15 Local Rights Programme (LRPs) and shared some interesting resources and information through discussion, pictures, and videos with children to make them aware of climate justice and to better understand this issue. It was also a chance to help children learn about their environment and how the world is being impacted. At the same time, disaster preparedness has been discussed with the children in anticipation of “National Disaster Preparedness Day 2021” and they have been made aware of this. Discussion-based lessons have helped participants understand combined experiences and climate change. So that the amount of loss of life and property can be reduced by taking preparation to deal with any disaster.
A total of 2,243 participants from all LRPs attended the discussion session spontaneously with interest. All participants were quite attentive and active during the oral discussion, pictural, and video sessions. After the discussion sessions, some quizzes were asked on the discussed topics and they were able to answer correctly. The participating children also expressed their views through their present speeches during the sessions. Borsha (13) said, “From the discussions, I have learned that people are responsible for changing the climate of the world. Because people are building different factories and brickfields from which the black smoke is polluting the air. Factory waste is also polluting soil and water. Due to deforestation, the amount of carbon dioxide is increasing, and the earth's temperature is also rising. We all need to come forward to minimize various disasters caused by this climate change.”
The discussion sessions were followed by the art competition and a total of 1,033 participants from all LRPs took part in the art competition and express their thoughts about the climate in their beautiful drawings. Esma (11) said, “I have watched a video on climate change. It is a very educative video. Now I understand that we have to plant more plants and use environment-friendly equipment. It will help to reduce the impact of greenhouse and the threat of natural disasters. I have also drawn the picture of flood situation where I try to show how people may suffer during the time of flood”.
The number of participants by activities is as follows:
|
LRP |
Total Number of participants in the discussion session |
Total Number of participants in Art Competition |
Total Number of participants in Quiz |
Total Number of participants in Instant Speech |
|
34 |
130 |
24 |
6 |
6 |
|
39 |
229 |
14 |
25 |
0 |
|
40 |
300 |
45 |
45 |
45 |
|
41 |
55 |
40 |
0 |
0 |
|
42 |
170 |
49 |
0 |
30 |
|
43 |
55 |
20 |
38 |
17 |
|
44 |
30 |
30 |
30 |
30 |
|
45 |
360 |
60 |
60 |
60 |
|
46 |
22 |
22 |
22 |
9 |
|
47 |
40 |
40 |
0 |
5 |
|
48 |
132 |
107 |
23 |
13 |
|
49 |
157 |
20 |
50 |
7 |
|
50 |
510 |
510 |
0 |
19 |
|
51 |
40 |
40 |
40 |
0 |
|
52 |
13 |
12 |
0 |
5 |
|
Total |
2243 |
1033 |
339 |
246 |
In the end, each LRP selects the top three drawings through a judging process, and the winners are awarded on National Disaster Preparedness Day 2021. ActionAid Bangladesh's Child Sponsorship Unit is always vigilant about the safety of the community and children. These sessions and competitions have been organized by dividing into small groups in compliance with all the health rules considering the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. After these sessions, all participating children, young people, and other people in the community decided that they would also inform their other neighbors about climate change issues and what needs to be done to protect the environment. Intending to utilize the knowledge gained from this discussion and activities, the staffs of our partner organizations have come up with some plans mentioned below to ensure that this awareness continues:
