Meet Mamadou
By Jennifer Comeau
Meet Mamadou Babacar Diop
A Youth Leading the World
Mamadou is one of thousands of young people coming together across the planet to tackle global sustainability challenges such as energy, food, climate change, biodiversity, and water. Together, YOUth LEADing The World are forming grassroots movements that accelerate the transformation of communities to create fairer futures. Mamadou is affiliated with CCC’s Walking The Land Africa initiative.
In his home in Guédé Chantiers, the Saint-Louis region of Senegal, Mamadou, or “Chairman” to his friends, supports and instructs families in creating permaculture projects. We can learn more from Guede Chantier Permaculture’s Facebook Page
Guede Chantier Permaculture projects’ objectives:
We intend to create many permaculture projects for the communities. These projects will help the communities to have daily food and be economically autonomous. Many families will have the opportunity to grow their own organic food and be able to create a small economy. This economy can create jobs for men and women and or help these families in their daily life needs.
Being aware of the climate change, we create a link between the projects and the environment. We fight the deforestation. The forest around us is threatened. Many trees are cut and animals killed. Furthermore, we are not far from the Mauritanian desert. The wind full of desert’s sand often blows, and the desert moves forward.
To fight against this and create micro climates, the permaculture team intends to plant many trees. We create plants nurseries in all the permaculture projects and replant them in the forest later. We intend to plant at least 2000 trees per year (fruit trees among trees) in the forest. With this initiative, the forest will come back, the trees will stop the desert and the climate will positively change.
In late September, Mamadou attended the YOUth LEADing The World Facilitator Training, an award-winning, highly participatory program that equips young people with solution-focused tools to tackle sustainability challenges, generate a vision and innovate action plans. Despite internet interruptions (about which we are asking for support – see sidebar), Momadou became very excited about the prospect of gathering other youth in his region to participate in the upcoming Global Congress.
Here is Mamadou amidst the 2 varieties of pumpkins they are currently growing
Through YLTW, young people become:
INFORMED about global challenges and sustainable living.
INNOVATORS develop action plans for positive social change.
INTERCONNECTED with change-makers locally and globally.
OzGREEN’s Youth Leadership Global Congress, now online, is conducted simultaneously in multiple locations around the globe.
Click here to Register for the Global Congress
(22 – 24 October 5 – 8:30 pm Eastern Time)
OR
To sponsor a First Nations youth for the Global Congress
(Scroll down to “Additional Donation” section of the webpage.)
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ABOUT OzGREEN
For over 25 years, OzGREEN’s award-winning sustainability learning and leadership programs have involved hundreds of thousands of people around the world. OzGREEN’s unique approach incorporates citizen science, sustainability education, participatory leadership and community development, enabling people to innovate and implement their own sustainability solutions.
YLTW Partners and Facilitators have gained significant recognition, including Victorian LG Pro Award for Excellence in Sustainability, Victorian Young Achiever, ACT/New South Wales Young Achiever, Green Globe, and UNESCO Wenhui Award Finalists.
ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE & CONSCIOUSNESS
Climate Change & Consciousness (CCC) stewards a global network of diverse populations to accelerate regenerative responses to the climate crisis. Through education, mentorship, leadership development, supporting indigenous projects, and cultivating an international community of skilled activists, CCC is a nexus of inner transformation and outward action.