Meet an ex-journalist building green economy in 29 countries

At 10 years old, Togolese Sena Alouka started a football league in his village. Many years later, he would tap into this hobby to rally a village into building a green economy.

The youngest in a family of seven in Tsiko village, which means ‘providers of water’, spent most of his years in the village, just like his peers, but something struck his mind. “Traditionally, my community used to provide water during ceremonies but rivers dried up. My village was now left with a misleading name because it was no longer providing water,” Alouka told Financial Standard.

In March 1999, another unfortunate thing happened. Fire broke out in the forest and spread to most parts of the village consuming yams and cassavas that were on the farms. This was their source of food as well as income for school fees.

Conserve environment

He had to respond differently. Riding on the village teams that he had brought together, he founded a small organisation to conserve environment. In 2001, he registered Young Volunteers for Environment as an organisation to promote good environmental practices.

Alouka, a trained journalist who had launched a first student radio programme in 1998 while still in the university, would later on use the programme to shape environment policies in Togo.

Through his organisation, he was able to define the problem at hand to youth and lead them into a discussion on what was to be done to preserve the environment.

This attracted many young people whose families had become impoverished by fire outbreaks.

He realised that he needed more young people to save the environment beyond his village. In primary schools, he launched environmental education and green entrepreneurship lessons. “We realised that Togolese school curriculum had one free hour in school. We talked to government and started using that time to teach young people on key environmental topics,” he says.

Once educated, the youth are put in direct contact with their communities to promote green economy. This entails poverty-control projects that combine environmental and business education for youth to nurture business ideas that are friendly to environment.

Alouka told Financial Standard that this makes young people develop love for environment so that they influence environment-conscious policies in organisations where they work. “All I want is to equip youth with environmental education and turn them into champions for environmental protection wherever they are so that they can create green jobs,” said Alouka.

Started as a non-profit organisation, Alouka decided to make a change after eight years. In 2009, in order to give people an incentive, he turned it into a self-sustaining entity, earning youth some income. His organisation helps in purifying of water using solar-powered water disinfection system at a fee.

Social entrepreneurs

Another project promotes use of wood stoves that reduce wood consumption. In Kenya, he says this project is gaining momentum.

“Air pollution is killing about 15,000 Kenyans every year. This project offers opportunity for young Kenyans to become social entrepreneurs and make stoves for the villagers,” he told Financial Standard. In addition, the organisation distributes solar lamps at affordable prices to communities without electricity.

Youths engaged in such projects earn at least Sh1,700 per month. Fifteen years after the organisation was formed, it has spread across 29 countries in Africa, including Kenya, making it one of the largest NGO in Africa in terms of coverage.

So far, it has attracted over 50,000 young people. The Africa Youth Initiative on Climate Change Kenya, which he founded, meets every week at Kilimani in Nairobi to promote safe entrepreneurial environmental practices.

He’s been honoured by American outfit, Ashoka, as a fellow in 2014. “About 15 per cent of the jobs that we are going to see in the next 15 years are not yet created. And they will have to come from the challenges we are facing today,” says Alouka.

“Happiness is nearby. Don’t go far away. In every challenge, identify the opportunity to be a change maker,” he advices.

 In Kenya, he says this project is gaining momentum.