Capacity-building Somalia

Green Media Initiative (GMI) conducted an environmental awareness and education visit to Ileys Academy School in Mogadishu, one of the city’s primary, intermediate, and secondary schools with a large student population. The visit forms part of GMI’s wider mission to strengthen environmental literacy and climate awareness among communities across Somalia, with a particular focus on young people.

During the visit, GMI delivered an interactive and child-friendly session focused on environmental protection, waste management, the harmful impacts of plastic pollution and unmanaged waste, and the importance of tree planting as a practical response to environmental degradation and climate change.

In Somalia, environmental responsibility is often overlooked due to prolonged conflict, urban pressure, weak waste systems, and limited public awareness. As a result, issues such as plastic pollution, deforestation, land degradation, and climate-related shocks continue to affect livelihoods, public health, and future generations. GMI believes that long-term environmental protection must start with education, and that schools are critical spaces for shaping values, behavior, and civic responsibility.

The session was led by Hamdi Mohamed Hassan, a GMI team member and an environmental and agricultural production advocate, who actively engaged students from different grade levels gathered at the school theater. Using participatory methods—discussion, questions, and practical examples—she helped students connect environmental challenges to their daily lives and future responsibilities.

The session was also supported by Faduma Mohamud Dirie, an environmental advocate deeply involved in tree-planting initiatives and green education for children. She emphasized the importance of introducing environmental stewardship at an early age so that caring for the environment becomes a lifelong habit rather than a temporary campaign.

Through interactive dialogue, students gained essential knowledge about their role in protecting the environment, reducing waste, maintaining cleanliness, and understanding climate change impacts. They also learned that environmental protection is a shared civic responsibility, involving all generations including children as future leaders, citizens, and decision-makers.

Beyond this school visit, GMI continues to work through media, storytelling, community engagement, and education initiatives to raise awareness of Somalia’s environmental and climate crises. GMI remains committed to promoting early green education as a foundation for climate resilience and sustainable development—nurturing a new generation that understands environmental challenges and is empowered to act on them.

Watch the video below to see how GMI is engaging school children in environmental awareness and stewardship.

In response to Somalia’s escalating environmental and climate challenges, the Green Media Initiative (GMI), in collaboration with Living Hope Foundation, co-hosted a one-day capacity-building workshop titled “Youth Voices for Climate Resilience: Innovation, Advocacy, and Action.”

The session convened 15 youth leaders from universities, civil society organizations, and youth networks with the aim of deepening their understanding of the country’s climate crisis and strengthening their engagement in environmental action and policy discourse.

Purpose and Objectives

The training aimed to empower Somali youth as active agents of change in addressing the country’s growing climate and environmental challenges. Centered on the themes of Innovation, Advocacy, and Action, the workshop explored how policy inaction, weak institutional coordination, and community vulnerability continue to worsen the effects of droughts, floods, and land degradation.

Participants reflected on how youth-led innovation and advocacy can strengthen resilience, accountability, and sustainable environmental action — emphasizing that lasting progress depends on inclusive and evidence-based responses driven by informed young leaders.

Discussion and Insights

The workshop stimulated a vibrant and thought-provoking exchange of ideas among participants, revealing a concerning lack of environmental education and awareness among Somali youth. This gap, participants agreed, has diminished their ability to effectively engage in national and local climate action. Through guided debates and group reflections, participants critically analyzed their roles as journalists, innovators, social workers, and community leaders in driving evidence-based advocacy, public awareness, and grassroots solutions to the environmental crisis.

Key Outcomes

By the conclusion of the training, participants collectively identified strategic entry points for youth-led action, including:
Expanding environmental education and awareness at community and institutional levels;
Developing nature-based and community-driven solutions to drought, water scarcity, flooding, and sand dune encroachment;
Building stronger youth advocacy networks to influence environmental governance and accountability.

Conclusion

The event reinforced GMI’s unwavering commitment to empowering a new generation of environmentally conscious youth leaders — individuals equipped with the knowledge, creativity, and civic responsibility needed to drive climate resilience and sustainable change in Somalia. By fostering collaboration between media, youth networks, and civil society, the training not only amplified youth voices but also strengthened the foundation for greater environmental accountability — a long-neglected responsibility in Somalia’s public institutions.

Limited transparency, weak leadership, and the absence of public oversight have long undermined the country’s environmental response. Empowering young people to question, communicate, and act for the planet is therefore not just an investment in awareness — it is an investment in accountability, integrity, and sustainable leadership for Somalia’s environmental future.