Happy Anniversary!!

Today,  July 18th, marks the two year anniversary of Eco-Schools not only in Ghana, but the whole of sub Saharan West-Africa. In 2014 Akosombo International School became the first school in West Africa to hoist the green flag. Two years later 4 schools in Akosombo has met the criterias to get the Green flag award, 13 schools have signed up for the program and many mors has indicated that they want to join. We have taken taken a short look back at the road that has taken us here:

Eco-Schools Ghana is the direct results of the collaboration between Akosombo International School and Byåsen school in Trondheim, one of the first Eco-Schools in Norway. They inspired us to bring the Eco-School program to West Africa. 

 We have come a long way from when we started and a lot of hard work has been put into the project. It all started out with two schools, one of which is located in Ghana, Africa and the other one in Norway, Scandinavia collaborating on Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (One of the themes of the Eco-School program.) Byåsen School in Norway was already a certified Eco-School and when a delegation from Akosombo Int. School came to visit in 2008 they saw the benefits of the program and they wanted to join as well.

From the first Green Flag ceremony in Ghana July 18th 2014 at Akosombo International School

Eco-Schools facilitates contact between participating institutions not just at the national level, but also internationally. These links provide an opportunity for schools to share environmental information; they can also be used as a means for cultural exchanges and for improving language skills. At that time there was no organization in Ghana running the program. So our senior consultant Mrs. Opoku, who had worked closely with Eco-School Norway and the certification of schools in the city of Trondheim, was asked to help start the program in Ghana. She came in contact with Green Earth Organization and in 2014 they finally got the permit to run the program in Ghana. It was a long and bumpy road with a lot of bureaucracy and hard work to get to the place we are today. Do not know if it has taken blood, although it has definitely taken both sweat and tears, a couple of tears of frustration, but even more so, tears of joy. 

From the Green-Flag award at Monningar Presbytarian school July 7th 2016

The program has made tremendous progress from July 2014, with only one registered school, up until today were 12 schools are registered to the program. What makes the Eco-School program so enjoyable is the fact that you can see progress and results almost immediately and that it is a great way for students, teachers, school administration, parents and local community to work together towards a common goal. The whole program is run according to an all-inclusive, participatory approach involving students, teachers and the local community at large, combining learning with hands-on experiences. 

We did not start this project with all the answers and as well as all the students and teachers involved learn as they go along the project, so do we. Every time we visit a new school or meet with organizations interested in the program we learn new things about the environmental challenges their community are facing. Seeing small children, down to the age of four and five years quoting eco-school slogans and telling their parents why they have to recycle their waste or why we need to protect our oceans is truly heartwarming. The Eco-School program place great emphasis on involving the local community from the very beginning. By doing so, the lessons the students pick up are transferred back into the community where they take hold and lead to more sustainable, environmentally responsible behavior patterns all round. Akosombo International School has been a driving force on all of these areas for many years now, and as we see a number of other Ghanaian schools following in their footsteps we wish to once again congratulate them on being the first certified school in the whole of West-Africa and encourage them to keep up the good work. Although we are far from done yet, this is a week of celebration for Akosombo Int. School and for Eco-Schools Ghana!