Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO) is a youth-led advocacy group based in Ghana. It was founded in 2014 by Joshua Amponsem and Desmond Alugnoa. The group focuses on environmental sustainability and community improvement. GAYO aims to inspire young people to participate in climate activism and foster climate leadership in Ghana. GAYO also provides environmental blogs. GAYO established the first Youth Climate Council in Africa to provide climate skills to young people when it launched the council in 2021 in Ghana.
Founders Joshua Amponsem is a Ghanaian climate activist and the Climate Lead at the UN Secretary General's Youth Envoy office. Since a young age, he has been assisting climate-affected communities in Ghana. Being an advisor to the UN Youth Envoy's office, he facilitated the first UN Youth Climate Summit. Joshua was also a speaker at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos in 2022.
Desmond Alugnoa was a farmer in northern Ghana whose environmental work started in 2012 with an emphasis on environmental preservation, climate adaptation, and community development.
Projects and initiatives
Sustainable Community Project GAYO's Sustainable Community Project is a community-based waste management project in the South district of Ghana. The project includes member-led activities such as composting, recycling arts, and producing charcoal briquettes from agricultural waste.
The project aims to create a zero-waste model for African rural-urban areas. It has achieved significant results within a short period of initiation, including procuring safe water for over 100 women within the Kandiga-Kurugu rural population.
Zero Waste Strategy GAYO has worked with the La Dade Kotopon Municipal Assembly (LaDMA) to implement the Zero Waste Accra Project to promote zero waste practices across municipalities.
Sustainable sanitary products and period poverty GAYO partnered with PeriodLink for the menstrual justice movement. Both youth-supported organizations raised funds to train women in Northern Ghana to build better careers. The project educated teachers and pupils on menstrual health and period poverty across the Upper East Region of northern Ghana.
Campus Eco Clubs GAYO initiated campus eco-clubs across Ghanaian universities to educate youth on environmental problems. Participating institutions include the University of Cape Coast (UCC), the University of Ghana (LEGON), the University for Development Studies (UDS), and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). The GAYO eco-clubs call for drastic action on plastic waste as part of their Zero Waste Strategy.
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