Young Climate Heroes in the Making, with Earth Warriors

Young Climate Heros in the Making

Context

If just 16% of students received comprehensive climate education, that alone would reduce global emissions by 19 gigatons – equivalent to half the world’s carbon emissions in 2019.

Approach

Earth Warriors has designed a curriculum that empowers both teachers and students to engage with the issues affecting their local environment.

An Earth Warriors class in Lusaka, Zambia

Impact

In 2024, Earth Warriors will be supporting Impact Network, Learn to Play Botswana and Mosaico EuroAfricano to co-design a contextualised Teachers’ Training Toolkit based on the experiences of teachers who delivered the Earth Warriors content in its pilot phase.

In 2022-2023, Theirworld helped Earth Warriors reach nearly 3,000 students. Some of the results we collected from this pilot phase were: 100% of teachers want to continue educating children about climate change. Additionally, 95% of early years students want to protect animals & plants, with 81% knowing how to do so. Moreover, 70% of primary school students now know how to protect the planet, up from just 18% at baseline.

Quality climate education

Education is “a critical agent” in the fight against climate change, according to the United Nations. Theirworld is helping Earth Warriors expand to Zambia, to deliver quality education to young people on the frontline of the climate crisis. The programme will teach students aged three to 11 in 20 schools about the southern African region’s most urgent environmental challenges, including droughts and flooding. The curriculum will also be taken to Dukwi Refugee Camp in Botswana.

Maria’s story

Listen to Maria Mphanza, a Zambian teacher trained by Earth Warriors, discuss her hopes that the programme will help to combat deforestation. Listen here.