Nigerian NPO Becomes One of Two Winners of Okayama 2022 Award Across the Globe
Nigeria’s national flag flies above a factory on Ibadan expressway September 8, 2012 in Lagos.
Muhammad OsmanPresented by Okayama City in Japan and the ESD Okayama Award Steering Committee, the award is usually given as a reward for outstanding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) activities in local communities around the world. The ESD Okayama Award’s aim is to showcase initiatives of organizations promoting ESD in local communities globally.A Nigerian pan-African non-profit organization, Green Growth Africa Sustainability Network (GreenGrowthAfrica), has become one of only two winners of the 2022 Okayama award for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).GreenGrowthAfrica, which has now become the first in Nigeria and West Africa, and the third in Africa overall to win the Okayama annual award, was given the award for its key role in promoting environmental education across the African continent and beyond.Besides the ESD Okayama Award, the Nigerian non-profit also won the Pratt & Whitney E-STEM Award, which is also a reword given to organizations and programs promoting environmental literacy.Headquartered in Ibadan, Nigeria, the non-profit runs practical, practice-oriented environmental education activities targeting secondary schools in Nigeria as well as a number of other parts of the Africa – including South Africa, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, and Uganda.Accredited by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the non-governmental organization also has its share in educating and empowering youth on environmental and social issues overseas, in countries such as the United States and Italy.“So far, our Environmental Education Programme has impacted more than 3,000 students, 44 teachers, and 156 families in Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, and Uganda including outreaches to schools in United States of America and Italy,” said the executive director of the GreenGrowthAfrica organization, Dr. Adedoyin Adeleke.GreenGrowthAfrica says it is “committed to the realisation of a socially inclusive economic growth and development path that is low-carbon, climate-resilient, resource-efficient; maintains and enhances biodiversity and ecosystems” in Africa and around the world.
