Lessons from the Children for Children Campaign
In January 2021, FEE officially ended the Children for Children campaign after successfully raising over $6000 for the recovery of Eco-Schools in The Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian and in the midst of the global Covid-19 pandemic. We believe that the lessons and materials gathered during the campaign continue to be relevant and useful resources to help educate children and youth about climate change and disaster risk reduction in addition to promoting empathy and active citizenship.
“The overall goal is to raise both the awareness of the impacts of climate change and the increasing vulnerabilities to disasters as well as resources in cash for rebuilding the damaged Eco-Schools infrastructure in The Bahamas .”
In November 2019, the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) launched the Children for Children campaign to support the recovery of Eco-Schools in The Bahamas after the destruction caused by Hurricane Dorian. It was estimated that 70,000 people (20% of the population in The Bahamas) were impacted by Dorian, amongst them more than 18,000 children. Twelve Eco-Schools were destroyed and some of the teachers lost their lives.
FEE, through its five programmes and global network, was in a position to not only mobilise support for the recovery of the Eco-Schools, but to educate, increase awareness, and shift the mindsets in children, youth and adults with regard to mitigating the effects of climate change and the increasing strength and frequency of natural disasters.
To raise awareness of the campaign, a number of videos were created. This video was edited and narrated by YRE Alumni, Kristin Rodrigo, and produced with the help of BREEF, Eco-Schools Bahamas, FEE and the YRE programme. The video footage is courtesy of Eddy Raphael and EyeWitness News Bahamas.
The objectives of the Children for Children campaign were to:
Raise awareness on climate change.
Provide education for disaster resilience.
Create empathy and a sense of global citizenship.
Mobilise the power of the network.
Organise support in cash and kind for the recovery efforts of the twelve Eco-Schools in The Bahamas.
Fundraising Ideas
A litter clean-up.
Auction or sales by students during a school event.
Sports competition.
A charity event e.g. exhibition, expert talk on climate change topic, school fair, etc.
Organise a Global Action Day activity with a fundraising component.
A recycling activity to raise money.
Running the Campaign
Schools were invited to participate in the campaign through a number of activities that would help educate students on climate change and disaster risk reduction and include a fundraising component to raise money for the damaged Eco-Schools in The Bahamas. FEE proposed the following actions:
Students plan an awareness campaign on the impact of climate change and empathy which includes a fundraising activity.
Implement the student-led campaign.
Organise a Global Action Day that will focus on climate change and disaster risk reduction.
Share stories and images of the school’s campaign activities. Stories may showcase the planning, carrying out and final results of the activities.
YRE students can organise a media campaign raising awareness on the impacts of climate change and report on activities organised in school in relation to the Children for Children campaign.
Educational Materials to Support Campaign Activities
In addition to a three-part lesson plan on climate change, disaster risk reduction and organizing a fundraising and awareness campaign, developed by the Eco-Schools and Young Reporters for the Environment programmes, you can find more resources here.
Promoting the Campaign
In order to engage as many schools around the world in the Children for Children campaign, the YRE International team used social media to raise awareness of the campaign and motivate participants. Posts related to the campaign were regularly shared via the Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) social media channels, including Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
A number of Eco-Schools students from around the world sent videos with words of support and hope to the Eco-Schools in The Bahamas. It was a simple, but powerful way of expressing solidarity during challenging times.
We also organized and ran a Children for Children webinar series in collaboration with our partner BREEF in The Bahamas. The webinars were an opportunity to hear directly from teachers at affected schools, learn about the role coral reefs and mangroves play in mitigating the effects of climate change on The Bahamas, and how any school could develop a disaster risk reduction strategy. Both webinars can be watched on the YRE International YouTube channel.
Thank you!
To the team at BREEF, our partner in The Bahamas, for their collaboration in the Children for Children campaign.
To all the students, teachers and school communities who raised money to support the recovery of Eco-Schools in The Bahamas.
To all the students who sent in videos with inspiring messages.