November 17, 2020
The role of climate warriors for peace
In this conversation, a select group of environmentalists from Bolivia and Rwanda discussed their unique approach to tackling the climate crisis and the implications of their work for conflict prevention and peacebuilding. From the founder of a water grid company that provides safe, accessible drinking water to Rwandan communities, to a Bolivian lawyer and urban planner who organises tree planting demonstrations as a form of resistance, the discussion highlighted the importance of integrating grassroots voices, women, and youth in climate-related decision making. It centred on the power of community-based action but also underscored the necessity of cross-sectoral collaboration with governments, NGOs, and the private sector to tackle such a massive challenge.
Youth have an appetite for capacity building
Ineza Umuhoza Grace, the founder and CEO of The Green Fighter, a Rwandan youth-led NGO that designs and implements community-based projects that protect the environment, spoke about the desire of schools in her community to teach youth about the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. For her, this is evidence of eagerness among youth to be equipped with the background and language to meaningfully participate in policymaking processes.
Conflating women and youth leads to tokenism and fewer seats at the table
Ineza and Christelle Kwizera, the founder of Water Access Rwanda, both spoke about the pros and cons of development organizations’ tendency to group women and youth into one demographic category. Christelle shared that this categorization has led to more opportunities for her because she can lean on either aspect of her identity to help get a seat at the table. Ineza, in contrast, expressed frustration about the categorization because she feels that the ticking of two boxes at once leads to tokenism, quota filling, and ultimately fewer seats at the table for both women and youth.
Treat beneficiaries like customers instead of aid recipients
Christelle described how Water Access Rwanda sets out to address the water crisis in Africa. Christelle’s approach is to give the beneficiaries that she works with the same voice that a consumer would have. She asks them what they would prefer: water they need to purify with a handpump or water that is available as treated? Everyone wanted treated water over handpumps. Then the question became how to achieve this within people’s means. She found that participants, although at the bottom of the economic pyramid, were willing to pay proportionally more for water than others with more resources. She observed that poverty is not the absence of things, it’s just the presence of little compared to others. She believes that by working with what communities desire, poverty-ridden areas can grow into a market that can sustain an enterprise. Her solution became INUMA™ safe water mini-grids, an affordable decentralized water infrastructure that is 1) a water collection facility, 2) a water treatment facility, and 3) a distribution microgrid facility/network, all in one place.
Eliana Torrico
Eliana Torrico
Eliana Torrico
Eliana Torrico
Eliana Torrico
Eliana Torrico
Ineza Umuhoza Grace
Ineza Umuhoza Grace
Ineza Umuhoza Grace
Ineza Umuhoza Grace
Ineza Umuhoza Grace
Ineza Umuhoza Grace
Christelle Kwizera
Christelle Kwizera
Christelle Kwizera
Christelle Kwizera
Christelle Kwizera
Christelle Kwizera
