Our Earth Sisters have been putting their recent training to great use, by starting a series of local initiatives around climate change which are geared towards helping the community prevent and reduce environmental harm.
Having come up with the activities themselves, they have begun taking place in and around Duhok, while helping raise awareness of gender injustice, women’s rights and the critical role women and girls can play in climate change mitigations.
You can see the initiatives in the image galleries below, which include:
· Unstoppable Innovators: This activity involved the cleaning of sewers in Baroshke, which aims to prevent future flooding caused by heavy rain. It included clearing piles of harmful rubbish from drains so that run-off rainwater can flow more freely. There were also awareness-raising visits covering environmental protection in schools, as well as with local residents and shop owners.
· New Life Green Generation: The Earth Sisters are distributing different types of trees to the mothers of newborn babies, so they can plant them in their gardens to encourage new growth and improve air quality. The initiative will also help educate the community on the importance of tree-planting to increase peace, cohesion and prosperity as well as adding beauty to the city.
· International Environment Day: In coordination with the environmental department in Duhok, this initiative will consist of installing an irrigation system at Duhok University for watering newly-planted trees, which will help keep the air fresh and clean, while also encouraging university students to protect their own environment to reduce climate change effects.
· Safe Water: This initiative sees the Earth Sisters providing environmentally-friendly reusable water bottles to school students in order to decrease reliance on disposable plastic water bottles. It also aims to reduce health issues including dehydration and fainting, while improving other essential bodily functions and preventing illnesses associated with water toxicity.
· Art can Change: This initiative at Duhok University and Daliva school showed how climate change can be tackled through art - encouraging young people to take better care of the planet through their actions.
Earth Sisters is our pioneering project supported by the Consulate General of Germany in Erbil, and also saw participants trained in communications, critical thinking and leadership skills.
We’re so proud of everything they have achieved on this project.