This is a flagship campaign that forms a core element of the National Movement #LandthatweloveSierraLeone, which was initiated in the aftermath of the August 2017 mudslide catastrophe.
The campaign is one of 3 outcomes that the movement sought to achieve, through a photo exhibition series that was curated by EFA, with some cash and in-kind contributions from members of the movement and a small grant from Irish Aid. The campaign, which is intended to target Sierra Leone’s 1.9 million school children across the country, over the next 3 years.
i) “Every Child Plants and Cares for a Tree” is a flagship initiative of the National Movement #LandthatweloveSierraLeone (#LTWL).
ii) #LTWL is a national / international non-partisan movement of Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad, as well as friends and partners of Sierra Leone, informed and inspired by the possibility to be part of a “national project”.
iii) “Every Child Plants and Cares for a Tree” is a “national project”, whereby all the stakeholders – Government, Private Sector, Civil Society, Academia, Local Communities, Sierra Leoneans abroad, International Partners – are seeking to work collectively, as an effective mechanism of positive action, to address the most urgent environmental challenge in the country – deforestation and land degradation.
iv) The national campaign ‘Every Child Plants and Cares for a Tree’ is expected therefore, to mobilise positive opinions across all sectors of society, and attract partners / sponsors from various sectors, nationally and internationally, as it responds directly to four Sustainable Development Goals:
SDG 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
SDG 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss
SDG 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development.
v) The Objectives of the National Campaign – “Every Child Plants and Cares for a Tree”:
- To motivate everyone living and working in Sierra Leone to participate actively in enabling
All Children, to learn about caring for trees as a first step, towards restoring our degraded forests and protecting the environment;
- To deepen the children’s respect for and understanding of their local environment.
- To re-establish a national spirit of voluntarism, as fundamental to the future of Sierra Leone’s development.
- To foster national cohesion for achieving a common cause that benefits present and future generations.