African Climate Stories Fellowship
Enabling Creatives and Climate Activists to invest in our planet with a story
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Are you a creative, storyteller, or climate activist?
Are you interested in being a part of the first cohort of a fellowship dedicated to environmental and climate storytelling?
If yes, then read on.
I see different forms of environmental neglect daily to a point where they now seem normal.
In less than 3 years since moving to Lagos, I have witnessed several flooding events in various communities. In many of these cases, I believe these events were preventable as something as simple as proper waste disposal would have left drainages clear when it rains.Take a walk along the street and observe, a man drinks a bottle of water, and flings the empty bottle into the air to land wherever it pleases. At the same time, a student walking back from school eating biscuits, drops the wrap right there on the ground like it's nothing. Well, obviously it's nothing here.But why is a simple action that could save a lot of lives and properties, not generally practised? Why is proper disposal of waste not generally practised around major cities in Nigeria? Are people aware of the immense benefit and transformation imbibing an environmentally conscious habit can bring to our society, from good health, to clean air and long life?I ventured into multimedia content creation after observing the exponential impact of multimedia content during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of my favourite projects was a documentary I produced about a Fisherwoman living in a coastal community in Lagos. She highlighted how some human activities were affecting the sea life and her source of livelihood. Guess what one of those activities was…
you are right, if you guessed litter and plastic waste.
I was inspired to produce that documentary because I believe storytelling is one of the easiest ways to explain things to people. You have followed me thus far because of my story and I thank you. By now I believe you will agree with me that environmental pollution is a menace to our society and we will need to use more stories like this to reach as many people as possible to see how much positive change we can bring about.Different communities and audiences may prefer a certain kind of medium, it doesn't always have to be a written piece like this one. It could be videos, or maybe podcasts, or pictures or perhaps a song. It could even be in an indigenous language that each community understands. What matters the most is that the message is relatable enough to spark change.Recently I received support funding from the Urban Movement Innovation Fund through the Social Change Nest to manage a project called African Climate Stories Fellowship. This Fellowship seeks to drive change towards environmental accountability by convening creatives and climate activists to co-create and share multimedia contents for climate impact awareness and environmental sustainability efforts in their communities.
Multimedia storytelling is a very powerful tool for inspiring action, yet many environmental and climate activists aren't equipped or skilled enough to use storytelling and media in ways that could inspire massive behavioural change. On the other hand, so many media creators do not use their channels and skills enough to support the efforts of environmental activists.As a collective, we could collaborate to create an exponential impact on the issue of environmental accountability and climate change using our stories.The fellowship will be a 10-week online program for 20 committed fellows in Nigeria. Fellows will be trained on understanding environmental action and climate change, and how they can apply storytelling and multimedia skills to raise more awareness on the issues in ways that are most relatable to their audience. The details of the fellowship have been highlighted on the application form.If the above sounds like something you are interested in, then you will make a perfect African Climate Stories Fellow. Kindly click on the application link below to apply, or share with a friend who fits the profile.Your Climate Story comrade,
Nina Mbah.
Watch our first episode
African Climate Stories Fellowship is brought to you by Monoversal Digital Multimedia with support from Urban Movement Innovation Fund through The Social Change Nest
