The UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa in collaboration with the UNESCO Windhoek Office are organizing a poster initiative and an open access bulletin board Padlet challenge to celebrate the World Science Day for Peace and Development on 10 November 2021 under the theme “Building a Climate-Resilient Community”. In celebrating the day, young people are invited to express their views on what communities can do at local level to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The World Science Day is held annually on 10 November as a means of highlighting the important role of science in society and the need to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues. It also underlines the importance and relevance of science in our daily lives. With climate change a major issue for Africa, the event is also an opportunity to invite youth to identify how Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) can contribute to local adaptation efforts.
Four posters with the following phrases will be distributed in primary schools in each country to collect children’s actions or suggestions for action that directly benefit climate change adaptation at local level:
• We Are a Climate Ready School. We are Climate Smart.
• One Planet, One Chance. We are Climate Smart.
• Don’t be a fool, make earth cool. We are Climate Smart.
• Climate Revolution, Stop Pollution. We are Climate Smart.
Pictures of the posters will be posted on social media to raise further awareness and used as inputs for the STI Systems project.
In parallel, through the use of the open access bulletin board, Padlet, a similar open challenge will be launched, targeting the secondary school children and higher education students, policy makers and scientists to post videos, photos, other art or comments on the theme. Posts can show what is being done or express what they believe is needed, with particular attention to innovation and relevance of science and technology. This open challenge will complement the ongoing SIDA-funded project on “Strengthening Science, Technology and Innovation Systems for Sustainable Development in Africa”. As such, the open challenge will also focus on raising awareness on the 10 key areas of the UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers (2017), and the role of science and scientists for national and international sustainable development. The board can be accessed here.