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WeCaN Young Woman Champion for Sahel Region  

Young activists are speaking out about the urgency of reducing carbon emissions, and they are leading change within their own communities. Indeed, for every young leader pictured on a magazine cover, thousands more are working daily for causes like climate justice, racial and gender equality, and sustainable development change. 

We are initiating a new storytelling series on WeCaN women champions, to get to know the protagonists of this network:  the everyday invisible heroes, with desires, dreams and knowledge,which they manage to turn into facts through their activism, projects, campaigns and tireless day-to-day work. This storytelling series aims to showcase the WeCaNwomens’ professional journeys, challenges and successes, as well as their major contributions for action. By recognizing the significant role of women and girls around the different dryland regions, we can increase the impact and effectiveness of their involvement. Furthermore, the purpose is to promote female leadership, showcase eloquent role models and the knowledge women have, towards a more egalitarian and sustainable society, and thus a more sustainable future for all.  

The series starts on the 8th of March, aligned with the priority theme of the International Women’s Day 2022 (IWD22): “Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow”. This year, IWD celebrates the women and girls who are leading the charge on climate change adaptation and honours their leadership and contributions towards a sustainable future.    

Why are people becoming terrorists? Lake Tchad, which is an important water resource in the Sahel region, is shrinking, yet many people rely on this water. And now, terrorist organizations are recognizing it and using it as an asset to recruit more people. Imagine a poor farmer in a village, who relies heavily on the lake, now experiencing that nature is no longer merciful.With climate change and poverty on the rise, imagine not having enough money and food, when suddenly someone comes along and proposes, “come and join us, we have a lot of money to give you.” You might be enticed and join them, even if it means to commit a crime. Unfortunately, this is becoming more common because terrorism is like a virus, when you let it come, it spreads.  

I decided to be an activist for the Sahel region, specifically for Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, and Niger. We founded the movement Act Of Sahel, involving 8 activists who were all men. Recently we involved another girlfrom Burkina Faso. We worked on social media to explain the Sahel region situation to external audiences, as many were unfamiliar with the Sahel region and what is happening there. We need to remind to everybodywhat’s going on. We want to show the  reality and the constraints related to the water access, for example. In fact, due to the climate variability, water resources are highly vulnerable to changes in rain, temperature and wind patterns.  Increasing public awareness on this issue is crucial to exploring solutions and effective responses to the population.   

My dream for this movement is simple. We already have a lot of movements in the Sahel region, but if we don’t find the right solutions, there will be a lot of migration and more conflicts. I feel really bad for these women and their responsibility towards the family. In fact, usually men decide to migrate, but women stay in their own country, dealing with poverty, without support.  

 3. What is the value of youth advocacy in the climate movement? What unique perspective do you bring? 

Acting and advocating at the same time. Last year, we worked with farmers in a crowdfunding campaign – we asked them to participate by buying seeds because we believe that it allow them to be more involved in omen don't have access to land, most of the farmers are men and we want to create a connection between men and women. Women are not the landowners, andthey are paid little money for the small work on the ground. Everything is in the mens’ hands. For rural women farmers, these challenges can be exacerbated by gender norms. Traditionally, married women do not farm independently of their husbands. Those who do face challenges, such as limited access to labour and capital. As a result, they rent land instead of becoming the women landowner.  

In fact, women are helping to maintain food security by producing local food, such as manioc, maize, beans, instead of soya for export. Women couldalso form farm cooperatives, making, selling and trading local goods and taking on additional farming responsibilities traditionally performed by men. In doing so, they are gradually gaining control over their livelihoods, and ultimately shifting gender roles in their communities.  

Regarding youth and environmental movements, I just would like to highlight another major problem: we don’t have many French speaking activists, which really hinders our ability to speak out. If we cannot speak English, we are out of the climate change debate.In fact, theenvironmental movements should be more open to everybody-we need to speak English, Portuguese, Spanish, French...why not Swahili? The most affected people better explain themselves in their own language and they deserve to express their authentic voices!  

4. In a nutshell, what message would you give to the international community on the importance of fighting climate change? 

Stop talking and start acting! Action is saving time, not conferences! People need hope!  Themajority of the population need to live in a safe and healthy environment.  

Kaossara Sani stands up for what she believes in: Empowering Women is a cornerstone to improving the extreme poverty situation in the Sahel Region. By tackling discrimination and providing women access to farming, land ownership and trade it is possible to give them hope to increase control over their future and improve the quality of living of their families.  Indeed, in the Sahel region people are facing a double jeopardy: poverty strongly related to climate change, the threats of a terrorist movement and continued conflicts. This bulk of burden usually relies on women, because men often migrate in search for a better life while women are left behind to take care of their family, farm the land and feed the children. They are also left to survive many armed conflicts and terrorist attacks.  

Regarding the activism movements, a major challenge identified by Kaossara is that there aren’t many French speaking activists – if they can’t speak English, their voice becomes insignificant, and they are left out of the debate on climate changes. In terms of language, it is very important to be more inclusive and let everyone be able to speak out. 

Within the WeCaN community of practice we aim to support the girls’ and womens’ rights movement to grow, taking it from the grassroots to the global level. We have co-designed a mutual South–South learning space to strengthen capacities and knowledge sharing, creating synergies and supporting women leadership roles, as Kaossara in this youth Sahel movement. Indeed, our main purpose is to give the stage to the young activists, women leaders and civil society representatives of women-led organizations, particularly in the dryland regions. By collecting and expressing women contributions, policy proposals and practical experiences in the global climate change arena, we can achieve more effective and inclusive advocacy actions.