Kids Designing a Better Future
Have you ever wondered what the world would look like if children were in the lead? On Saturday the 3d of November the very first Global Children's Designathon took place in Accra, Ghana. It was a day on which Ghanaian children from different backgrounds got together and designed solutions for Life on Land issues, one of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Global Children's Designathon allows children worldwide to unleash their creativity and invent solutions for big world problems. This year, children in 30 cities worldwide were working in parallel on Life of Land issues, focusing on what happens to the earth when we continue cutting down trees. By using the unique Designathon method, the kids went through a process of design thinking and making, in which they came up with their solution step by step.
In Ghana Dr. Monk hosted the GCD. We had a unique mix of kids working together. One group of children joined us from a cocoa-farming community close to Suhum, another group from Jamestown, a fishing community in Accra and a third group from Agbogbloshie, home of the world's largest e-waste site. All the kids gathered at Mmofra place, a sustainably designed children's park in Accra, allowing them to learn and create in a beautiful green space.
The topic of deforestation was relatable to both the children from rural environments, as well as the kids from urbanized Accra, a city that has been undergoing rapid changes and where the impact of deforestation and pollution is very visible. Many of the participating kids were very aware of the big challenges the world is facing. They came up with creative and inspiring ideas to save trees, plant new ones and prevent pollution and waste.
The day ended with the kids presenting small prototypes of their solutions in front of an expert panel. From a house made of clay and bamboo to stop deforestation, to a machine that recycles tires to prevent air pollution caused by burning tires, it was amazing to see the outcome of this great day.
