Over seventy youths in the country have received practical training on how to explicitly access information on climate change and other related matters on the environment.

The training organised under the theme “Project Green Citizens" exposed the participants to skills to be adopted in accessing information to better understand the climate change narrative.

The 2024 annual Wiki-Green the conference helped participants delve into the damaging effects of pollution and climate change on Ghanaians' rights and freedoms.

They explored potential solutions to the country’s environmental challenges through open projects like Wikimedia.

The conference brought together young people from diverse backgrounds ranging from academics, researchers, and practitioners to environmental advocates.

One of the founders of the Wiki Green initiative and a Wikipedian, Stephen Dakye opined that the conference is set to bring equality in terms of accessing climate information.

He explains though most of the communities affected by climate change in Ghana do not speak English, literature and discussions on the matter is almost always in English.

The language barriers, he believes, is not bringing about the needed result in the fight for climate action.

“The Wiki Conference therefore does not only seek to bridge this gap but also train young people on how to use the resource,” he said.

The participants were guided to understand how to harness the importance of the open digital movement to improve their environmental activities and increase their reach.

Young people were challenged to use their phones, social media handles and the free access to open platforms to contribute to the global campaign for sustainability.

In a practical session facilitated by Otuo-Akyampong Boakye, a Co-founder of the Wiki Green Initiative, the participants were made to utilize the audio feature on Wikipedia article to increase awareness of Environmental pollution and climate change in local languages.

Prior to the Conference, volunteers of the Wiki Green Initiative had been trained to translate and record audio content of articles on climate change and environmental sustainability.

The new content created was added to already existing articles on Wikipedia to improve them. The languages included Twi and the Ghanaian pidgin.

The conference provided a platform for the Wiki Green team to showcase their work and also train industry players on how to effectively use Open projects like Wikipedia to increase their reach.