Action
About the Programme
Our action programme focuses on collaborating with civil society and community-based organisations, as well as schools to partner in actions which call for transformative and restorative climate justice. Our focus for our action programme has been provincially in the Western Cape and nationally in South Africa. However, we have also brought Africa-wide issues to our South African government through collaboration and solidarity.
Our programme focuses include:
Mobilisation and protests
School Engagements
Coalition and movement building
Artivism
SOME OF OUR KEY ACTION WORK:
MARCH FOR SYSTEM CHANGE
The March for System Change is an example of one of our regular coalition-led mobilisations. The march is aimed at addressing the need for energy, water, housing and food access for all to address the interlinking crises of income inequality, climate crisis, water and food insecurity.
We implemented the March for System Change as a way to highlight the intersectional (cross cutting) nature of the climate and environmental crises, and to draw attention to the fact that we need systemic change to address any and all of the issues facing the country and the world.
SCHOOL ENGAGEMENTS
The African Climate Alliance was born out of engagement with school-going youth. It was an inter-school group of young people who chose the name for the organisation and envisioned a youth network spanning the African continent.
While the organisation has grown and changed since then (and builds on that vision in our other programmes), we continue engaging with schools and school eco clubs in South Africa through our and our partners’ work.
We aim to engage school-going youth in the climate issue as they are some of the most important stakeholders in the impacts of the climate climate. This crisis will increasingly impact their future if more is not done to mitigate it. We also offer resources that can be utilised by schools to educate learners about the climate crisis.
If you are a school student or teacher, email us at team@africanclimatealliance.org for more information.
COALITION-LED MOBILISATIONS AND PROTESTS
Our work started with a group of people who organised a mass climate protest in Cape Town supported by schools and civil society. Since then, our work has expanded, but we still believe in building solidarity and collaboration across movements and organisations. As such, our action programme doesn’t exist in isolation.
We have a number of partners who we regularly work with to organise mobilisations and protests. We deliver demands to the government consistently, calling on them to use the climate crisis as an opportunity to make social, economic and environmental reforms that will bring positive change to the people of South Africa. We have had a number of engagements with the government beyond these protests and have seen some of our demands partly addressed. We will continue to organise actions until we realise the full potential of the change we seek.
COALITIONS
We are part of several coalitions and networks as part of our commitment to collaboration and solidarity. Some of this has included:
Tthe National Co-ordinating Committee for the nationwide #UprootTheDMRE protests. This group has called for the transformation of South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.
Being on the steering committee for the Climate Justice Coalition.
Endorsing the Climate Justice Charter Movement.
Being a part of several other networks and coalitions
ARTIVISM
We want to bring joy, fun and creativity into activism. That is why we often focus on hopeful messages and positive solutions while still holding space for pain and anger.
Bringing art into our work is one of the ways we do this. Whether through musical performances at our protests, artivism workshops or poster paintings, artivism (art + activism) is a crucial aspect of any activations we host. Here, you can see local musicians, Soundz of the South, performing at one of our events.
