Wongani Mulanga from Malawi is OD Young Person of the Month – August 2026 – YOA

Wongani Mulanga is a Malawian Environmental Scientist and the Co-Founder and Executive  Director of Green Minds Malawi, a youth-led organisation working at the intersection of  local weather schooling, clear power entry, and group engagement. She additionally runs Her  Climate Lab, a woman-led local weather schooling programme at a secondary college in Mangochi.  

Background and Work 

Growing up, Wongani watched college students round her work onerous with little or no to indicate for it,  not as a result of they lacked capability, however as a result of they lacked electrical energy to study by, assets to  be taught with, and areas that mirrored their potential again at them. She carried that remark  via college and into college, and when she completed her BSc in Environmental Science,  she determined she was not going to attend for a job earlier than doing one thing about it. Together  with three different younger individuals, she co-based Green Minds Malawi and launched the Green  Ed Initiative nearly instantly after ending college. Green Ed is constructed on the conviction that academic inequality and environmental degradation  share the identical root. Students finding out by kerosene lamp are respiratory dangerous fumes and  falling behind academically as a result of the mild is poor, and each issues have the identical  resolution. Through the initiative, Green Minds distributes photo voltaic lamps to college students from  households with out dependable electrical energy, works with faculties to ascertain environmental golf equipment,  introduces waste administration via bin donations and clear-up campaigns, and vegetation  timber. Young persons are handled as thinkers who’re already part of the local weather story, not as  passive recipients ready to be educated.  The initiative has engaged over 100 college students throughout 4 companion faculties, three main  faculties and one secondary college, via environmental schooling, membership actions, and  clear power entry. The work has additionally prolonged past Green Minds. Through Her Climate  Lab, Wongani facilitated a session on photo voltaic power and clear expertise with a gaggle of  younger girls finding out at a secondary college in Mangochi, connecting local weather science to the  power decisions their households make each day. 

How It Started 

There was no single dramatic second, it was simply an accumulation of issues noticed over  years, college students counting on kerosene to learn at evening, environmental points handled as secondary  in communities already carrying too many burdens, younger individuals not noted of conversations  about modifications affecting their lakes, their farms, and their futures. What pushed Wongani to  act was recognising that the hole was not in consciousness. Most individuals already know the  surroundings is beneath strain. The hole was in sensible instruments and platforms that might enable  younger individuals to do one thing about it, and he or she didn’t need to be somebody who wrote  experiences about that hole with out attempting to shut it. 

Successes So Far 

Green Minds has distributed photo voltaic lamps to college students from households with out electrical energy,  enabling them to study at evening whereas adopting clear power in ways in which really feel private and  fast somewhat than summary. Four college partnerships have produced environmental golf equipment,  clear-up campaigns, waste administration initiatives, and tree planting actions. The  organisation has additionally been documenting local weather tales from communities residing on the  shores of Lake Malawi, capturing flood experiences and restoration via its Climate  Witness challenge. 

Challenges and How They Were Faced 

Like most youth-led startups, the hardest factor has been funding. Green Minds is nonetheless largely  self-funded, with the founding staff working voluntarily and counting on private  contributions alongside a small pool of devoted volunteers to maintain operations operating.  There is no comfy funds to fall again on, and each exercise requires discovering artistic  methods to make restricted assets go additional. The staff has navigated this by being deliberate  about commitments, solely promising what can really be delivered, and constructing partnerships  that contribute in-sort the place money is not out there. The different problem has been truthful distribution of lamps. School-level suggestions don’t  all the time replicate family realities, as a result of favouritism and restricted info imply that the  college students who want help most usually are not all the time the ones put ahead. Green Minds responded  by introducing family visits earlier than distribution choices are made, so the staff sees  circumstances straight somewhat than counting on second hand nominations. 

Plans for the Future 
The purpose is to increase Green Ed to extra faculties throughout Malawi, prioritising districts the place  power poverty and restricted environmental schooling overlap most. An instalment-based mostly  mannequin for lamp entry is being developed in order that college students whose households can contribute  one thing can accomplish that over time, making the programme extra financially sustainable with out  eradicating the full donation mannequin for many who can’t contribute in any respect. 

Words of Advice for Young Changemakers
Do not wait till circumstances really feel proper, as a result of they not often do. Start the place you might be, keep shut  to the communities your work is meant to serve, and discover at the least one one that believes in  what you might be doing however will even inform you the reality when one thing is not working. Proximity  and honesty are what make influence final past a single challenge or funding cycle. 

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