The Green Girls Platform (GGP) video project gives a glimpse of the transformative impact of supporting young women and girls to lead environmental action and climate justice initiatives in Malawi.
For years, GGP has worked with girls and young women aged 8 to 35, creating safe spaces that equip them with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities to champion sustainable development, environmental protection, and climate resilience in their communities. This documentary project was created to capture that journey, celebrating achievements while sharing lessons, innovations, and approaches that can inspire others across Malawi and beyond.
The team pitched six stories that showed how girls and young women were turning painful experiences of extreme weather events and climate change into opportunities for resilience, leadership, and hope. The stories covered projects from including young women in the renewable energy sector to addressing the psycho-social impacts of the climate crisis and transforming farming practices.
Working with a national media company, GGP documented these stories across multiple locations in Malawi.. They captured firsthand accounts of the experiences of Girls and young women being displaced by floods, seeing deforestation degrade their environment and battling against waste and pollution. They showed how, they were challenging old ways of doing things and adapting to climate crisis, with GGP’s support. adapt to new conditions.
The project created six short videos, on specific but connected themes:
- EnergiseHer: Opening pathways for young women to pursue careers in the renewable energy sector.
- Green Innovators and Entrepreneurs: Showcasing young women-led businesses that recycle waste, create eco-friendly products, and reduce deforestation through sustainable enterprises.
- E-STEM for Climate Action: Demonstrating how environmental education is integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics to inspire youth to take climate action across Malawi.
- Girls for Climate Action: Showcasing how girls are equipped with climate knowledge, leadership, and practical skills to design and implement locally led climate action initiatives in their communities.
- Eco-Anxiety: Exploring how creating safe spaces for girls to meet, spark joy and to share their lived experiences following the disastrous floods of 2024 and 2025, and transform climate anxiety into climate action.
- The Farmers Business Game: Exploring an approach to transfer knowledge and skills for sustainable agriculture through activities that simulate real challenges without the risks.
Highlights from the series were edited into a 30-minute documentary that sets local initiatives in the context of the multiple challenges facing Malawi and GGP’s gender-transformative approach to addressing them. Girls and young women face the brunt of the climate crisis due to the uneven burden of food production, family care and natural resource management. GGP’s approach acknowledges their role in climate change adaptation. Showcasing this role also strengthens advocacy for gender-inclusive environmental policies. It challenges traditional narratives that exclude women from energy and other sectors of the economy. It helps build networks of solidarity and amplifies their contributions to environmental sustainability on local, national, and global platforms.
