From A Self-Funded Community Pilot To 800 Coastal Changemakers: Gacrg Evolves Into The Coastal Futures Initiative

FREETOWN, Sept. 14 (232News) — What began as a self-funded experiment by Craving 4 Development (C4D) in one coastal community is now evolving into a much larger movement for climate resilience, green livelihoods and community-led environmental action across Freetown’s coastal communities.

In 2025, C4D invested its own resources to pilot the Gender-Anchored Climate-Resilient Growth (GACRG) Programme in Funkia, testing a simple but ambitious proposition: that some of the challenges confronting vulnerable coastal communities, from waste and environmental degradation to unemployment and limited opportunities for women and young people, could be addressed through an integrated model combining climate action, skills development, enterprise, women’s empowerment, civic participation and community ownership.

The results demonstrated the potential of the model.

During the pilot, more than 25 tonnes of waste were removed from the community; 71 women and girls completed enterprise training; more than 1,000 people were reached through climate change, mental health and drug prevention activities; over 500 residents participated in civic advocacy; and more than 200 adolescent girls were reached with sexual and reproductive health education.

That pilot has now helped give birth to something much bigger.

Under the Coastal Futures Initiative (CFI), the model is being scaled beyond Funkia to reach coastal communities across Freetown, connecting community climate resilience with circularity, waste-to-wealth, green entrepreneurship, sustainable livelihoods and youth climate leadership.

The Coastal Futures Initiative forms part of a wider regional programme spanning Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Senegal and Ghana, with the overall ambition of empowering young people, especially women, in climate-vulnerable coastal communities to become leaders of scalable climate solutions, green enterprises and community resilience.

In Sierra Leone, Craving 4 Development is the implementing partner, working with the Africa Governance Institute (AGI), with Freetown Innovation Lab (FIL) serving as a technical partner for the first major practical activation.

800 COASTAL CHANGEMAKERS: TURNING WASTE INTO WEALTH

From 15–18 September 2026, the Coastal Futures Initiative will launch its major Sierra Leone skills pathway by equipping 800 people from coastal communities with practical skills in recycling, upcycling, waste management, circularity and turning waste into economic opportunity.

The Coastal Community Recycling Training 2026, themed “Turning Waste into Opportunity: Community Recycling, Environmental Action and Sustainable Livelihoods,” is designed as an entry point into the wider Coastal Futures Initiative.

Through eight practical working stations, participants will explore waste collection and sorting and learn how recovered materials can be transformed into products including furniture, flower pots, garbage bins, bean bags, rugs and other useful items.

FROM 800 CHANGEMAKERS TO CLIMATE ENTREPRENEURS

The 800-person training represents the beginning of a longer pathway.

From the initial group of 800 Coastal Changemakers, 100 high-potential participants will be selected for more intensive capacity building through a specialised bootcamp focused on circularity, climate solutions, entrepreneurship and business development.

40 participants will progress into structured incubation, where they will receive closer support to transform promising ideas into viable climate-solution enterprises.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

Through the September activation and the wider CFI Sierra Leone pathway, the initiative expects to:

• Train 800 Coastal Changemakers in recycling, upcycling, circularity and waste-to-wealth;
• Collect and divert at least 10 tonnes of waste, with a stretch target of 15 tonnes;
• Transform recovered materials into practical products through eight hands-on learning stations;
• Select 100 high-potential changemakers for intensive circularity, climate-solutions and business-development training;
• Incubate 40 climate-solution enterprises;
• Create pathways toward green jobs, self-employment and sustainable livelihoods;
• Advance mangrove restoration and other community-led nature-based solutions;
• Strengthen women and youth participation in climate action and green entrepreneurship;
• Build community understanding of the connection between climate resilience, environmental restoration and economic opportunity;
• Strengthen youth climate advocacy and leadership; and
• Generate evidence, enterprises and community solutions that can contribute to the wider regional Coastal Futures model.

A CALL FOR PARTNERSHIP

The scale of the climate challenge requires more than one organisation.

C4D and AGI therefore see the Coastal Futures Initiative as a platform for collaboration with Government ministries and agencies, local authorities, UN agencies, development partners, universities, environmental organisations, private-sector companies, investors, climate-finance actors, community organisations and other ecosystem partners.

Partners can contribute technical expertise, equipment, markets, mentorship, enterprise finance, climate science, ecosystem restoration expertise, research, policy alignment and opportunities for young green entrepreneurs.

The goal is to build an ecosystem in which community climate action can translate into resilience, livelihoods, enterprise and long-term opportunity.

“GACRG allowed us to test what was possible with our own resources in one community. Coastal Futures gives us the opportunity to take those lessons further, to move from a pilot to scale.”