Promoting Africa’s Air Quality Commitment
Challenge
Air pollution is the second-largest cause of death in Africa. Approximately 1.1 million deaths per year have been linked to air pollution across Africa. Our client, C40 Cities, a global network of mayors taking urgent action to confront the climate crisis, had succeeded in securing the commitments of 10 African cities to sign a Clean Air Declaration to improve air quality in their cities. The cities include Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Dakar, Ekurhuleni, Freetown, Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi, and Tshwane. C40 engaged Gatefield to deliver high-level communications support ahead of the declaration that was held during the 9th Africa Summit in Kisumu, Kenya.
The aim of the engagement was to help mayors communicate to their public and to ensure that they are held accountable for keeping the ambitious commitments around air quality and emissions reductions. The audiences would be educated about the connections between air quality, health, and climate action and informed about local commitments to air quality.
Expected results of meeting the goals of the declaration.
Approach
Gatefield reached out to 50 health and environmental journalists from Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, representing domestic and regional networks, about the air quality commitment and science-based facts about the impact of air pollution. We also connected these journalists with the mayor’s offices for interviews and additional information.
To increase awareness of the commitment, we assisted the mayors in creating personalized and contextual communications toolkits (in English, French, and Amharic), which contained educational and informational resources as well as media and social content targeted at various audience groups.
In line with the objective of keeping the governments accountable for their commitments, we engaged popular climate advocates to create and distribute content about the importance of air quality and to amplify their commitments within their communities.
Results
- The declaration received positive coverage from about 80 high-profile media organizations in all the eight countries targeted as well as across the continent through regional networks.
- Several cities such as Lagos, Nigeria’s largest state, have started to fulfill their commitments at the declaration with the pilot of an electric mass transit scheme, leading to reduced emissions and improved air quality.
