Reimagining urban systems through community-driven approaches that reduce pollution and extraction, protect public health, and advance circular models rooted in reuse, repair, and shared responsibility.
GAYO’s Energy and Just Transition work advances energy access, sovereignty, and productive use as foundational pillars of a climate-resilient Africa powered by youth leadership and locally driven solutions. Recognizing energy as both a development imperative and a justice issue, GAYO co-creates renewable energy solutions with communities in Niger, Ghana, Madagascar, and Senegal, with a continental vision to reach 20,000 households with clean, reliable energy. Through flagship initiatives such as the EU-funded RePower project (2023–2027) and alignment with continental and global efforts, including the African Union and World Bank’s Mission 300, GAYO supports the deployment of decentralized, community-responsive energy systems that strengthen local ownership. Beyond access, GAYO is intentionally domesticating the clean energy value chain by building tailored talent and workforce capacity across design, deployment, operations, and enterprise development, and is already supporting and training over 50 young women, not only in solar installation but also through incubation pathways to establish their own clean energy enterprises. Through sustained policy influence, including active engagement with IRENA, GAYO amplifies the voices of young people from across Africa to shape global energy discourse. Across RePower and GAYO’s growing energy communities, we work with local actors from project inception through completion, providing targeted technical training to ensure local workforce retention, productive energy use, and long-term community benefit as core tenets of a just energy transition.
The MineShift Project is a flagship Just Transition programme supporting artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) communities across Ghana, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to transition to climate-resilient, environmentally responsible livelihoods in some of Africa’s most ecologically sensitive and high-carbon landscapes. It delivers a clear, fundable pathway by organising miners into cooperatives, introducing mercury-free/low-impact processing, strengthening responsible equipment and mineral supply chains, and enabling livelihood diversification that reduces dependence on destructive extraction. MineShift is designed to deliver measurable results: reducing toxic pollution and land degradation, improving safety and incomes, and increasing demand for responsibly produced, climate-aligned minerals. Building on GAYO’s proven Zero Waste Cities formalisation model, it positions mining communities as partners in governance and climate solutions, creating a scalable approach to inclusive, low-impact mineral production across Africa.
GAYO supports Korle Bu vegetable farmers
AMA and GAYO join forces to tackle Accra’s waste crisis
GAYO holds Ecopreneur Summit and Training for youth in waste management
