Philemon Djoi (he/him)

How are you using education to build more sustainable and equitable communities? Tell us about your EE work and impact. 

I use environmental education to help children, young people, and local communities understand environmental challenges and become active participants in protecting nature. In Benin, where environmental issues are rarely taught in schools, I initiated and lead the CPN APASAT environmental club to fill this gap.

Between 2023 and 2024, our activities reached more than 2,000 students in 21 schools and 13 churches. I facilitate sessions on the importance of trees, waste management, wildlife conservation, and climate adaptation, combining learning with practical actions such as tree planting, recycling, transforming plastic bottles into flower pots, and providing trash cans to schools. We conduct follow-up visits six months after interventions to assess behavioral change.

I also facilitate environmental education and community discussions with fishermen, farmers, hunters, traditional healers, and women living near protected areas, particularly around the Mono and Ouémé Biosphere Reserves. With more than 560 people reached, these sessions address human-wildlife coexistence and promote practical solutions adapted to local realities.

For me, sustainable and equitable communities are built when education is accessible, participatory, and rooted in listening—giving people the knowledge and opportunity to shape solutions themselves.

Tell us about your journey to where you are today. What inspired you? What has your path been like? 

As a child, I witnessed how communities depended on wetlands, forests, and rivers for their daily survival, and how quickly that balance could be disrupted. That early observation planted a seed that has never left me.

My journey has since been shaped by a commitment to biodiversity conservation and environmental education. I chose a path that is still barely recognized professionally in my context, often facing questions from family and friends about the value of this work. With limited resources, I have had to forge my own path, navigating between local realities and international frameworks, and between scientific knowledge and traditional wisdom.

In this journey, I realized that conservation is not only about protecting species and ecosystems; it is also about building understanding and changing relationships between people and nature. This led me to environmental education, where I work with children, young people, and communities.

What keeps me moving forward are the small signs of change I witness: a child choosing to put a plastic bag in a trash can after an environmental education session, or a fisherman adjusting his fishing spot to avoid disturbing a hippopotamus. These moments remind me that education, rooted in respect and listening, can transform the relationship between humans and nature, one person at a time.

How can people learn more about or support your work? 

People can learn more about and support my work by following the activities of APASAT ONG and the CPN APASAT environmental club, where I lead environmental education initiatives focused on biodiversity conservation, climate change, pollution, and human-wildlife coexistence.

One of the main challenges limiting our work is access to the resources needed to turn environmental education into practical experiences. We welcome financial and in-kind support to provide more plants for tree-planting activities, develop educational brochures and materials, acquire binoculars, bird identification field guides, and a camera for field-based learning and wildlife observation, and secure transportation to take children into the field to experience nature directly.

Support can also come through partnerships with schools, conservation organizations, community groups, and individuals who can help us expand these activities. Sharing our work, connecting us with potential partners, providing equipment, or supporting specific environmental education activities can help us reach more children and communities.

Our goal is to make environmental education more practical, accessible, and connected to local realities, so that children and communities can not only learn about nature but also take part in protecting it.

Check out APASAT NGO's website >

For questions, reach out to contact@apasatong.org.

A Little More About Me

What advice would you give to the next generation of leaders?
Do not wait for perfect conditions to act. Start with what you have, listen to your community, and remember that even a small change in one person can contribute to a larger transformation.

What is your superpower? Which of your qualities best fuels the work you do?
My superpower is listening and adapting. It helps me understand different perspectives, build trust with communities, and find practical ways to connect environmental knowledge with local realities.

What are your hobbies?
Birdwatching, swimming, and playing the drum.