The campaign was held last Wednesday and Thursday in Deep Level Section.
Campaigners are part of the the Khangezile Primary School project that aims to empower women with skills and at the same time, educate them about being energy wise.
Khangezile Primary School is one of the eight project sites of the European Union (EU) funded project, “Sustainable use of natural resources to improve resilience in South Africa: A grassroots women’s initiative”.
The project seeks to educate community members of KwaThema about the technologies installed in the school, with information on climate change mitigation.
The school makes use of natural resources such as solar PV panels, a biogas digester that produces gas from vegetable waste, and rainwater harvesters with a dripline irrigation system to collect and manage waste.
Overall the project educates locals on energy sources, using energy efficiently and farming methods to start their own vegetable gardens to feed their families and sell for an extra income.
Thabo Sibeko of Earthlife Africa, one of the partners in the project, says the project aims to reach at least 800 women in the 400 households around KwaThema, with the hope that they educate other women in the community on climate change and using natural resources.
“Many women in the community are unemployed and therefore struggle to buy electricity on a regular basis, if they make use of natural resources they can save money and energy,” says Sibeko.
“We also want to engage with the community and want to know how much they know about climate change and what causes it, so we are able to educate and give them the correct information,” he adds.
