Expertise: Climate Activist
Beatrice Phiri, is a youth reporter whose weekly radio programs cover climate change and environmental sustainability and reach a cross section of her local community. Beatrice Phiri is a member of the United Nations Youth Partnership Platform in Zambia (UNYPP-z), which works hand in hand with UN agencies and the government to address chronic social problems facing the youth. In 2015, Ms. Phiri noticed erratic changes in the water and electricity supplies in her community. The water pumps in her area depended on electricity, and she found that on some days the water supplies were exhausted by 6:00 a.m. Ms, Phiri then turned to radio to educate her local community about how rapid deforestation and pollution in Zambia were directly affecting the water supplies.
As a champion for environmental and climate change activism, Ms. Phiri strives to create a world in which each and every person is informed and can access accurate information. She is often on the ground in compounds in Lusaka, interviewing people in those communities to learn of their struggle to afford coal, or to fetch adequate water to sustain their daily lives. In 2017, Beatrice Phiri won the second prize in the Girls Radio Competition organised by Plan International: Zambia and Africa Directions: Zambia. Ms. Phiri has become a figurehead in her community, empowering her peers and school children to closely examine the problems that climate change has caused in Zambia, and how to take action.
When Climate Change Became Personal, She Turned to Radio | Short Film Showcase
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLomc9-XhGc&t=25s
The Hygiene Show
https://www.wateraid.org/uk/stories/hygiene-champions
Zambian Ambassadors interview Climate Change activist Beatrice Phiri
In developing countries, climate change is destroying our communities first
