Green Action Fund: Consumers International supports community-led sustainability initiatives across the world

Explore the winning campaigns

This year, our Members will carry out diverse projects, implementing solutions to a cross-section of issues related to sustainable consumption and production. 

 

Better Diets

• Educar Consumidores (Colombia) will explore the artistry of local gastronomy in the city of Villavicencio, showcasing how locally sourced produce and goods can support better nutrition, lower emissions, and a thriving local economy.  

• ADECO (Cape Verde) will lead a campaign to ‘Eat What the Earth Gives You’ encouraging healthy and sustainable eating through knowledge sharing with a local school community. 

• ADEC (Senegal) will publish and distribute amongst communities in the Dakar region a guide to good practice in the production, sale, and consumption of safe and sustainable food. 

• BSSC (Benin) will address child malnutrition by working with women living in vulnerable conditions, sharing knowledge on how to grow and produce food in a soilless environment.  

 

Sustainable Agriculture

• Consumers Association of Bangladesh have planned community awareness campaigns to improve post-harvest management. 

• Youth Education Network (Kenya) will promote effective and sustainable small-hold farming methods that use biodegradable and reusable materials, training 500 women from communities in Mumias, Kenya.  

• ADDC-Wadata (Niger) will promote the production and consumption of cassava as a complement to the country’s short supply of cereals.  

• ADECOR (Rwanda) are addressing the issue of inadequate healthy, sustainable and nutritious food caused by poor agricultural practices. Their campaign will involve community gardening, radio appearances, and stakeholder workshops with smallholder farmers, community leaders and civil society.  

 

Cutting down waste and pollution

• Consumer Council Fiji will address the crisis posed by electronic waste, organising a series of ‘community repair cafes’, where skilled volunteers will help consumers repair their broken electronics.
• Yemen Association for Consumer Protection will enhance community awareness around the environmental and health risks of pesticide containers. They will work with farmers and agricultural workers to promote the adoption of safe disposal methods.
• SEDECO (Bolivia) will address mercury pollution in rivers, advocating for stricter controls on food produce, working with local students, and running an information campaign on the risks brought by polluted rivers.
• CERC (India) will organise a ‘pre-loved exchange’, encouraging consumers to trade items rather than throw them away.
• SEWA (Nepal) will centre their campaign around the flowers of festivals including Dashain, Tihar, and Holi. Rather than discarding the flower garlands used to decorate these festivals, SEWA will run community training sessions to turn floral waste into long-life products like incense and natural colour dust.

 

Solutions to single-use plastic 

• Consumer Council Zimbabwe’s ‘Bring a Bag’ campaign will encourage consumers to switch to reusable shopping bags, with workshops on repurposing old clothes into carrier bags. 

• Yogyakarta Consumer Institute (Indonesia) will train suburban women to repurpose plastic bottles into simple irrigation tools that can be used to grow household vegetable crops. 

• CUTS (India) will host community and city level consultations to find solutions to rising levels of household waste in Jaipur. 
• TheNetwork (Pakistan) will conduct research through local university students to find out how to implement effective enforcement of the ban on single-use plastics.
• Fédération des Associations de Consommateurs de Côte d 'Ivoire will set up information workshops and sessions in a market in Abidjan, encouraging market traders  to use alternatives to plastic bags while shopping. 

 

Efficient water and energy use

• Consumers' Association of Penang (Malaysia) will help communities to lower their electricity bills and combat climate change, educating consumers on energy saving and sharing the benefits of natural cooling methods.  

• Consumers Lebanon’s ‘Every Drop Matters’ initiative will promote sustainable water management in Lebanon, collecting data on water usage and sharing resources and information with consumers.  

 

Safeguarding the natural environment

• Association Ivoirienne des Consommateurs (Côte d'Ivoire) will encourage urban biodiversity; planting trees, creating neighbourhood green spaces which welcome local plants and animals, and organising organic gardening workshops.  

• Colectivo Ecologista Jalisco (Mexico) will work with local creatives in Jalisco to run a digital campaign on the impact industries like tequila, avocado, and meat are having on deforestation.  

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Community building and Knowledge sharing  

• Ambio Sociedad Civil (Costa Rica) will work with local groups to draw up new visions for a community that produces and consumes sustainably.  

• ASPEC (Peru)’s Eco Heroes campaign will inspire, empower, and educate consumers to adopt sustainable practices into their daily lives, highlighting the importance of consumer and community action in the fight against climate change. 

• Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (India) will host a ‘mela’ (fair) showcasing sustainable products, with organic food, plastic alternatives, e-waste collection points, and a demo on waste segregation and composting.  

• Consumer VOICE (India) will educate and engage consumers in the circular economy through workshops, digital campaigns, and on-the-ground events.