Jennifer Uchendu

Jennifer is finding a new path for sustainably developing Nigeria and creating a platform where ideas from young people are transformed into action and change at scale.

Jennifer has created a network of young people in Nigeria who are working to design and implement climate change solutions that are relevant to their communities. She is also working with government, educational institutions, and the citizen sector to build a movement for environmental preservation in Nigeria. This movement is essential in advancing the systemic approach that is required to build a sustainable Nigeria and to ensure that the voice of the new generation is heard.

Focused on education and empowerment, Jennifer is implementing a unique approach, using youth-friendly mediums, to firmly place young people at the center of the movement, and supporting them to take charge of preserving the environment. Her aim is to build a strong force of young community agents through unique leverage points of intervention that involve curating learning spaces, research, and policy driven strategies.

Through this, she is ensuring that the message of sustainability is adapted in a language that is understood and embraced by young people through different engagement opportunities, and with clear and simple environmental information. She is inspiring and enabling young people to act upon key environmental issues in their communities and fostering a culture of sustainability that inspires them to create the world they desire.

Nigerians are undergoing an extensive environmental pollution and climate change battle that is assailing the country on multiple fronts. According to the World Bank, 94% of Nigerians are exposed to air pollution, coupled with the effects of plastic pollution, deforestation, illegal and highly unsafe refineries, as well as rising sea levels. This battle is one in which they are not only victims but also unwitting facilitators. Within the country, a huge number of people are yet to be effectively sensitized on the importance of proper waste disposal, recycling, and the dangers that several dimensions of pollution pose to health, the environment, and the economy. According to data from the Institute of Health Metric and Evaluation on Global Burden of Disease (GBD), most of the prevalent causes of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in Nigeria are related to environmental risk factors.

Corporations and industries in Nigeria are not exempt as they also are direct contributors to the environmental degradation at play. By virtue of some of their harmful production and operational activities, they are largely responsible for plastic, air and water pollution effects facing multiple communities in Nigeria. Moreover, the absence of strict recycling policies in the country allows industry to ignore the few extant laws and so they see environmental sanitation as a corporate social responsibility activity that they carry out only at will. They fail to realize that when poverty levels rise and environmental degradation rises in tandem, society must address the issue holistically. Poor infrastructure and industrial actions directly damaging the environment leads to a living situation that has seen waves of illegal emigration of young Nigerians leaving an environment which doesn’t allow them to thrive. Moreover, there is a resulting lack of platforms that enable local and young communities to contribute effectively towards environmental action. Citizens need to be empowered with the tools of knowledge to make sustainability actionable across Nigeria.

While there are some government-led initiatives to drive sustainable development such as the National Determined Contributions, a mandate to reduce carbon emissions, and the Private Sector Advisory Group which works to accrue funding for SDG related projects, these measures are not enough. Today, private players such as some individuals and corporate bodies carry out periodic sanitation exercises in local communities. However, these exercises are often carried out in silos and do not contribute enough to protect the environment because they are not the long-term solutions to the huge problem. Finding solutions to these complex problems requires a bi-fold approach, one which tackles both the socio-economic and environmental issues challenging Nigeria.

At the heart of Jennifer’s strategy is a core group of SustyVibers, who are present in 28 states of Nigeria, as well as Ghana, Kenya, UK, Germany, Poland, Ireland, the Netherlands, USA, Canada, Turkey, and Rwanda. In the. Last 5 years, the youth-led movement enabled by SustyVibes has positively impacted indigenes from 28 states across Nigeria, approximately 10 million people, to drive several sustainable development projects in thousands of communities with over 200 strategic funding and implementing partners.

These SustyVibers are the driving force behind the movement. This core group of SustyVibers are creating learning spaces for conversations about sustainability in universities across Nigeria and West Africa. They are also building their knowledge base and modeling pathways for organizing for change around climate consciousness and sustainability. These young people are driving conversation and action through media engagements and interviews, which they call "InterVibes." They are also motivated by funding support of small grants ranging from $500 to $1,000 to help them design and implement innovative climate and sustainability projects in their communities.

The work of the core group of SustyVibers activates a broader community of young people called SustyCommunities. These SustyCommunities commit to the movement through different engagements and programs, such as the Eco-Anxiety Project and Street Dreamz. The Eco-Anxiety Project was designed to harness the thoughts of young people on climate change and sustainability. The goal is to create meaningful pathways to help them deal with the anxiety that comes with it. Jennifer and the SustyVibers believe that addressing climate anxiety has been a major motivator for young people to become changemakers and sustainability champions. The Street Dreamz project was designed to empower women to take more action in advocating against litter culture in their communities. Through these projects, SustyCommunities gather data that highlights emerging and critical sustainability issues affecting young people across the globe.

Furthermore, Jennifer, through the SustyVibers, help these Susty Communities to harness the power in their youthful passions, energies, and commitments to ensure a safe and habitable planet. Members of the Susty Communities come together to analyze, develop and implement solutions to environmental problems in their communities through strategic partnerships. Elements of this approach include climate change advocacy in schools, communities and online; tree planting in urban areas; environmental photography; plastic clean-up and recycling. Project ideas are determined by members of the community who identify the environmental challenges in their respective communities and bring them forward for consideration. Before projects are executed, Jennifer reaches out to members of these communities where these projects will be implemented to determine and discuss the feasibility of the project and possible outcomes. If a project is deemed feasible, then they go ahead to seek for strategic and funding partners who will support the implementation.

Another aspect of Jennifer’s strategy is where she goes beyond young people to include engagement with policymakers and government. Her work with giving young people agency to drive community-based sustainability mindset shift has resulted in youth voices getting represention in Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan (ETP), which is a long-term strategy for the country's energy sector, with the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2060. The plan was launched in August 2022.

Furthermore, Jennifer understands the importance of the government’s role in bringing lasting solutions to environmental and sustainability challenges in the country. To this effect, she has found ways to constantly engage the federal government and legislation in order to get these decision makers to prioritize environmental protection, re-examine environmentally hazardous practices, pay more attention to climate change effects, and to put in place a National Recycling Bill that will regulate the actions of industries and individuals towards the environment. In addition to her work at the policy level, Jennifer is also working with the Ministry of Education at the national level to include Sustainability education in the national curriculum of secondary/high schools in Nigeria.

Jennifer is also working with private sector actors such as Lagos Business School (LBS), which regularly reaches out to SustyVibes, seeking candidates who are interested in sustainability masterclasses/webinars, training in high-level recycling, and the preparation of sustainability reports and audits.

As a child, born and raised in Lagos and living with asthma, Jennifer was keenly aware of the environmental changes around her, like air pollution. A hardworking student, she naturally gravitated towards positions of leadership, volunteering to speak to young girls on sex education, creating tree planting campaigns, and becoming dedicated to environmental protection.

Quite early in life, Jennifer Uchendu left her comfort zone to seek ways to protect the environment. She became a creative and energetic leader that advocated for a sustainability department in Jumia Nigeria. It was a deferred study project abroad that led her to found SustyVibes as a demonstration of her resilience.

Before SustyVibes, Jennifer successfully won a proposal to startup a sustainability department in Jumia Nigeria. Tuned in to a life of dedication to environmental change, she applied for and was granted a partial scholarship to study for a master s degree in environmental sustainability in the UK but in a major setback, her visa was denied. Out of this immense loss, SustyVibes was born. Adversity was not a hurdle that would stop her, and the creation of SustyVibes is a physical testimony to her dedication and commitment to her cause.