Blue Schools Ghana: Help Advance Ocean Learning for 300+ Children in Keta–Anloga

Blue Economy Connect (BEC) is a youth-led organisation advancing a sustainable & inclusive blue economy in Ghana & Africa through education, youth leadership, innovation, community action, and partnerships. We work with young people, schools and coastal communities, alongside local and international partners.

In the past year, BEC gained 8,000+ followers, engaged over 5,000 youth & communities through environmental education; wetland cleanups & restoration; national events; 2 global webinars; workshops; student networks & capacity development; and partnerships with local & international organizations.

Building on this, BEC is developing Blue Schools Ghana: turning schools into community-learning hubs for ocean, environmental, and climate education, starting with a pilot in Keta–Anloga.

People cannot sustainably protect or develop what they do not understand, value, or feel connected to.

Blue Schools Ghana will connect students to structured, practical, locally relevant learning (with specialist partners, community knowledge holders, blue economy professionals & platforms), helping them understand aquatic ecosystems (value, challenges, human impacts, etc.), while discovering pathways into science, conservation, and relevant careers.

When schools become community learning hubs, knowledge, co-creation, and stewardship become a shared habit. The result is a generation that sees Ghana's waters not simply as resources they depend on, but as ecosystems they have a role in understanding, protecting, shaping, and building careers in.

Children in coastal Ghana, especially in Keta–Anloga communities, grow up alongside oceans, lagoons, and wetlands, crossing them to get to school, fishing with their families, and depending on aquatic resources. Yet these environments are disconnected from their learning in school. There is a lack of structured & locally-relevant practical learning that helps children explore their local waters through hands-on science, learn from community knowledge holders & specialist partners, and discover blue economy careers.

BSG addresses this gap, with the pilot reaching 300+ students across 5 schools, helping them understand/ value the waters around them and build the skills, stewardship, and aspirations needed to build a sustainable blue future, further supporting Ghana's blue economy agenda.

Funds will help pilot the Blue Schools with 5 schools in Keta-Anloga, document lessons, and refine the model for scaling.

Funds will help develop learning materials, train and coordinate teachers, implement a Blue Club, and connect pupils with community knowledge holders and specialist partners supporting hands-on aquatic and climate learning & activities such as Life Beneath the Waves (aquatic ecology & STEM learning); Living Wild (creative expression & storytelling); and AAORIA (intergenerational learning & a stewardship community project).

By the end of the founding phase, participating schools will have a Blue Club, practical resources, trained focal teachers, and a tested model that can be expanded to other schools and regions.