grantees » Christian Hounkannou
Christian Hounkannou, Benin
This grantee is still in the process of their leadership development with the JWH initiative.
From a young age, Christian demonstrated a keen interest in environmental protection and global sustainability, which inspired him to pursue an education in these fields later in life. In 2010, Christian received an engineering degree in agronomy from the National University of Benin. He is currently the Program Director at Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement-Benin (JVE-Benin), where he leads projects addressing sustainable development, poverty reduction and climate change adaptation. Christian is well-informed on environmental policies and development strategies and has published academic papers on climate change. Christian’s contributions have been recognized by the Youth Council Embassy, as well as by the UN-Habitat, as he received the Certificate of Leadership in Project Management and Social Entrepreneurship in Agriculture. The experience he has gained is preparing him to take a lead in sustainable development issues in Benin and to build individual and organizational capacities throughout the networks in which JVE-Benin is active.
In Christian’s own words, “the earth degrades because people irrationally exploit natural resources”, so he wants to work to stop this environmental degradation. He already completed training on the management of protected areas at the University of Ouagadougou. The training proved to be useful as he is currently working on a project on the management of the biosphere reserve in the Mono Delta River. Beginning in July 2014, Christian will pursue a Professional Master’s in Science and Economics of Climate Change at the International Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering in Burkina Faso. Additionally, he will attend English courses to enhance his abilities to act at an international level. Christian hopes this process of personal and professional development will lead him further down a path of preserving the environment and its resources for future generations.