grantees » Kokou Mawunya Guidigan

A striking quality of Kokou is the level of expertise he puts in his work concerning the sustainable development of rural areas in his home country Togo. As a technician in agriculture, his first initiative involved helping to organize the women of his community into self-help groups so they could be more independent and productive.. The Lumière et Développement (LD) organization took notice of this and made him coordinator of their agriculture and food security projects. Kokou excelled in supporting the most vulnerable farmers with advice, technical support and innovative projects.

However, despite all these efforts farmers have still found it difficult to adapt to the negative effects of climate change. Increasingly aware of the challenges faced by his community, Kokou decided to further improve his management of the agricultural projects he was assigned to by LD. The JWH grant he obtained was used to finance two internships and training programs with two NGO’s in Benin. Here he deepened his knowledge on adaptation and monitoring methods against drought, flooding and the degradation of arable land. Kokou visited rural communities in Benin that are sensitive to climate change in order to put into practice the adaptation methods he learned.

Kokou returned to Togo as a wiser and more skillful leader ready to tackle the problems experienced by local producers in his home country. He has begun to spread his newfound knowledge on adaptation methods to the rural communities in an effort to make them less vulnerable to climate change. Kokou hopes to inspire those he comes into contact with and also to “serve as an example to other young people that they too can engage in sustainable development initiatives”.

Kokou Mawunya GUIDIGAN
Programme Officer at the NGO Light and Development.
+228 90298528/93230106
05BP468 Lome Togo

guidigandomi@yahoo.fr guidigandomi@gmail.com