At 11 years old, Jane from Antipolo City was serving as the president of their school’s student government when her teacher announced a project about climate change. Curious and interested, she volunteered. “I thought it would be something I’d enjoy,” she said.Her journey with Save the Children’s Project LEAF helped her discover her potential as a young climate campaigner and contributed to her receiving the Outstanding Student at their school.
Jane initially joined the project thinking it would just be a fun extracurricular activity. She soon became part of the Green Eco Warriors, a group of young environmental campaigners committed to learning how climate change affects their communities and how they could take the lead in raising awareness and promoting resilience.
At first, Jane was quiet and hesitant to speak up. But by engaging in learning workshops on climate and disaster risk reduction, she gradually gained confidence.
Her favorite part of the activities was building a model of their community using clay. She recalled how much she appreciated the hands-on learning experience from hazard mapping to role-playing emergency scenarios.
“I feel like maybe I received the award because I’m part of the Green Eco Warriors,” she said. “It broadened my knowledge and also helped us understand the different concepts about climate.” As one of the 25 trained child facilitators, Jane helped reach over 300 students across 10 partner schools with the goal of informing and inspiring other children to take action for the environment.
The child facilitators shared what they learned about environmental protection among their peers and began applying these lessons in their own lives. They practiced the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), avoided littering, and became more observant of their surroundings. These everyday actions set an example for their fellow students to take simple, yet meaningful steps towards a more climate-conscious community.
At home, Jane encourages her family to manage their waste properly and care for their surroundings. They now reuse recyclable materials for everyday items like pencil cases and avoid harmful practices like burning trash.
She also became more observant of the behavior of people in her community. “Some people throw trash in the river, even though the trash can is just nearby,” she said. “Why don’t they just use the bin? Why do they still throw it into the environment?”
Jane didn’t just learn about climate change. She also learned that she has rights as a child. “Sometimes we don’t know what our rights are as children, and it feels like they’re just being ignored. But when I started to understand them, they became important to me. These are my rights as a child. I have the right to be heard,” she emphasized.
Jane, a Grade 7 student from Antipolo, receives her Natatanging Mag-aaral award. She was a student leader and Project LEAF child facilitator on climate and disaster awareness.
During her interview for the award, Jane shared how her experience as a child facilitator in Project LEAF helped her become more engaged in school, more confident in herself, and more aware of her role in her community. The support and cheers from her mother and classmates when she received the award made her proud and even more determined to make a difference. As part of the recognition, Jane will be receiving a regular school stipend from high school until college granted by the local government of Antipolo.
Now entering high school, Jane is excited to continue her advocacy by joining Project ROOTS, the next phase of Save the Children’s climate initiative. While Project LEAF helped her grow as a young leader in school, ROOTS will support children like her in turning their ideas into community action plans, together with civil society organizations, focusing on programs and services for children before, during, and after disasters. They will also craft position papers to be presented to key local offices.
Jane’s efforts, along with those of young climate campaigners, are part of a bigger push to create child-centered climate resilience across communities. In Antipolo, Save the Children worked with the government to localize Republic Act 10821 or the Children’s Emergency Relief and Protection Act, helping ensure that children’s rights are upheld in disasters. This creates an enabling environment for campaigners like Jane to be heard and supported as they push for safer communities.
For Jane, the experience left her with a message she wants local leaders to hear. “I hope they can create a project that helps people understand how we are affected by the climate and the weather,” she said. As an outstanding student and climate campaigner, Jane has shown that when children are given the space to learn, lead, and be heard, they can inspire meaningful change in their communities.