Creatives must shape climate policies from the outset, not serve as last-minute amplifiers – GAYO

The Director of Operations and Programmes at the Green Africa Youth Organisation (GAYO), Betty Osei Bonsu Adjei, has called for the early involvement of creatives in climate initiatives, arguing that they should help shape decisions rather than be brought in at the final stages to promote them.

She said artists, musicians, filmmakers and other cultural practitioners had the capacity to influence climate conversations through their creative approaches and understanding of audiences, but their contributions were often underutilised when they were excluded from the initial planning stages.

Mrs Adjei made the remarks during the opening panel discussion at the Climate x Culture Summit 2026, held under the theme “Climate x Culture: Why Creativity Matters in the Climate Decade”.

The summit was organised by CultureJoint Media in partnership with the Office of the Minister of State for Climate Change and Sustainability at the Presidency, under the overarching theme “Designing Sustainable Creative Experiences for Africa”.

“Creatives are not last-minute amplifiers. They can use their creative ways and practices to help effectively elevate conversations around climate change. Hence whenever there’s such dicussions, be it researches, policy making among others, they should be included in the process,” the director said.

She argued that climate programmes were often designed by policymakers, researchers and development organisations, with creatives brought on board towards the end to help communicate or promote decisions that had already been made.

According to her, this approach limits the contribution of cultural practitioners, whose understanding of audiences and ability to communicate through compelling stories could help shape the design and delivery of climate interventions.

She said involving creatives from the planning stage would allow their knowledge, experiences and storytelling approaches to inform how climate initiatives were developed and communicated to communities.

Mrs Adjei, who doubles as the founder of B. Inspired with Stories from Africa (B.ISA) participated in the panel alongside Dr Enoch Bessah of the DIPPER Lab at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Valerie Kplorm Nutakor of the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), and musician and climate activist Okyeame Kwame.

The discussion was moderated by Derick Ashilevi.