Clean Air Fund
Environment & Public Health
Campaign Activation
Air Pollution Awareness Campaign
Air pollution is a significant and growing health risk in Ghana. The problem is not a shortage of evidence — scientists and public health experts have documented the causes, sources, and effects in detail. The problem is that this knowledge does not reach the people most exposed to pollution and least equipped to protect themselves.
According to the Ghana Statistical Service, 7.9 million Ghanaians aged six and older cannot read or write with understanding. Text-based communication — the default mode for health information — is effectively inaccessible to this population. Survey data from Accra, Tema, Kumasi, and Tamale showed clear north-south, religious, educational, and socioeconomic gaps in knowledge of air pollution. The communities with the lowest awareness carried the highest exposure burden.
Closing that gap required a format that could transcend literacy barriers; operate in multiple languages; reach people in the spaces they already occupy—transport, schools, churches, and mosques—and sustain behaviour change over time rather than producing a single moment of exposure.
What We Did
Mech Consult received a grant from the Clean Air Fund to design and implement a two-phase behaviour change communication project. This engagement was distinct from our media relations and event management work: we were the project lead, responsible for conception, production, partnership, delivery, and impact reporting.
Phase one was the production of short animated videos — five per language in English, Twi, Ewe, Ga, and Dagbanli, covering air pollution sources, health effects, regulations, and practical mitigation steps. Scripts were developed in close collaboration with the Fund’s communications team and reviewed by air-quality and health experts.
Phase two deployed the videos across three channels simultaneously: Royal VVIP inter-city transport buses running routes to Kumasi, Wa, Bolgatanga, Tamale, and Sunyani; a social media campaign on X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, in partnership with Ameyaw Debrah and Caleb Kudah; and community outreach led by ten trained Air Quality Ambassadors across 19 senior high schools, 17 churches, 10 mosques, and one community engagement spanning four regions (Greater Accra, Central, Ashanti, and Volta regions).
The Outcome
All 11 grant deliverables were achieved. Every output indicator was met or significantly exceeded. The project was delivered on budget.
The social media campaign published a total of 42 posts, exceeding the target of 10. Campaign reach was 89,340 against a target of 3,000. Total engagement was 582, surpassing the target of 500. Community outreach reached 18,606 people, exceeding the target of 5,000. The transport dissemination reached 14,000 passengers across north-south bus routes, against a target of 2,000. Combined, the campaign reached over 121,000 people across all three channels.
The project produced a body of reusable assets, animated videos in five languages, trained ambassadors in four regions, and established a partnership with a major transport operator, extending its impact beyond the grant period. It also established Mech Consult as a capable grant implementer in the clean air and public health space, able to manage a development project from design through community delivery and donor reporting.
