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Little girl, big ideas… Nana Oye, 10, uses coding to promote clean environment
At an early age when many children are still discovering the world around them, 10-year-old Nana Oye Darkoa Duah-Boateng is already exploring how to change it, using coding and animation to turn the problem of plastic waste into a lesson in environmental protection.
The young pupil of Heaven Dew Montessori in Koforidua has created an educational animation using Scratch, a visual coding platform, to teach people about the circular economy and the importance of keeping their surroundings clean.
Trained by M-Hub Technology, a Ghanaian organisation promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education through its Girls in STEM initiative, Nana Oye is using her newly acquired skills to encourage people to see waste not as useless rubbish, but as a resource that can be transformed into valuable products.
Her animation features a teacher explaining the circular economy, demonstrating how waste can be separated into different bins and how discarded plastics can be recycled into useful items rather than left to pollute the environment.
Speaking to The Spectator, Nana Oye said the coding training had inspired her to explore how technology could educate people and address environmental challenges.
She said she collaborated with her friends to develop the concept, create the animation and provide voice-overs to communicate their message.
”I came up with the idea together with my friends to do an animation and do voice-overs. In it, we talk about how we can pick plastics that have been littered around to create usable products like flower vases,” she said.
For Nana Oye, keeping the environment clean was essential to human survival, making it everyone’s responsibility to protect it for present and future generations.
She acknowledged the contributions of Nelly Adjeiwaah Tetteh Quaye, Shannelle Owusu, Hamida Adams, Nana Ama Effah, Briana Jenkins Appiah, Charlene Baah and Jael Odehye Adu Gyamfi in developing the concept and animation.
She recently presented the project at the 2026 Ghana Circular Economy Annual Conference, organised by Ho Technical University in collaboration with Canada, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Ghana Circular Economy Centre (GCEC), where she led her group in presenting a similar project they had developed.
Beyond environmental advocacy, Nana Oye dreams of becoming a medical doctor.
She hoped to combine medicine with technology by using coding to educate people about the importance of good quality healthcare.
She also urged parents to empower their daughters with technological skills, saying girls could excel in STEM and develop solutions to challenges facing their communities.
The Programme Manager of M-Hub Technology, Enoch Kekeli, said Nana Oye had benefited from the organisation’s practical coding training.
He explained that its Girls in STEM initiative sought to nurture confident, innovative and economically empowered young women by equipping them with practical skills in coding, artificial intelligence, robotics and other emerging technologies.
The programme has directly reached 20 girls and indirectly impacted hundreds more through a strategy that trains participants to share their knowledge and inspire other girls.
Participants also received training in leadership, public speaking, mentorship, career guidance, entrepreneurship and financial literacy.
Mr Kekeli said environmental education was an important component of the initiative, adding that the organisation’s participation in the Ghana Circular Economy Conference exposed the girls to environmental challenges and demonstrated how STEM could contribute to sustainable solutions.
For Nana Oye, a discarded plastic bottle need not remain rubbish, and a young girl need not wait until adulthood to make a difference.
With imagination, coding skills and the right training, she is showing how technology can inspire environmental responsibility and empower girls to become creators of change.
From Ama Tekyiwaa Ampadu Agyeman, Koforidua
Medical Doctor and dietician, Dr Bernice Korkor Asare, has urged women to take greater responsibility for their lifestyle choices, particularly their eating habits and levels of physical activity, to help reduce their risk of developing breast cancer.
According to her, although, some breast cancer risk factors, such as family history and certain reproductive factors, may not be within an individual’s control, lifestyle choices offer an opportunity for people to take preventive action.
She made this known during a talk on the topic: “Role of diet in breast cancer prevention” organised by Times Ladies Association of the New Times Corporation, publishers of The Ghanaian Times and The Spectator, in Accra on Thursday.
The event themed “Breast Cancer Awareness- Promoting Early Detection, Healthy Eating and Prevention.” 
She noted that having a risk factor did not automatically mean a person would develop breast cancer, but could increase the likelihood of developing the disease compared with someone without that particular risk factor.
“Having close relatives who have had breast cancer, particularly a mother, sister or daughter, may increase the risk, although not everyone with a family history will develop the disease,” Dr Asare opined. Read More.
By Adizatu K. Munkaila
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A group of compassionate friends from Innovation Gospel Impact last Friday visited the management, teachers and learners of the Street Academy in Accra.
The visit was to interact to get a deeper insight into the operations of the Academy that houses hundreds of street and underprivileged children and find ways to support them.
The team was led by Rev. Dr Isaac Apenteng Yeboah, a former Director for West African Mailbox Club and Director for Prisons Support Foundation, and Rev. Dale Sutherland from Washington DC.
The call, according to the visitors was occasioned by reports about the struggles of the Academy despite the occasional support it enjoys from individuals and some corporate entities.
Briefing them, the Founder and Executive Director of the Academy, Dr Ataa Lartey, thanked them for the concern showed, indicating that “this is a major boost for both teachers and learners; knowing that their plight is known by people outside their premises.”
According Dr Lartey, the Academy had planned to undertake a number of project to enhance teaching and learning and also procure facilities for the children with keen interest in sports but had to shelve those plans for lack of finance.
He told the team that their biggest concerns were the monthly utility bills that takes a toll on their finances.
“We have a piece of land we planned to turn into an astro turf pitch to train the younger ones whose interests lies in making a career out of football, however, we have been unable to commence because there is no money now,” he said.
Dr Lartey expressed gratitude to the teachers who have dedicated their lives to training these children, rather than going for well-paying jobs and hoped that with time, their conditions of engagement would improve.
Moved by the plight of the Academy, the group donated a cash amount of Gh₵3,000 to settle its water bills.
They described as unfortunate the conditions of learners and teachers of the Academy and pledged to continuously support their operations to realize the dream to build a better future for the unfortunate children.
The group offered to support the school with its monthly utility bills, feeding and staff allowance and urged the Academy staff to remain in constant touch with them.
The Street Academy is located at the Accra Art Center and offers brilliant but needy the chance to pursue their educational dreams by enrolling them in public schools with others offered training in sports and cultural activities.
By Spectator Reporter
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