Breathe Better Together is the community engagement and behaviour-change arm of the Breathe Joburg initiative. It works directly with residents, youth, schools, and community-based organisations to increase awareness of air pollution and its health impacts, while promoting practical actions that individuals and communities can take to protect themselves and improve local air quality. The project fosters shared responsibility by making air-quality information understandable and accessible, amplifying community voices, and encouraging collective behaviour shifts that contribute to cleaner, healthier neighbourhoods. Through this work, Breathe Better Together is helping build a culture of environmental stewardship and civic participation across Johannesburg.

Grounded in insights from the Breathe Joburg poll and aligned with the City of Johannesburg’s clean-air priorities, the project benefits from Seriti Institute’s extensive experience in delivering large-scale, dignity-based, community-driven programmes. Its design is intentionally scalable, offering a model that can be replicated in other South African cities facing similar air-quality and environmental justice challenges.

Together, Breathe Joburg, Breathe Better Together, and the broader Breathe Cities partnership form a unified, multi-level effort to drive systemic change—linking community mobilisation, digital tools, public engagement, and citywide governance into one coherent strategy for cleaner air.