Sikiliza sauti yetu: Dunia inaita! Supporting youth-centred civil society and community engagement in climate action in Kenya

This project strengthens the capacity, voice, and influence of Kenyan civil society, particularly youth, in climate action. It focuses on enhancing participation, resilience and climate change adaptation in rural, coastal, and urban communities. Key activities include building the capacity of CSOs/CBOs and youth leaders on topics such as climate issues, climate-smart agriculture, renewable energy, and waste management. The project supports youth-led research, policy advocacy, and public awareness campaigns to engage communities in climate justice and environmental protection, fostering sustainable development and good governance.

This approach is vital in Kenya because it empowers youth and civil society to drive locally rooted climate action, resilience and sustainable development in the communities most at risk.

• Informative education
• Empowering advocacy
• Building resilience
• Innovative solutions and skills

• Build the capacityof Civil Society, including Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)/Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) and schools on technical knowledge and expertise on climate issues, and formulating and promoting climate plans at county level.
• Build capacity of CBOs & Youth leaders to spread their knowledge of climate change and environmental degradation issues and to provide mentoring and ongoing support to take additional actions (e.g. through campus clubs) where youth can act on that knowledge, including generating their own solutions (i.e.in waste management).
• Promotion of circular economy and green job opportunities led by young women and men through Innovative sustainable technologies (focus on waste management micro-enterprises, climate smart agriculture solutions, promotion of renewable energy sources).
• Production of audiovisual toolkits co-designed with youth leaders and young journalists to enable them to raise awareness and influence decision and policy making on climate change adaptation and environmental risk management issues generated through research.
• Dissemination of research findings and best practices adopted by CSOs/CBOs on addressing climate change among youth in secondary/higher education from the Global North (Italy and Austria) and youth representative in the global South (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Cambodia) on aspects of common interests/concern around climate change adaptation /climate justice. This will be via online event and by supporting youth friendly digital platforms to strengthen coordination and dialogue among youth networks at national and local level.
• Green Think Tanks: bringing together youth, civil society organizations policymakers, experts, women rights organizations, NGOs and the private sector to promote collaboration and find solutions to environmental challenges.