In this module, you will learn about examples of inspirational youth-led climate adaptation solutions in Africa. The module also explores what makes a climate adaptation solution a success and showcases what can be learned from existing initiatives.
By the end of the module, you will:
The below infographic provides a summary of the key content in this module:
In the Download Area you can access all modules in pdf, infographics in high resolution and relevant templates and assets. You can always access the Download Area via the menu.
In these interviews, six young leaders share valuable advice on what it takes to make it as an entrepreneur with bright ideas for adaptation solutions. The featured trailblazers are some of the winners of the 2021 and 2022 African Youth Adaptation Solutions Challenge (also known as the YouthADAPT Challenge), an annual competition for youth-led enterprises (50% women-led). It is jointly organized by the Global Center on Adaptation, the African Development Bank and Climate Investment Funds.
Learn from their experiences and get inspired for your own adaptation actions!
Be passionate about what you want to do. Starting an initiative is not easy and you’re going to be in it for the long run, so make sure you’re highly committed through the ups and downs. Let your passion shine through. Your clients, partners and co-workers will see it in your eyes and feel it in your actions.
– Juveline Ngum, Founder and CEO of BleaGlee.
BleagLee is a waste management and recycling company providing software for drones to quickly detect poor waste disposal in drainage channels, fields and other physical sites. We work with indigenous waste collectors and youth environmental groups (eco-groups) to collect the waste, [adhering to] hygienic standards, and then properly dispose of it, or sell it to recycling companies.
Our software guides drones to find poorly-disposed waste [based on] images they collect and output reports. We provide early warnings for multi-hazard climate scenarios caused by poor waste disposal.
My personal experience, independent research and studying of publications inspired me to start the project. The poor disposal of waste is causing floods by clogging drains, causing respiratory issues when burned, shortening animal lifespans when consumed, and contaminating water bodies when dumped into canals and oceans.
As a teenager, I experienced firsthand the effects of poor waste disposal, causing floods in my community and respiratory issues when burned. Overwhelmed by extreme poverty in Western Cameroon and the audacious levels of waste pollution, I began the journey of [finding] an “eco-solution” to reduce waste pollution and poverty. My co-founder and I then designed the waste management tech solution after independent research and studying a publication by the World Health Organization which showed that improper waste disposal is a major cause of multi-hazard scenarios.
In 2019, we started by recycling waste into clean energy cooking products, which we would sell to households. But we often asked ourselves how we could recycle a hundred percent of waste while creating a viable business opportunity. Our service is unique as we are using drone technology with Artificial Intelligence software to quickly inspect poor waste disposal. This service is transparent, organized, rewarding, fast, on-demand and highly scalable.
We are creating new job opportunities for low-income youth groups, especially young women either part time or full time, by empowering and enabling them to become collectors who pick-up with BleagLee. After collection, the waste is then properly disposed or sold to recycling corporates in national and international markets. The waste collectors and individual owners of waste receive a portion of the recycling revenue via mobile money, e-wallet, or in the form of health funds.
Some of Cameroon’s most marginalized people pick untreated waste to try and make a living. These waste pickers, many of them women, often live below the poverty line, work in appalling conditions, and are shunned by society. We are overcoming these challenges by onboarding these marginalized people in a more “formal” way to work with us. We provide training on how to collect waste with hygienic standards, provide them with personal protective equipment, and then empower them to work part time or full time to collect waste with us. This creates new job opportunities for low-income people and provides dignified livelihoods for them.
Before, many people thought that waste was worthless. But now, they see that waste can be turned into wealth. Trash is treasure, garbage is gold. If properly segregated and managed, so much good can be derived from waste: livelihood, cleanliness, no floods, no water contamination, protected environment, more productive lands for people rather than for landfills and dumpsites, and more savings from reduced use of gas-driven garbage trucks, all contributing to climate resilience.
To date, we have prevented over 3,500 tons of solid waste from ending up in drainage channels and over 12,000 tons of solid waste has been saved from open burning. Moreover, we have provided practical learning sessions and subsequent waste collection from over 4,000 vulnerable households. This has benefitted over 405 young people, especially young women with jobs as waste recyclers and collectors, and encouraged over 160 businesses to recycle.
First, be passionate about what you want to do. Starting an initiative is not easy and you’re going to be in it for the long run, so make sure you’re highly committed through the ups and downs. Let your passion shine through. Your clients, partners and co-workers will see it in your eyes and feel it in your actions.
Second, have a plan and frame your passion in a structured and effective way. You need to take time to think and reflect on where you plan to take your initiative in the months to come. Make sure that you have a plan clearly laid out on paper. You should also be able to explain your plan in a clear and concise way.
Finally, be open to advice. You may already demonstrate leadership or management skills, but that doesn’t mean you know it all. People will respect your willingness to heed advice and learn, and your curiosity and openness.
The ability to communicate clearly and concisely. Whether sensitizing populations on environmental protection or writing emails on climate change, effective youth leaders are not passive-aggressive, nor do they shy away from addressing problems in a direct manner.
Secondly, effective youth leaders lead by example. From treating others with kindness and respect to putting in extra work hours on a major project, effective leaders show they’re willing and ready to do anything they’d ask of their subordinates.
Moreover, effective youth leaders never stop learning. They prioritize their education, whether through formal learning like building their managerial skills or through continuous attention to other roles and departments.
I find three youth leaders very inspiring: Greta Thunberg, Isra Hirsi and Nadia Whittome.
Greta Thunberg is known for her “relentless fight” against the effects of climate change. Even though many have attempted to limit her protests against climate change, her moves have attracted the attention of other countries.
Isra Hirsi’s confidence and the persistent pursuit of coordinating various environmental strikes are clear examples of the significant impact youth’s voices can have.
Nadia Whittome is the youngest Member of Parliament in the UK. Despite her age, she is not easily jaded, proud of her roles and has volunteered to promote youth and community development. From the get-go, Nadia promised to donate over 44% of her salary to the community for radical changes like strike funds. In 2020, she donated almost all of her salary (from her work as a carer) to a local Covid-19 support fund.
By the end of 2023, we hope to expand our drone technology of tracking waste across the capital of Cameroon. We plan to use our technology to help six municipalities detect different types of waste for proper disposal, disaster risk reduction and an early warning system.
In addition, we aim to change behaviors and inspire an intrinsic desire towards environmental stewardship through sensitizing and educating more communities about the need for proper waste disposal. This will be done through practical learning sessions and subsequent on-demand waste collection from 5,000 households using color-coded waste bins (designated as Recyclable, Hazardous, and Organic) by the end of 2024. This will create intrinsic motivation within the community as members gain income for their segregated waste materials.
The world needs more young people who will rank sustainability and circularity above anything else. To accomplish this, I believe it is time to “START ACTING.” Start working on the idea you have been pondering about. You can be part of those who will partake in the amazing opportunities locked in a sustainable world or focus your talent on sustainability and circularity. Lastly, the choice is ours. Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.
I encourage African youth to invest in the climate change sector by bringing innovative solutions to save humanity by building the green economy.
– Chris Ayale Wakomya, CEO of KivuGreen.
KivuGreen is a web-mobile and SMS-USSD platform that connects small-scale farmers to markets and agricultural information such as agricultural weather, market prices and advice on responsible, profitable and sustainable agriculture in the face of climate change. This innovation works with or without an internet connection and with or without a smartphone.
Our current target is:
Our target market is farmers with less than 10 hectares of cultivable land.
The suffering of the farmers. I, as an elder son of a small farmer, noticed that after each harvest season my father always had trouble selling his produce. In the value chain, he had several intermediaries who set the prices. He had difficulty knowing when he would or would not get rain and this caused a huge loss in agricultural inputs. And he didn’t know when, how and where to plant a crop or how to select a good seed for a given location.
It took us two years to implement a stable version of our solution. We took the following steps:
Lack of funding for the implementation.
Having a competent workforce.
How to find a business model.
User experience of small farmers too low.
Literacy of smallholder farmers.
Lack of information about the negative effect of climate change by farmers in their sectors.
The agricultural sector is seriously threatened by this great challenge of climate change. It is important that agriculture is adapted to the unpredictability of the current climate by providing more technological solutions for increasing agricultural productivity, yield and profitability to improve food security and boost the rural economy. Digital platforms and the use of a mobile phone remain an easy way to deliver innovations to beneficiaries.
The biggest success is that our solution currently has more than 8,750 users and has increased the income of our beneficiaries by 40%. The project has already won several awards at national and international level.
Before bringing a solution into the climate change framework, it is prudent to make a good analysis of the problem by organizing field visits in the areas of your beneficiaries. This will help you develop a solution that adapts to the local context and to find a solid economic model.
Some of the young people who have inspired me are Aboubacar Sidy Sonko from Senegal (who developed the MLouma platform) and Prince Chafi (an energy specialist and entrepreneur).
We wanted to move the project forward by increasing the number of users but also by improving our platform to compete in Africa. Projects would include connecting farmers, remote irrigation, and also agriculture under a smart greenhouse.
I encourage African youth to invest in the climate change sector by bringing innovative solutions to save humanity by building the green economy.
Climate change is a big menace. Let’s curb its effects through adaptation and mitigation measures that are creative, innovative and unique to our generation. We are the future.
– Carolyne Mwangi, founder and CEO of Kimplanter
Tell us more about the project
Kimplanter Seedlings and Nurseries Ltd is based in Kenya and operates from Ruiru Sub-County, Kiambu County. We are a seedlings propagation company specializing in horticultural crops, fruit and tree seedlings.
The company buys certified seeds from reputable seed companies, sows them in propagation trays, takes care of them for the nursery stage and, when they are ready, sells them to farmers ready to transplant seedling/young crops.
The idea was born in 2014 as a hobby with one greenhouse and one staff member. The company was officially established in 2018. The company currently has three branches, located in Ruiru -Kiambu, Makuyu-Muranga and Kajiado counties, with high prospects to grow in other promising agricultural hubs in Kenya. In total, the company has a holding capacity of 1.5 million seedlings every month. These propagation units are equipped to handle the requirements of young crops at this fundamental stage.
Kimplanter Seedlings provides drought-resistant seedlings that can grow in harsh climatic conditions. The drought-resistant seedlings are selected varieties that can adapt to dry and hot conditions and low soil moisture content. The company also provides farmers with farm inputs and agronomy support on the best crop management practices to improve production, maintain quality efficiently, and generate some income from the yields (i.e., planting spacing, crop protection and post-harvest practices).
I started farming at a young age as a hobby. As I advanced in the industry, I grew concerned with the many challenges affecting smallholder farmers. I identified a gap in access to good quality seeds, farm inputs and lack of knowledge on crop management practices. These challenges and other underlying factors, such as drought, heat spells and floods, leave farmers very vulnerable to low yields, losses and extreme poverty. Having interacted with the farmers about these problems, I picked a niche in seedlings propagation to solve the problem by offering farmers a healthy start in their farming project.
Kimplanter Seedlings was registered in 2018. We have evolved with the very dynamic trends in the agricultural sector in our country. The key step we have embraced through the process is market research for continuous improvement of our products and services.
Limited capital investment for infrastructure and working capital, incapacities in research development, and lack of other resources, such as land and reliable sources of water.
We have overcome these challenges through priority placement measures, such as plowing earnings into the business, leasing instead of buying land, and adopting renewable energy for our water irrigation needs. Our big break, however, was winning the YouthAdapt competition.
Climate change is a big menace. Let’s curb its effects through adaptation and mitigation measures that are creative, innovative and unique to our generation. We are the future.
There are many problems facing our continent. Analyze, pick one, and specialize in it to offer a solution.
Nadia Whittome, Isra Hirsi, Greta Thunberg
We are targeting to impact 1.3 million smallholder farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa. Our main aim is to contribute to poverty reduction and food security. We aim to accelerate sustainable economic growth amongst smallholder farmers.
An effective youth leader is one who is goal driven, confident in making decisions – especially tough ones – but also a team player with the mindset of looking out for others and lifting them up. Discipline, patience with him- or herself and other people, and a positive attitude to always deliver no matter the difficulties facing them make for an effective youth leader.
– Suleman Saamani Elisha Mahama, CEO of Global Farms & Trading
Our project is focused on building the capacity of smallholder farmers to strategically enhance climate actions and food security in Ghana and Africa as a whole. The project’s main goal is to impart knowledge to smallholder farmers on climate change, its impact on the environment and the adoption of best mitigation strategies, so they can improve farming activities in rural settings. We aim to enhance adaptation and resilience strategies among these farmers.
The project was inspired by the urgent need to educate smallholder farmers on climate change while adopting strategies in land preparation, cultivation and harvesting to mitigate the impact of climate change on the livelihoods of the farmers, especially women, who are the most affected.
The project took about a year to be rolled out fully. The project went through development stages which included:
Access to information was one of the challenges. Some of the participants either did not want to give out information or gave inaccurate or wrong responses. Punctuality and meeting deadlines for activities in the project plan is a major challenge if strict supervision is not enforced.
The gratitude shown by the farmers for how the project has positively affected their way of farming, and their willingness to participate in subsequent projects, have been the most rewarding outcomes of the project so far.
Patience and perseverance are some of the take-home lessons in implementing initiatives of this magnitude involving rural folk.
Putting farmers in small farmer groups or cooperative unions is recommended when engaging smallholder farmers in such initiatives, as it gives more reach in terms of farmer numbers or population.
An effective youth leader is one who is goal driven, confident in making decisions – especially tough ones – but also a team player with the mindset of looking out for others and lifting them up. Discipline, patience with him- or herself and other people, and a positive attitude to always deliver no matter the difficulties facing them make for an effective youth leader.
Ibrahim Mahama: this is a Ghanaian author and an artist of monumental installations. He lives and works in Tamale, Ghana. He collects and uses old or abandoned scrap material to create his art pieces, which tell and portray unique stories about our environment.
The project seeks to venture into the cultivation of cash crops and a plastic waste recycling initiative. These will help create permanent and casual jobs for the young people in the communities where the project will be implemented. The youth will be engaged in collecting, cleaning and recycling plastic waste into useful domestic and industrial materials. Also, the cultivation of cash crops like cashew, shea and cocoa serves as cover for bare land and forms green belts which are important in mitigating the impact of climate change.
Every failed experiment is one step closer to success!
It is a different level of satisfaction to be a part of something bigger than you. Give your very best, contributing your quota to building solutions that will help to mitigate and adapt to climate change. We should see our solutions as not just products but a movement towards a better world.
– Oluwadamilola Olowoseunre, founder and CEO, Pazelgreen.
Our project is a cold storage system designed to be climate smart by making use of innovative technology and renewable energy, but at a lower cost than solar-powered options. The focus is to adapt from the old and new ways of storage to find a middle ground that doesn’t cost us so much to achieve sustainable cooling, especially for horticultural crops, which is our focus for now.
The waste from horticultural crops generates methane, a greenhouse gas known to be over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Further, methane emission sets the pace for warming in the near term and is responsible for about 25% of global warming.
If we keep producing more methane without the proper cold chain infrastructures in place, we are not only aiding global warming, but we are spiraling deeper into other major challenges like hunger, malnutrition, nutrition deficiency and loss of income.
The World Health Organization recommends a daily consumption of 400 grams of fruit and vegetables for healthy living. But we are far from meeting that recommendation, as there is a large percentage of the population that view many of these produce as luxuries because they are not affordable. However, there are root causes for this. Lack of cold storage infrastructures is a major factor.
The project was born out a mixture of my personal story as well as the state of agriculture in my country Nigeria and Africa as a whole. The agricultural sector across Africa is a space with lots of untapped opportunities however we lack the required resources to tap into these potentials.
Nigeria is blessed with a lot of resources. However, my focus is on agricultural-related resources, the need for sustainable food preservation to cater to our local demands, and those we get from abroad. The horticultural sub-sector in particular needs a lot of attention and technological aid with respect to cold and supply chain infrastructure.
We are currently short on 13 million tons for our local demand, and we still lose about 45- 50% of our total production yearly, costing us $4.5billion. This is largely due to poor and inadequate cold chain infrastructure.
Cold storage fully powered by solar has been a trend for quite some time. Despite the benefits this solution offers, the high cost of installation has been a major block to scaling this technology even across Africa. I recently read a 2023 newsletter for Tanzania with the same concern.
This, in addition to other factors tied towards making efficient use of the limited resources we have, is the reason why we ventured into this project.
With the current growth rate of the Nigerian population at 2.5% (which is 3 times that of the global population) there is an urgent need to cater to food security and drastically reduce all the contributors to global warming, one of which is food waste and poor agro-waste management.
It’s been a year and some months now and work is still in progress
Besides the normal procedures we are all aware of, like problem, market, and customer research, I had to prepare myself mentally and emotionally to deal with the tough terrain associated with the Nigerian business ecosystem.
I researched and consulted with experts in different fields that cut across the development of the product and the business as a whole. I sought key advisors that are pertinent. I make sure networking is always one of my top priorities. Everything is not all about having money. Strategic networks are needed to access the right resources needed to start, grow and scale.
After creating the vision, mission and core values, I formed a team that is also passionate about making the project a reality. We discussed a lot about the project and how we can move things forward in the right direction. I have also taken steps with regards to getting the best from various entrepreneurship programs that offer diverse values and support for success while putting the right structures in place.
With many day-to-day struggles for entrepreneurs, there should always be a priority, which is protecting my being, as a whole, in all aspects, where God comes first before anything. You can only be efficient when you are whole.
Take advisory services from experts early in your journey, starting from the conception stage, to avoid many pitfalls that might not yet be known.
There are many times you can feel burned out. Take a step back, refresh, and then resume. It helps you be more productive and efficient.
If you don’t have a proper structure for what you want to achieve and how you want to get it done, there will be a lot of confusion and deviation from the set goals.
It is an amazing journey that will push you to grow in many ways, but it comes with its own struggles. Simply keep your eyes on the vision you have and, critically, understand when it is time to alternate between the need for rigidity and flexibility.
If you are always after instant gratification, this journey might not be for you. A lot can happen along the way but ensure you know where you are headed and make sure you have the right support, especially mentally and emotionally.
There are lots of them and I get inspired by their thoughts and actions one way or the other. Every youth leader who has been doing their part towards a better world is definitely inspiring and worth celebrating.
It is a different level of satisfaction to be a part of something bigger than you. Give your very best always, contributing your quota to building solutions that will help to mitigate and adapt to climate change. We should see our solutions as not just products but a movement towards a better world.
We provide climate-smart irrigation solutions for smallholder farmers in Kenya. We combine rainwater harvesting technology with solar-powered drip irrigation to help farmers increase their productivity and build resilience against climate change.
I grew up in a farm set-up and farmers around me planted sugarcane as their main cash crop. The sugarcane farmers had only one harvesting season and depended heavily on rain to get better yields. They had the potential for investing in short-term, high-value crops but they were limited by irrigation technology. That’s how the idea of rainwater harvesting came about with the use of drip irrigation which is solar enabled.
It took me two years to develop the whole project. The steps we took were:
We did not have enough capital to employ a lot of people to help us with field tests and monitoring. We didn’t have the marketing experience needed to vocalize the innovation to the end-users.
Farmers were skeptical in welcoming new ways of irrigating their crops. The cost of the equipment was unaffordable to many farmers and this limited our reach.
We learned that we needed to come up with innovative financing models that would be used by farmers to afford the system. We also learned that farmers take time to make decisions before purchasing. Getting the right team that is aligned with your mission and vision is also very important for the success of a project. We also learned that farmers are keen on solutions that increase their productivity and income.
Since inception, we have been able to serve more than 2,000 smallholders and impacted more than 15,000 livelihoods. This has been the most rewarding experience.
Work with a passion to create solutions that address the most pressing challenges experienced globally and create a team that understands your vision and mission.
You must be an inspiration to team members, provide a listening ear to every view given by team members, and have patience. Every activity has issues and every individual has flaws. As a team leader, you should learn how to accommodate the pressure as you focus on the main goal, and how to foster partnerships. Always be willing to listen and embrace different opinions and consider partnerships that help you leverage the other team members’ strengths to achieve a common goal.
Amanda Namayi, Head of Gogettaz program at AGRA. She champions youth in the agriculture space.
We want to see our project in the global space with all the 500 million smallholder farmers earning a decent living from agriculture.
There are a million projects that I would recommend, ranging from propagating drought-resistant seedlings, setting up hydroponics systems, and setting up and installing greenhouses, just to mention a few.
Young people need to take charge and be the change that is needed towards accelerating climate adaptation programs.
Take a look at these short case studies to learn more about adaptation innovation.
Youthinkgreen focuses on fostering sustainability and entrepreneurship among young people via educational programs and events, pushing hundreds of entrepreneurs on
the innovation road to create clean solutions to challenges in renewable energy, energy management, the energy-food-water nexus, water sustainability and waste management.
Rais’eau is a start-up that fights water wastage through production, sale and installation of technologies for recycling wastewater in households and public spaces. It introduces students and graduates to environmental and social problems. For example, Sara Ladouy, an entrepreneur from Orange Corners Morocco, has found an innovative way to increase the production of solar distillation systems. Sara’s project has reduced water consumption in households and supported nine graduate students who have launched six prototypes to reduce water consumption.
Salubata uses recycled plastic, taken out of waterways and the sea, as a raw material to make some seriously stylish shoes. Converting plastic to footwear reduces carbon emissions and reduces risk of flooding from blocked drainage systems. Salubata has processed 1 million tonnes of plastic waste and commits 5% of its profits to empowering women in local communities. Salubata was one of the winners of the 2021 YouthADAPT challenge.
Maima General Dealers Limited farms poultry. They convert the manure from their chickens into organic fertilizer, which is sold to local subsistence farmers who cannot afford conventional organic fertilizer. They also collect and pay for waste from a network of other poultry farmers. The enterprise works with 1250 farmers who are clustered into cooperative societies consisting of 50 farmers each.
As digital technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, there are many opportunities for using tech to solve agricultural challenges. Technologies for collecting, storing, analyzing, and sharing information digitally, including via mobile phones and the internet, can help improve the food system in the face of climate change. Such tools can be used to support Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA).
For example:
Digital solutions can be a game-changer in sustainably boosting agricultural productivity and resilience in Africa. The technologies enable actors within the food system to make informed decisions, improve productivity and incomes, and achieve better nutrition, health and resilience outcomes. They can also be applied to food e-commerce, thereby helping to match buyers with sellers, shortening agricultural value chains, providing access to new markets, reducing transaction costs, and creating new business opportunities within the food system.
To encourage the uptake of digital tools in agriculture, the technologies should be user- friendly and require low-level skills and literacy for use.
LEARN more about the African Youth Adaptation Solutions Challenge. The annual competition invites young entrepreneurs and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in Africa to submit innovative solutions and business ideas that can drive climate change adaptation and resilience.
READ about the Global Center on Adaptation’s Youth Advisory Panel. This is a gender and geographically-balanced team of young people built on the principles of openness, inclusion and transparency. The Panel provides strategic advice to the GCA on youth engagement to drive the adaptation agenda.
READ about the United Nations Secretary General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change. This is a group of young people who are taking on the international climate change policy space and advising the Secretary General on how the United Nations can contribute to addressing young people’s issues, needs and concerns.
READ an article from The Conversation on how the terror of climate change is transforming young people’s identity. The article talks about how young people across the world have mobilized to challenge the culture that has caused the climate crisis.
READ an article from UNDP about how different programs are tapping into the power of young people for climate action. The article talks about how young people have been instrumental in international platforms on climate change, such as COP26.
WATCH a video by Aljazeera that asks “Can young climate activists save Africa?” (25:40). The video notes that young activists from countries including Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya are demanding that domestic, regional and global decision makers take climate change more seriously, not least because younger generations will inherit a world profoundly altered by global warming.
Below you can find an overview of podcasts, videos, online interviews and articles on climate change challenges faced by young people in different parts across Africa and the actions they are taking to implement solutions. We hope you feel inspired!
LISTEN to WWF South Africa’s Youth Climate Champions (YCC) Podcast, which aims to support youth by being both a repository of resources, as well as a platform for various stakeholders to facilitate engagement on climate policy and activism issues. Available on Spotify and Anchor.
LISTEN to episode four of The Anthill podcast, Where does the youth climate movement go next? Locked out of conferences and company boardrooms, young people have tried to influence the international response to the climate crisis with strikes and protests. What effect does this youth activism have? And where will the movement go next? Available on Youtube, Spotify and other platforms.
WATCH this video about Carolyne Mwangi (2:18), CEO of Kimplanter, to learn about the company’s approach to propagating seedlings.
WATCH this video about BleaGlee (3:42) to learn more about how the company is using drones for waste collection in Cameroon.
WATCH this TEDx Talk, Africa’s Youth as a solution to Africa’s problems (13:13), by Emmanuel Nana Boakye Ababio, an advocate for sustainable development. Emmanuel delves into the characteristics of young people which make them ideal candidates for changing the continent’s narratives and spearheading positive change.
WATCH this TEDx Talk, The Demographic Dividend: Unlocking Africa’s Youth Potential (19:57) by Dr Julitta Onabanjo, Regional Director of the United Nations Population Fund, East and Southern Africa. Dr Onabanjo talks about the importance of investing in young people and outlines strategies that countries can employ to reap the demographic dividend and achieve sustainable development.
WATCH the Deutsche Welle video Ivory Coast solutions to climate change, environmental protection (4:35). It features three young environmental activists in Côte d’Ivoire looking for inclusive ways to stop global warming. They are involved in tree planting, awareness raising and developing new waste disposal solutions.
WATCH the video On the frontlines of climate change in Zimbabwe (2:04), featuring Nkosilathi Nyathi, a UNICEF climate activist from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. He walks
us through changes he has seen first-hand as a result of climate change. He feels that although young people can see and feel the effects of climate change, many don’t know what’s happening and he wants to change that.
WATCH this video of the Earthday.org and African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC) Intergenerational dialogue (33:38). The dialogue features questions about climate change from young people for government ministers.
WATCH this video from GCA of the Youth Adaptation Dialogue: Skills for Climate Jobs and Entrepreneurship (1:09). The session showcases young leaders who are taking advantage of the negative impacts of climate change and creating solutions that protect people and the planet.
WATCH this video from GCA of the Youth Adaptation Dialogue: Role of Universities and Students in Locally Led Adaptation (1:06:19). The session highlights case studies on Locally Led Adaptation from Uganda, Paraguay and the Netherlands.
READ this article from UN Women Africa, Four Youth Climate Activists Making a Difference in Africa. It features four women on the frontlines of climate change action.
READ CARE’s article Three Environmental Activists Making a Difference in Africa and Around the World. It features three young activists in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda who are taking action in their communities and mobilizing their peers to rally for climate justice.
You have learnt a lot and have many red hot ideas. Test your knowledge with a quiz and give yourself space to cool down and reflect on what you have learnt. Use this section to take stock of how you will put your skills into action.
EXPLANATION: BleagLee is a waste management and recycling company providing software for drones to quickly detect poor waste disposal in drainage channels, fields and other physical sites. BleaGlee works with indigenous waste collectors and youth environmental groups (eco-groups) to collect the waste, [adhering to] hygienic standards, and then properly dispose of it, or sell it to recycling companies.
EXPLANATION: Chris Ayale Wakomya lists the following as challenges for developing KivuGreen: Lack of funding for the implementation, having a competent workforce, how to find a business model, user experience of small farmers too low, literacy of smallholder farmers, lack of information about the negative effect of climate change by farmers in their sectors.
EXPLANATION: Carolyne Mwangi lists four lessons learned from starting and running Kimplanter. These include:
EXPLANATION: Suleman Saamani Elisha Mahama says an effective youth leader is one who is goal driven, confident in making decisions – especially tough ones – but also a team player with the mindset of looking out for others and lifting them up. Discipline, patience with him- or herself and other people, and a positive attitude to always deliver no matter the difficulties facing them make for an effective youth leader.
EXPLANATION: Oluwadamilola Olowoseunre advises that to be effective, a youth leader should be “a leader that shows the way, leads the way, and walks the way.”
EXPLANATION: When asked about lessons learned, Eric Onchinga says: We learned that we needed to come up with innovative financing models that would be used by farmers to afford the system. We also learned that farmers take time to make decisions before purchasing. Getting the right team that is aligned with your mission and vision is also very important for the success of a project. We also learned that farmers care most about solutions that increase their productivity and income.
Based on what you have learned about how young people are leading on climate adaptation action in Africa, consider the following questions.
Who or what inspired you most in this module?
What climate adaptation solution would be helpful to have in your community?
What do you think is important for engaging young people in adaptation action?
