Engaging Youth in Climate Finance Decisions

Too often, youth are not meaningfully engaged or empowered to make decisions in the climate sphere. To provide an opportunity for youth to prioritize how loss and damage (L&D) funding should be allocated, CJRF has provided LDYC with a $200,000 grant to the development of a L&D Youth Grantmaking Council. The Council is comprised of 11 youth from the global south and will determined a set of 10 small and one large L&D grants.

The L&D Youth Grantmaking Council developed an open call for youth to apply for funds. The call received around 245 applications and the Council selected the following partners:

• Alpha Amadou Diallo at Green Transformation 2050 in Guinea won $50K to fund relocation and resettlement of communities affected by the climate crisis and equip community organizations to better address loss and damage.

• Irfan Ullah at Sustainability Week Pakistan received $10K to address loss and damage through olive tree planting, grafting, and oil extraction that creates green jobs and reforests dry areas.

• Dize Kwatchou Steve Mael of Care For Environment in Cameroon received $10K to address loss and damage through temporary resettlement, empowerment, and education for victims of disasters.

• Tshering Lhamo of Gross International Nature will use the $10K awarded by the L&D Youth Grantmaking Council to support flash flood victims in Jasabi village of Lhuntse District in Bhutan by restoring their electric fences and greenhouses.

• Twongirwe Ireen of Women for Green Economy Movement Uganda is using the $10K grant from the Council to plant trees in areas affected by floods and mudslides in Mbale, Uganda.

• Ali Chikondi Saidi of Busy Youth Organization will deploy the $10K from the Council to assist people recovering from floods, including safe drinking water through the installation of water hand pumps and other support.

• In Madhesh Province in Nepal, Prayash Adhikari of Digo Bikas Institute is using the $10K grant to document the effects of loss and damage in four local governments and create awareness among the affected community​, youth, and the broader public.

• John Garang Deng at The Mawoudit Foundation in South Sudan will use the $10K grant to re-construct grass-made houses, distribute solar lamps, and train people to use these lamps in areas affected by the climate crisis.

• Lesego Ellen Mosetlheng at the Botswana Society for Human Development will use the $10K grant to raise awareness of loss and damage, build climate-resilient communities, and advocate and introduce early warning systems.

• Djasngue Bienvenu at the Consortium pour la Promotion des Initiatives et de Développement in Chad will use the $10K grant to promote market gardening production in rural areas affected by the floods.

• In Uganda, Boniface Okello Ojas of Karamoja Go GreenGo is using the $10K grant to train residents affected by climate change-induced famine and hunger in skills to provide alternative ways of generating income.