Youth engagement in the IKI
Youth as a driving force for a sustainable future
Young people are greatly affected by climate change and biodiversity loss and are campaigning worldwide for a just and sustainable future. The age group of 15 to 30-year-olds currently accounts for 1.8 billion people, or 23 per cent of the world's population. 90 per cent of these young people live in middle or low-income countries. Despite this, their voices often go unheard, and their potential remains untapped. Yet their ideas, knowledge, skills, and commitment are essential for tackling today's and tomorrow's global challenges.
The IKI approach
Climate and biodiversity protection are more successful, sustainable and equitable when they involve and empower young people. This is why IKI promotes cooperation between and with young people within the framework of projects and their activities. This includes, among other things, the education, training and awareness-raising of young people, the promotion of networks and cooperation as well as measures for the participation of young people in political decision-making processes.
Photo stories
In Guatemala, the IKI supports young indigenous farmers practising ecological and climate-resilient agriculture.
El Salvador is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Five young people share their vision of the future and what motivated them to shift from indifference to action on climate change.
Contact
Anyone interested in finding out more about the participation of young people in IKI projects is invited to contact iki-youth(at)z-u-g.org.
Selected projects
- Facility for Action for Climate Empowerment to achieve Nationally Determined Contributions (FACE NDC)
- Green Youth labs: Training program for innovation and a socially equitable energy transition (GreenYOU)
- Rural Youth Climate Action Movement for Cool Farming in Indonesia
- YouthEnergy - Activating youth potentials for driving the just energy transition in Argentina
- Escape Climate Change Brazil - Game-based Learning for innovative Climate Communication in Brazil
- Living Lakes - Strategies to protect the biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems
- ARCH - Action for Regional Climate Help: Bottom-Up Youth Climate Governance in North-East Africa
Selected partners
IKI Brown Bag Lunch
On 3 September 2024, an IKI Brown Bag Lunch was held on the topic "Empowering Youth – Maximizing Impact: Youth empowerment as a building block for effective climate and biodiversity action". The presentation slides from the event are available for download here.
![[Translate to English:] Cover Elevating Meaningful Youth Engagement for Climate Action](/fileadmin/_processed_/d/4/csm_20230224_UNDP-Elevating-Meaningful-Youth-Engagement-for-Climate-Action_Cover_969fd0113b.jpg)
IKI funding areas
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