Young people are at the forefront of the climate crisis. Despite being one of the groups most vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate, they have also been one of the most effective leaders and advocates of ambitious climate action.
The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) engages with youth groups and young climate leaders through supporting youth-led innovation and forums, capacity building, amplifying youth agency and representation in climate governance, and prioritizing the needs of young people in decisions about investments and infrastructure.
The CIF’s vision to partner with youth is articulated in its Youth Engagement Strategy Consultation Note. The organization runs the CIF Youth Internship program and supports youth climate entrepreneurship through the World Bank Y2Y’s Climate Smart Entrepreneurship competition. Through the YouthADAPT Challenge, the CIF promotes African climate entrepreneurs in partnership with Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) and African Development Bank (AfDB). And, globally, we support youth-led climate forums such as the Global Youth Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction held in Bali recently.
CIF’s work can be witnessed in communities where some young people work in their communities and draw in others by providing training and sharing knowledge.
One such example is 24-year-old Veronica Namposya who returned to her village in Zambia after completing her undergraduate degree in Gender and Development studies. She discovered that the shortage of locally bred chickens in her community was due to how changing climatic conditions hampered the reproductive capacity. Her community was in dire need of climate-adaptive farming methods, which led her to start Lwisya Poultry Farm.
An enterprise grant through the CIF’s Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPRC), gave Veronica the backing she needed to build on her small farming initiative and broaden the scope of her endeavors.
She says, “I was able to purchase equipment and build poultry [facilities] with bigger capacity. Because of this, we are working with various women groups around the church and community to help them adapt and adopt climate-smart poultry.”
Her company now provides egg-hatching services, sells chicks, and offers point-of-lay services. She has also launched a training program for youngsters as young as 16 years old to learn about poultry management. Role modeling climate leadership is inspiring others to join her.
“Seeing a youth like me being supported by CIF PPCR has made fellow youth in my community zealous about poultry farming”, Veronica says. “This has made us come up with an incubation hub in which we help each other learn better methods and give them chicks when they are ready to start up their own poultries."
The work and passion of Veronica and others like her demonstrate why investing in the skills and ingenuity of young people can spark solutions to the most pressing climate problems in their communities. It also shows how the role and influence of youth in climate advocacy inspires a new set of climate leaders and CIF is here for it!