Following the successful Africa Youth Partnership for an Equitable Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic, YOTA has launched a new phase in partnership with the Ford Foundation: the Africa Youth Partnership for Climate Action.
The Africa Youth Partnership for an Equitable Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic, which was the previous phase, focused on empowering young people to drive pandemic recovery efforts across Africa. Youth Task Teams were established in ten countries—Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—placing young people at the forefront of regional advocacy and policy influence.
These teams led notable initiatives such as the Ghana Youth Task Team’s campaign against the 20% luxury tax on menstrual products and the Nigeria Youth Task Team’s policy brief on vaccine uptake, which provided recommendations to enhance vaccine acceptance and confidence among Nigerian citizens. Notably, the Liberian Youth Task Team also produced a policy brief highlighting gaps in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) for marginalized Liberians, offering feasible recommendations for inclusivity.
Building on this momentum, the Africa Youth Partnership for Climate Action aims to equip young Africans to address the global climate emergency more effectively. The project recognizes that despite their growing activism, many local and grassroots initiatives lack pathways to international engagement and face significant barriers in policy formulation and implementation.
Hafiz, a Ghanaian Youth Task Team lead at the High-Level Political Forum in New York
Consequently, the youth movement in Africa is often sidelined in international policymaking. Additionally, many young people lack the technical capacity, literacy, language, and leadership skills necessary for initiating action within their communities. There is a critical deficiency in climate change education, training, public awareness, and access to information, which are essential for building the skills needed for effective action.
The Africa Youth Partnership for Climate Action, with geographical emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa and five countries in West Africa—Ghana, Gambia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone- aims to empower young people in Africa to contribute more effectively to addressing the global climate change emergency. The project seeks to achieve this through the production of knowledge resources, the creation of an online resource hub, delivering virtual learning sessions, and supporting youth organizing at the grassroots level. It also emphasizes youth representation in regional and global climate engagements. By addressing barriers to engagement and enhancing technical capacities, the Africa Youth Partnership for Climate Action will enable youth and young feminist activists to collaborate, learn, and engage more effectively.
This initiative builds on the success of our previous work in pandemic recovery, demonstrating YOTA’s continued commitment to empowering Africa’s youth to lead the way in tackling pressing global challenges.
