DESCRIPTION
Youth between 15 and 24 years old represent 16% of the world’s population, and yet youth are too often excluded from decision-making processes that will have a significant impact on their futures. However, the inclusion of youth is essential for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Indeed, more and more young people are committing to a sustainable future through advocacy, lobbying, volunteering, or involvement in community or civil society organizations. Their actions are a means to achieve progress on the SDGs. Although young people are actors of change, they lack the technical and financial means to make their project ideas happen. According to a recent study by the ClimateWorks Foundation, foundation giving to youth-led climate justice initiatives is extremely limited — accounting for just 0.76% of climate mitigation funding from the world’s largest climate foundations across the three financial years 2019, 2020, and 2021. Young people are seen as “high risk” by potential funders because of their lack of experience, despite their unique innovative capacities and strong will to take action. It is crucial to enhance access to funding for young people and support their efforts by increasing access to technical support and guidance. (United Nations, 2020).
1 Million Youth Actions Challenge (1MYAC): An initiative to stimulate young people around the world!
Launched in September 2021 by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, 1MYAC is a great opportunity to promote youth engagement for the implementation of SDGs. The challenge aims at mobilizing youth from all over the world to implement concrete actions for a more sustainable future.
1MYAC focuses on the following four United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address both climate change and the depletion of natural resources worldwide: SDG 6 on ‘clean water and sanitation’, SDG 12 on ‘responsible consumption and production’, SDG 13 on ‘climate action’ (climate change) and SDG 15 on ‘life on land’ (biodiversity).
Youth for Water and Climate (YWC) is a platform developed by a consortium led by the International Secretariat for Water that aims to help turn youth ideas into reality by providing young people with financial and technical support and by connecting their initiatives with partners and mentors. After 5 calls for projects and more than 25 projects funded on the platform, YWC and 1MYAC are joining forces in this call for projects with one main objective in mind: Encouraging and supporting youth-led actions for t clean water and sanitation, responsible consumption and production, climate action & biodiversity.
OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this call for projects is to support the implementation of youth-led initiatives related to clean water and sanitation, responsible consumption and production, climate action & biodiversity and to enhance the young leaders’ capacities as actors of change in the water and climate sector.
THEMES
The call for projects will be structured around 4 main themes that are in line with the 4 SDGs targeted by the 1MYAC initiative: Clean water and sanitation, Responsible consumption and production, Climate action & Life on land. (source: United Nations, 2022)
Admissible projects must cover one or several of these themes:
- SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation: Initiatives to improve water quality, promote universal access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, and improve water use efficiency to mitigate water stress and ensure water security.
- SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production:Initiatives that promote resource and energy efficiency, circular economy such as recycling and upcycling, sustainable infrastructure, and waste and pollution reduction.
- SDG 13: Climate action: Initiatives that aim to help reduce gas emissions and improve adaptation to climate impact: such as reforestation, awareness, etc.
- SDG 15: Life on land: Initiatives that prevent and halt ecosystem degradation, protect critical biodiversity sites, and help reverse net habitat loss, like building a home for small animals or growing a community garden, etc.
Scroll down below for the official link to apply