The project titled "Promotion of Innovative Youth in Climate Action Mentorship Program in Sierra Leone" is a Youth Climate Action Mentorship Program (Y-CAMP) is an initiative to empower, inspire and engage young people towards environmental conservation, climate action, agricultural entrepreneurship and sustainability. The program is designed with workshops, Field visits, Mentoring (during and after) and networking sessions. This unique training program aims to address the problem in the knowledge gap about climate change issues amongst young Sierra Leoneans and prepare their minds for climate action innovations.
The selected participants of the Y-CAMP will join the movement to protect our earth, understand the underlying crisis in climate change and the urgent need for action, learn what it takes to be a leader in conservation efforts of our planet, connect with grass-root communities and understand the challenges they face, connect with like-minded environmentally conscious people, find solution for climate action and embrace agricultural entrepreneurship as an employment solution and a source of livelihood.
This one-year program aims to train 100 young social environmental entrepreneurs and climate action activists in all the regions of Sierra Leone with a cohort every 2 months. The training of each cohort will be centered in the regional headquarter town of the said region with youth participants selected in every district of that region. All participants of every cohort will attend a 5-days workshop wherein they will be taught on topics such as 1. Climate Change, Mitigation and Adaption 2. Sustainable Development 3. Environment and Habitat Conservation 4. Environmental Policies and Regulations 5. Entrepreneurship 6. Cashew Production 7. Leadership Development 8. Practical skill of converting plastic waste to pavement bricks 9. Social Media for Social Impact 10. Methods to search for online youth opportunities etc.
Upon completion of the training, it is expected that all participants return home empowered with knowledge and skills to advocate and participate in activities to promote the protection of our earth, and most importantly embark on cashew production as a mean of livelihood and a contribution to tree planting to combat deforestation.
The Y-CAMP is based upon the urgent need to mentor and build resilience amongst young leaders about the science behind climate change, its negative impact on our planet and how to mitigate and adapt to its effects. Because of its multiple contents, the Y-CAMP is in line with all the GEF Focal Areas but the one it is most directly related to is, the Youth-led initiatives for nature-based solutions to climate change as participants are train to be cashew farmers for self-employability and environmental sustainability.
The specific objectives of the proposal include the following:
1. The project shall develop a desirable selection criterion and select 100 youth participants of the Y-CAMP to undertake climate smart actions including nursery establishment and 50 acres of tree planting as a global warming mitigation measure.
2. Launch 4 regional annual climate action summits as a platform where innovators within each region shall compete with their pairs to show their indigenous climate knowledge that shall be rewarded with prizes for scaling up to solve the underlying crisis in climate change and the urgent need for action.
3. Identify 25 climate champions from the regional annual climate action summits and train them to take leadership roles to incubate the innovators to skew their interventions in conservation efforts of the environment.
4. Pilot a district innovation unit for knowledge exchange and support program that connects with grassroot communities, understand their environmental challenges, identify innovators that connect with like-minded environmentally initiatives that propose solutions for climate action.
5. Identify 4 regional agricultural entrepreneurs to provide youth mentorship for 100 youths in practical problem solving and a source of livelihood