RCE Kano Digital Youth Forum

1. RCE KANO DIGITAL YOUTH FORUM FOR ENVIRONMENTAL
SUSTAINABILITY AMBASSADORS
The opportunity for a green recovery post COVID-19
October 5th 2020

2.  Young people ( 16% global population at 1.2 billion) are the torch bearers for
Agenda 2030 (UN 2018)

4.  142 million upper secondary age youth are out of
school; 30% poorest youth have never attended
school
 71 million youth unemployed
 31 million children displaced (2018, UNHCR)
 Schools closed for 1.5 billion children April 2020

5.  ‘Rather than rating the success of programmes on narrow
measures of educational or employment attainment, it is
crucial that institutional, programme and policy evaluations
be more firmly grounded in young people’s own accounts of
what they value for their human development and for the
sustainable development of their communities and this
shared planet’
 Quality ESD for all
 The role of TVET and youth entrepreneurship
 Localising solutions for the SDGs

6.  Positioning ourselves in the two hundred year present
(Futures education, Boulding, Hicks et al) –temporal
and spatial
 Addressing the well being of current and future
generations – leaving no one behind
 Adopting a relational approach – interconnected and
interdisciplinary

7.  Change can happen fast ! How can we learn to make this
happen for climate action?
 We are all connected in the web of life – global is local
 Enhanced community action builds resilience
 Virtual working can be effective for a large number of jobs
and reduce carbon emissions at the same time
 Virtual learning can enhance inclusion if available to all
 Local economies are essential
 An opportunity for reconnection with nature as a source of
joy, inspiration and resilience

8.  The most disadvantaged and vulnerable are affected
disproportionately
 Recognition of inequalities within society eg digital
access
 Importance of key workers
 Links between environmental and social justice are laid
bare
 Neo liberal economics is not resilient enough to
withstand shocks
 How can we build back better for a just and green
society?

10.  Both ‘invisible’ enemies, one with immediate impact, the
other longer term
 Both global – we are all affected, we are all part of the global
community
 Both can be slowed down
 Adaptation and resilience is necessary is necessary for both
 Key question: How can we build on what we have
learned post COVID to make change happen fast with
regard to the climate and to the achievement of the
SDGs ?

11.  Political engagement – the personal is political
 Start where you are – you know your own community
 Intergenerational and interregional action and alliances
 Involve a diversity of voices – especially the most
disadvantaged and vulnerable
 Support empowerment of communities
 Inter sectorial activities
 Sharing skills and ideas
 Start conversations
 There is no one size fits all
 Inspiration - examples of community based resilience

12.  Political engagement New UN advisory group includes: a young woman
from Sudan, Nisreen Elsaim, who is already a junior negotiator at
intergovernmental climate forums
 Empowering communities India - Butterfly youth led Project seeks to
empower marginalized and vulnerable young women with the
confidence and skills to tell their own stories and demand change.
 Disaster management Medicine Trainers (TdmT) is a student- and
expert-led programme that equips medical students with the
knowledge and skills they need to take action in disaster situations.
 Entrepreneurship Rwanda, the 20 year old founder of a business
that uses technology to identify and reduce millions of tons of
electronic waste in landfills, is at work retooling his company to collect
and recycle medical waste.
 Inspiration RCE Kano and RCE Minna – youth led initiatives eg
Green Clubs,, youth digital conferences, environmental ambassadors

13.  Share our stories
 Share positive stories of successful community resilience
 Through working with artists and story tellers to change the
narrative
The distant music of the future
Haunts me
And I Think it will be something
Amazing to hear
A delight to the gods
Provided we don’t lose our way
More than we already have
And provided we are guided
By our deepest love
The love that connects us all
On this little globe of beauty (Ben Okri)