AGYLE Caribbean launches for youth to connect on climate action and engage with the global climate talks
The concept of youth training focused on climate change is not new. The Academy of Global Youth Leadership Empowerment Caribbean launches at LACCW 2021 to learn from these initiatives and collaborate on a platform to bring together youth stakeholders in the UN Climate Change process.
In June 2021, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda and RCC St. George’s launched the AGYLE Caribbean during Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week 2021 in collaboration with UNICEF, Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), The Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (5Cs), UK COP26, Delegation of the European Union to Barbados, The Eastern Caribbean States, the OECS and CARICOM/CARIFORUM and the Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN).
AGYLE Caribbean aims to develop and build on existing capacity of youth from diverse stakeholder groups in the region by training academy participants through three thematic pillars:
- Climate Leadership Academy — To deliver, inter alia, a course accreditation system; high-quality, accredited educational courses in partnership with universities in the Caribbean to offer specialized graduate courses; training, including training of trainers; forums; virtual learning, online education; and online mentoring Courses should aim at providing strong conceptual foundations for students that intend to engage with UN climate processes or explore professional careers in climate change related areas.
- Knowledge Sharing Platform — To create an online community of ACE/youth related stakeholders; collect and share information; provide online training support including program design; accreditation verification and certification of courses, assessment of students, registry services, definition of standards. The platform will give a special attention to indigenous knowledge and know-hows regarding climate change (mitigation and adaptation
- Green Business Incubator — To identify and encourage creative business opportunities targeting both young women and men, with climate change (mitigation and adaptation) focus led by creative Caribbean youth and other stakeholders and provide technical and financial support through tailored skills development and identification of funding opportunities.
In the welcoming remarks by Amb. Diann Black-Layne, she emphasized the need for strong focus on involving youth in environmental decision making and climate action.
Other speakers at the launch included Ms. Monique Nardi from the UNFCCC Secretariat who gave an overview of the Global AGYLE initiative and Mr. Daryl George from Antigua and Barbuda who presented a plan of activities for 2021.
Through the AGYLE initiative, UNFCCC and UNICEF will collaborate to prepare Caribbean youth delegates nominated for the Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition” event in Milan, 28-30 September. On June 2nd, 2021, Ms Ashley Lashley and Ms Abigail Johnson, the two delegates from Barbados, were introduced to the UN Secretary General’s Special Advisor on Climate Action, Mr Selwin Hart, during a roundtable at UN House, Barbados. Nafesha Richardson and Jhannel Tomlinson, youth delegates from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Jamaica, respectively, attended the same event virtually.
Additionally, AGYLE is supporting the Stay Alive and Thrive Campaign, initiated by the Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN) to raise awareness about the Paris Agreement goals across the region. Please visit the webpage and join the more than 1,300 people who have signed the petition at: https://stayaliveandthrive.org/.
Through this initiative, the Academy will build upon and add value to existing youth engagement frameworks in the Region to empower youth to participate in an promote the climate action agenda by engaging with the UNFCCC processes at the global, regional and inter-governmental levels.
For more information about the AGYLE, please contact rccstgeorges@unfccc.int
