Youth submissions online and ready for your vote: what are the key messages?

One month ago, Courtney and I reflected on the four recurring issues raised over and over again in events and activities with youth involved in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, conservation, development : (1) the lack for finance, (2) unattractiveness of the sector among the youth, (3) mismatch between the education system’s deliveries and the needs of the job market, (4) the lack of capacity development for the youth.

The ongoing e-discussions show that many of you agree with these findings. But rather than just sit and talk about them, we wanted to ensure more is done to find actionable solutions for youth empowerment to make a change.

We received  150 insightful applications from 52 countries around the world to speak at our TEDx-style youth event Youth: The future of Sustainable Landscapes on 16 November in Warsaw, Poland, where 12 young people will take the stage to showcase what is happening in these sectors to achieve sustainable landscapes and hopefully inspire others to make a change. 

The submissions show the enthusiasm and capability of the young generation: be it oyster farming and conservation, social forestry, agribusiness, climate policy or lands rights advocacy, these young people are contributing in impactful initiatives at local to global level, often with minimum funding.

Unfortunately we could only select 12 to speak at the event (all will be revealed next week!) so we decided to publish all 150 submissions online for you to enjoy the diversity and quality of youth initiatives and their insights - and so you can vote for your favorites!

Here are some examples of how the youth stories address the four recurring issues in different ways:

Lack for finance - Take all the entrepreneurial youth-led initiatives: in oyster cultivation in The Gambia (#83), beekeeping in Zimbabwe (#63 & #72), fisheries in Uganda (#18)

Unattractiveness of the sector - Check this initiative to increase youth engagement in Agriculture in Zimbabwe (#136), the implementation of on online platform for youth interested in agriculture, born in Kenya (#129), the use of videos for environmental awareness in Belgium (#29)

Education reforms – Read about this case from Ghana on sensitizing schools on the importance of agriculture ( #127), training youth and teachers on renewable energies in Cameroon (#66), the development of entrepreneurship skills for forestry students in Colombia ( #89)

Lack of capacity development - Check this initiative from Nigeria which builds the capacity of the youth to take part in policy negotiations for tackling climate change (#131), this program on GIS for nature conservations in Kenya (#28), this work with indigenous youth on climate adaptation in DR Congo (#42), this waste management education in Indonesia (#79)

There had also been a number of stories highlighting how the youth can take part in advocating for policies towards sustainable environment and youth’s empowerment: Take Kali’s story from Canada (#121), Marie-Nomena’s story from Madagascar (#135) , Daniel’s story from Bolivia (#140)

Calling for your vote!

Check all the proposals here! Not only can you browse the proposals, but also, we invite you to vote for the submission(s) that inspire or impress you the most!

One of the main challenges that young people face is a lack of recognition so show your appreciation of their work, praise their efforts and success, comment on their initiatives, and suggest any ideas that come up while going through these. Tell us what inspires you, what makes you doubtful, what you see as valuable towards achieving a sustainable future. We are all on the same page, trying to build a sustainable future for ourselves and future generations so everyone's feedback is invaluable for strengthening our individual and collective action!

Rate each entry from one to five stars, based on the submissions’ originality, inspiration and impact. To read each of the submissions, click on “Show submission” under each title, and click on the star-rating! You can rate as many submissions you want. Do not hesitate to comment and provide your feedback as well!

The three most popular submissions will receive a “Prize from the Public”. They will be announced at the Global Landscapes Forum Youth Session.

Remember: there are 150 submissions in total! Go through as many as you can – find them all here! Share these submissions on Twitter (use the #GLFCOP19 tag) and Facebook, and invite your friends and colleagues to vote too. Spread the word, vote and do share your views on these!

** The GLF youth session is organized by YPARD (the Young Professionals’ Platform for Agricultural Research for Development) and CIFOR with the invaluable support of CCAFS. CGIAR, CTA and GFAR kindly accepted to sponsor the youth speakers’ participation.

Picture credit: Andreas Krappweis, stock xhcange