Youth Programme

Programme Description: 

In response to the ever growing problems associated with Climate Change, ICCCAD’s Youth Programme seeks to involve the youth and children of our country to come forward under one banner; where young men and women can learn, understand and share aspects of environmental and social problems of Climate Change through education & capacity building. ICCCAD’s Youth programme understands the need of the Youth’s involvement in development and identifying challenges through solution development by providing viable solutions for this vast sector.

Young people (15-25) in Bangladesh make up a significant proportion of the population; approximately 30 per cent (July 2014 est., Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics). “If they are equipped with the fundamental abilities, great wellbeing and viable decisions, they introduce a huge chance to change the future" said UNFPA Bangladesh Representative, Argentina Matavel in the State of the world report 2014. To date, Bangladesh’s youth has not been effective in engaging with policy-making processes and have expressed their concerns of not being heard on numerous occasions. The need for effective and adequate stakeholder consultations with “Children and Youth” in mind is a vital requirement for any national planning endeavors.

The United Nations Joint Framework Initiative on Children, Youth and Climate Change perceives the
integral role that youths play in tackling climate change and development. It works intimately with youth-
centred associations around the globe with the aim of empowering children and young people to take
action on climate change.


Team Members:

Jennifer Khadim
Coordinator, Youth Programme
Saqib Huq
Coordinator,Climate Finance Programme
Tasfiq Mahmud
Research Associate,Policy Support Programme

Shahrin Mannan
Research Assistant, Livelihood Programme
Noor-E-Elahi
Programme Assistant, Policy Support Porgramme

Programme Objective:

  • Equip the next generation with climate change knowledge and different policies
  • Understand the link between SDG 13 ‘Climate Action’ with SDG 4 ‘Quality Education’, SDG 5 ‘Gender Equality’ and SDG 11 ‘Sustainable Cities and Communities’.
  • Encourage the youth to take equitable action for local climate change issues
  • Build a strong and effective network of youth across and outside of the nation

Programme Outcome:

  • Future leaders for climate action will be identified
  • Have innovative solutions to existing climate change problems
  • Bridging the gap between youth and climate change policy makers
  • An international platform for student-knowledge-exchange among students from different countries

Current Project


CFTM Project: Youth Mentorship Programmme

Background:

The ‘Youth Retreat’ began its journey under the CFTM project. 20 students were selected through a rigorous process who came to participate in the 3 days retreat representing different public and private universities. This programme continued under the ICCCAD Youth programme and 2 follow up sessions have been planned. One was organized in Barguna which provided field experience and practical know-how of research methodology. This training is aimed at grooming current university students as future trainers.

We will continue what we started and brought 20 dedicated young people to learn what skills will help them in future as researchers or environmental entrepreneur or just to be a leader in climate change. ICCCAD strongly believes that there is a need to build and maintain a platform which nurtures future climate change trainers or leaders to solve future climate change problems.

Objective:

  • Capacitate university students with essential knowledge on climate change issues especially on climate change governance.
  • Teaching essential skills which make students more competitive in the field of climate change.
  • Help turning students into future trainers or leaders so they can carry on the task for more young people.

Different Activities:

  • Workshop
  • Photo Voice
  • Conference
  • Media Outreach

Outcome:

  • Bridging the gap between students from Dhaka and outside of Dhaka
  • Creating a platform for young climate enthusiast to communicate with each other
  • Student-knowledge-exchange among different parts of the country

Photo Voice Project:

The Photo Voice project at ICCCAD was initiated in 2016 by Michael Chew, a visiting Researcher at ICCCAD from Monash University, Melbourne. The Youth programme took the opportunity to connect with this innovative project because it aims at enhancing young people’s capacity to express their ideas. Using photos and a short description to highlight what climate change resilience means in the urban context, the students highlighted environmental problems and existing solutions at hand. These pictures were exhibited in different occasion in different places such as the 1st National Urban Conference in Dhaka, North South University, Jaago School in Korail, Monash University Melbourne etc.

The project is currently at its 3rd phase where students in different locations connect with each other through online platform. The 1st and 2nd phase was more knowledge and skill based where students learned various aspects of photography, climate change issues and the importance of delivering a positive message through the media.

Objectives:

  • To empower and connect urban communities from 3 countries (Australia, Bangladesh and China) through participatory visual story telling
  • To produce a range of high quality visual outputs showcasing urban climate change responses
  • To develop and compile relevant applied research into participatory visual methods and cross cultural story exchanges

Output:

  • Photo-stories
  • Video
  • Postcards
  • Posters
  • Presentations

 

Global Coordinator: Michael Chew

Doctoral Researcher / CRME Global Coordinator

Department of Design, Monash University

email: michael.chew@monash.edu

Website: https://greenphotovoice.org/

 


Collaboration with Green Planet Club at IUB

The Green Planet Club at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) and ICCCAD are collaborating to enhance knowledge and making students more aware about diverse topics of environment and climate change. Some topics which will be covered by experts from both IUB, ICCCAD and from other organizations are biodiversity, climate change basics, wildlife conservation etc which are all in accordance to how youth can be involved with it.

Objectives:

  • Connecting students from different universities under one platform
  • Seeking research opportunities
  • Develop a sustainable platform for like-minded organisations

Outcome:

Create future leaders in climate change.

Contact person:

Shohail Bin Saifullah, School of Environmental Science and Management, IUB

Email: saifullahshohail@gmail.com


Past Project: