Africa’s climate action network PACJA unveils plan to train 500 youths on climate justice

The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), a coalition of over 2000 organisations devoted to selling climate action as an advocacy software in 54 African nations, has launched the sixth cohort of its Nairobi Summer School on Climate Justice, aiming to train 500 youths.

The trainees, to be drawn from inside and out of doors the continent, will attend a capability improvement workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 20 June to 3 July 2027, the group said on Friday on the thirty first assembly of the Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Participants will learn the way climate negotiations work and purchase perception into climate finance, adaptation, loss and harm, simply transition and accountability. They may even participate in mock negotiations and meet negotiators and policymakers.

PACJA advances climate action via capability constructing, coverage advocacy, analysis, and help for native climate resilience and land restoration tasks.

Mithika Mwenda, govt director of PACJA, mentioned Africa’s younger individuals maintain lower than 5 per cent of the positions the place climate selections are made, despite the fact that they represent as a lot as 60 per cent of the continent’s inhabitants.

He mentioned the varsity was arrange in 2020 to shut that hole. The 5 earlier cohorts educated greater than 2500 younger individuals from 144 nations.

The programme will now be held each two years in step with the organisation’s strategic plan for 2026 to 2030.

“Young Africans should not only be invited to the table. They should arrive prepared,” mentioned Augustine Njamnshi, chair of PACJA’s political and technical affairs, who unveiled the cohort.

Mr Njamnshi acknowledged the help given by the African Development Bank, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the Swedish Development Agency, the East African Legislative Assembly and the HBCU Green Fund to the varsity.

Alumni’s testimonials

Mr Njamnshi mentioned the varsity’s alumni embody younger negotiators, coverage analysts, individuals working on the inexperienced economic system and in academia.

Smriti Shah of the fourth cohort instructed PREMIUM TIMES she as soon as believed climate justice was “highly political”, however PACJA has modified her perspective.

“PACJA taught me to carry the views of communities to policymakers, and now I include climate justice in every humanitarian programme I work on,” she mentioned.

Shampi Anna, additionally from the identical cohort, mentioned alumni are serving to younger members of parliament in Kenya with payments, lobbying and advocacy.

“We worked, and we continue to work with young parliamentarians in Kenya,” Ms Anna mentioned.

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A Nigerian and member of the fifth batch, Anuoluwapo Otubusin, instructed FEMNET, an organisation selling ladies’s improvement in Africa, that she had a outstanding expertise that was extra than simply attending a climate action coaching.

“It was a turning point in how I currently view advocacy, policy influencing, solidarity and my role in shaping a feminist climate future,” she mentioned.

Prospective candidates for the newest cohort have to be 18 to 35 years previous and maintain no less than a highschool certificates.

PACJA mentioned it should prioritise candidates from locations most inclined to climate change in Africa and the Global South, particularly younger individuals from indigenous communities, grassroots actions, ladies’s teams, universities and coverage establishments.