Promoting Youth-led, Community-based Climate Initiatives
Climate change is a global crisis that heavily affects young people. Yet, they remain underrepresented in climate decision-making, receiving less than 1% of related funding. In Laos, Helvetas mobilizes youths and vulnerable communities to address environmental challenges and implement concrete initiatives to foster climate-resilient practices and adaptation. By working with local government authorities and Provincial People’s Assemblies, these initiatives support the sustainable, long-term improvement of the local climate resilience.
-
Project NameGiWEAC: Governance in Water and Environment to Increase Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change
-
Project Phase2024 to 2026
-
FundingDonations, contributions
-
Thematic focusClimate & Disaster Resilience
Voice, Inclusion & Cohesion
Increasing climate resilience requires a coordinated effort
Climate change is taking the heaviest toll on poor populations and in particular their youths. In Laos, increased floodings, dry spells and wildfires endanger the local biodiversity, agricultural production, market and food systems, access to and use of water and natural resources, and public health as well as accelerating youth labor migration to urban centers and neighbouring countries. Meanwhile, the capacity of the local population and authorities to address these challenges and increase their climate resilience is limited. It requires an increased awareness for climate change, its causes, effects, and best practices to live with it, the knowledge on how to implement climate initiatives, adequate tools and funding, and the coordinated effort of the public and officials to guarantee the sustainability of the action.
The GiWEAC project addresses these pressing issues and fosters sustainable resilience for communities in Laos by promoting youth-led, community-based climate initiatives.
Youths and communities take action
With GiWEAC, it is the local communities and youth that decide what should be done to increase the local climate resilience. This is made possible with the help of small grants provided by the project. In a first stage, youth groups and community groups can hand in proposals for their initiatives and the most promising are awarded the grant. In a second stage, the groups plan, manage and implement their initiatives, for which they receive trainings on project design, finance and management. The results are innovative, crowd-sourced climate actions that contribute to the adoption of sustainable practices, the reduction of carbon footprint, and the advocacy for policies that prioritize environmental protection and climate resilience, paving the way for a more sustainable and resilient future.
A collaboration to last beyond the project
Besides increasing the local climate resilience, the participatory approach and inclusion of authorities in the initiatives foster a sense of shared responsibility and strengthen the exchange and collaboration between the civil society, local authorities and Provincial People’s Assemblies. The concrete results of the initiatives, like the infrastructure and system for waste management, or the cultivation of plants and insects as climate-friendly agricultural solutions are very practical proof of the success that this collaboration can have. Hence, GiWEAC also functions as a door-opener and compelling argument for inclusive, good governance that can exist beyond the end of this project.