Submitted by Sithembile Ndema. Sithembile Ndema was the master of ceremony of the Global Landscapes Forum’s youth session in Warsaw 2013.
Ahead of the youth activities at December’s Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) in Peru, which will focus on building youth skills and knowledge to become leaders and effectively contribute to discussions, we caught up with Sithembile to find out how her career path has changed and her advice for upcoming youth leaders and participants in the 2014 GLF. Register to attend the youth session here.
1. What’s changed the most for you in the last 12 months? What professional projects are you currently working on?
We strengthened our relationship with the African Union youth division and jointly organised a youth session on the side-lines of the 23rd ordinary session of the African Union Summit, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. It was an excellent platform for youth. FANRPAN has since also started a project to support the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite[1] Programme for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation. One of the major objectives of this new project is to support the engagement of youth champions in the African Climate Change Position. FANRPAN will select and equip African youth champions with relevant evidence to speak with a unified voice on the African Climate Change Position and skills through mentorship programmes which will enable these champions to become drivers of change and advocates of CSA.
2. What was the most concrete benefit or opportunity you gained by participating in the Global Landscapes Forum youth session in 2013?
Connecting with likeminded youth and creating new partnerships – we have since started working with Joseph Macharia Founder Mkulima Young who has also linked us up to youth networks.
3. What do you think has been one of the most important moments for youth engagement in climate change, land use or sustainable development and what should we learn from this?
I think that having given young professionals the space to share their recommendations at the closing session of the 2013 Global Landscapes Forum was an important moment for youth because most often youth are brought to such big meetings only as token participants, but at the GLF they were given a platform to speak their minds out. What we can learn from this is that youth can direct their paths and they can come up with solutions to some of today’s development challenges if given the chance to.
4. Do you have any advice for the youth leaders and participants in the upcoming youth session in Peru? (this could be related to their participation, career advice that you have received etc).
I think the important thing is to promote the GLF youth session prior to Peru, so that a good number of young people who may not be able to participate in the session in person can share their work, experiences and concerns beforehand. In that way, those who are participating are able to represent the voices of those who are not there. It is equally important to make sure that once the GLF is over there is proper feedback given to youth constituencies at a country level and to keep the conversation going even after the end of the GLF.
This belongs to a blog series profiling youth leadership in landscapes. Tell us your youth story – submit blogs to landscapes.youth@gmail.com
