“I am starting to feel like I live in the world, not just in my own country,” a workshop participant
Young people are a major stakeholder in climate finance: they will not only inherit the infrastructures and systems we finance and build today, but also drive climate policies and commitments through their engagement. As one of the largest climate finance mechanisms in the world, the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) actively connect with youth all around the world to ensure their perspectives are taken into account. But the global climate finance landscape is not easy to navigate, and young people shared in a 2021 CIF survey that they were not satisfied with their level of understanding of international climate decision making. When prompted, 85% said they wanted to learn more about climate finance. CIF, in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), decided to make this opportunity available through an interactive online workshop entitled A Journey into International Climate Finance: Basic Tools & Resources to Help Young People Engage.
A group of 45 youth aged 16-35 participated in the inaugural workshop right before COP27. They joined mostly from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, with a few participants from the Middle East and Africa. The workshop was designed for youth by youth, drawing on the skills of four members of the CIF internship program. The training presented the climate finance landscape, explained the role of multilateral financial institutions, and offered a roadmap for further engagement. Over two days, it featured formal presentations, testimonies, networking opportunities and playful quizzes.
The course was thoughtfully designed using science-based principles of online learning. In the words of one participant, “the training was organized in a way to let us gradually immerse into the topic of climate finance: from fundamentals to specific organizations and cases.” In total, young learners interacted with a dozen experts and team members from CIF, EBRD and other climate finance organizations.
After an introduction by Dora Nsuwa Cudjoe, Stakeholder Engagement Program Coordinator, on why climate finance training for youth is needed, Mafalda Duarte, CIF’s CEO, welcomed participants with these words: “It is always a privilege and I always look forward to being with young people because it reminds me how I got involved in this work.”
Dr Sandra Guzman, Founder and Global Director of the Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean (GFLAC), kicked off the training with a thought-provoking presentation. She introduced participants to basic concepts, sharing the UNFCCC definition of climate finance as finance that “seeks to reduce emissions and enhance greenhouse gases sinks while seeking to decrease vulnerability and maintain and increase the resilience of human and ecological systems to the adverse effects of climate change,” but also shared global challenges on climate finance availability and delivery.
Go Mukai, Senior Operations Officer at CIF, explained why multilateral development banks (MDBs) are well placed to deliver climate finance to developing countries, and how CIF works with these key partners. “I was amazed that climate finance doesn't only come in the form of grants. Financing climate projects can even be profitable enough to sustain financing organizations. Climate finance is not charity: it just boosts projects with the right cause,” said a participant in reaction to Go’s presentation.
At the end of Day 1, participants were assigned a CIF/EBRD CLIMADAPT project in Tajikistan case study to review. The case study focused on gender-sensitive climate resilience in local communities through established concessional loans to stakeholders, and Day 2 started with a quiz on the case study.
Biljana Ker-Lindsay, EBRD’s Associate director of the Skills & Employment Pillar of Gender & Economic Inclusion, kicked off the program on day 2 with these words: “Fostering economic inclusion for young women and men is at the core of our work at EBRD. () We see this as an essential building block to achieving countries transition to sustainable and inclusive market economies.”
Then, CIF’s Jacob Thoppil shared his inspiring personal journey, growing up in an immigrant family in Canada, with a father dedicated to giving back to his community of origin in India. Jacob worked in international development, in Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines and Indonesia. “It’s really important that we recognize the lottery of life and find a way to contribute on this planet,” said Jacob. “For me, I have realized that passion, love, energy and commitment to a cause can go a long way.”
Jacob’s presentation, amongst others, prompted a participant to say: “I have learnt that climate activists are not alone, there are strong and well-educated professionals that were our speakers during the training.” Another came away feeling empowered: “Youth can play a huge part! This is something I feel more confident about after attending this training.”
EBRD’s Margherita Calderone, Principal Economist, Gender and Economic Inclusion team, discussed the journey of this MDB established after the Cold War to finance private sector investments in Central and Eastern Europe. EBRD is now active over three continents and 38 countries. Margherita notably highlighted how EBRD steers investments towards people-centered approaches to the green transition, with an emphasis on women as agents of change. Their Just Transition strategy supports an enabling environment for economic and human capital development, and regional diversification. EBRD also has an inclusive youth strategy, from program design to engaging young climate leaders.
Finally, workshop participants learned more about how CIF programs took youth into account, with examples from rural communities in the Caribbean to youth employment in the energy sector in Africa. The Youth Engagement Strategy consultation note was presented, and workshop participants were encouraged to deepen their collaboration with CIF beyond the workshop. CIF’s Daria Chekalskaia introduced participants to Youngo, the Official Youth Constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. CIF engages with Youngo, and this network allows young people to be involved in decision making on climate finance.
“The training provided a good overview of the field and gave me motivation to make a deeper research of international climate finance,” said one participant when invited to reflect on their experience. “I can share this knowledge with my community.”
Meet Yara Hijazi and Howard Mwesigwa, two participants who shared their thoughts after the training: