“This comprehensive funding approach will ensure our organization's operational sustainability while empowering youth and communities in the Borana zone and beyond, driving a shift towards sustainable livelihoods and expanding our impact across Africa. By integrating technology with traditional wisdom, we will pioneer innovative solutions that honour our heritage while embracing the future.”
-Africa Youth Pastoralist Initiative, Ethiopia
Where did our funding go?
We meticulously selected 40 grantee partners throughout the world working on a wide range of issues but towards three collective goals:
- Raising ambition and commitments on climate action.
- Holding policymakers accountable to their promises and strengthening community power.
- Nourishing the next generations of diverse organisers rooted in community and climate justice principles.
We support youth groups based all over the world, especially those in the Middle East; Asia-Pacific, South Asia; Latin America and the Caribbean; and Central, and Eastern Europe. Take a look at this world map showcasing the spread of our grantmaking in 2023:
We celebrate the doers, makers, and community-driven young leaders addressing global challenges such as just transition, biodiversity, energy, and equitable climate action. Discover the transformative power of the YCJF’s support through the voices of our grantee partners:
“Coming from an indigenous community and having to apply to an international fund, we didn't expect to be selected but here we are. We are very excited to leverage this grant to empower our territories to push back on mining activities and enable residents to determine the policies that are best for their territories.”
-Task Force Youth for Climate, Indonesia
“The support from YCJF will help us mobilize communities across East Africa that have been affected by oil exploration and jointly advocate to stop financial institutions from financing the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The grant will enhance our efforts to protect and advocate for human rights, climate justice, and a safer world for everyone.”
-East African Crude Oil Pipeline Host Communities, East Africa
“In 2019, when Cyclone Idai and Kenneth made landfall, most groups that were active in driving the needed response were foreign. As young people, we started thinking about setting up an organization to push climate solutions. This funding will support us to work closely with the national Met Office to build early warning systems and increase young people's capacity to track cyclones.”
-Stark Green Generation, Mozambique
“Given Peru's neoliberal policies, a regime rejected by 82% of the population, the impacts of climate change and the El Niño event, socio-environmental problems intensify. These include the food crisis and threats to the good living of human settlements with ecosystems, exacerbated with pollution and land trafficking. The YCJF will allow us to improve some living conditions in the Flor de Amancaes community and make the experience of food insecurity visible in Lima through popular and scientific knowledge.”
-Yachay Suyu, Peru
Intersectional work that confronts the biggest challenges of our time
Below we share with you two insightful charts delineating the overarching themes and enriching approaches embraced by our youth grantee partners in their work towards climate justice.
Grantee partners key themes of action
Our grantee partners work on a wide and diverse array of thematic areas like just transition, energy and food systems to sustainable behaviour and resilience building. Equitable climate action was the most popular area of work among our grantee partners, showing their commitment to advocating for and implementing climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience measures with an intersectional lens to ensure equity and justice.
Grantee partners main approaches
We are supporting grantee partners working on employing various strategies such as campaigning & mobilization, technological innovation, climate litigation and socio-environmental education to bring about meaningful change and accountability. What we look for in our participative selection process are communities of grassroots young leaders that know where to channel resources effectively to strengthen their power. Therefore, the most common approach among our grantee partners is community empowerment, which they do through capacity development, active participation in decision-making and fostering ownership and leadership. As diversity is so characteristic of our work, our grantee partners are also using other approaches like campaigning & mobilization, research and advocacy at local and international levels.
“Our emergency response, supported by the YCJF, is able to react quickly with a unique and flexible array of resources covering all aspects of holistic security. We approach each case individually, readiness for any eventuality from arranging urgent travel logistics, providing digital security support and mental well-being resources. Our strong network with partners like the YCJF becomes an inspiration for our team and provides a valuable time to hold, reflect, and set out the strategies which then build capacities and resilience of the wider climate justice movement.”
-Climate Activists Defenders (CAD), International
Keep an eye out to get to know more about the YCJF’s grantee partners!
As we embark on this groundbreaking journey with our inaugural cohort of grantee partners, we celebrate their vision, passion, and dedication. We look forward to sharing deeper stories with you about their successes and challenges. This spring, we will launch a story-telling platform to share more about the profound impact of their work in nurturing fairer and greener transitions.
*At YCJF, we prioritize the utmost safety and security to safeguard our valued grantee partners. In order to do so, we made the decision not to publicly disclose the full list of our grantee partners.