WWF Youth Program Mobilises millions, trains thousands

The WWF Leading the Change Civil Society Program had much to show during an end of project meeting held in Douala, Cameroon, from September 5 to 7, 2022. One million people have been reached through advocacy on social media platforms, over 500 civil society youth – led organizations directly influenced and built the capacity of over 40,000 youth in school and their teachers.

The project that ran from 2018 to 2022, was financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).  It is implemented in about 34 countries across Africa that are part of the Leading the Change Program, in collaboration with WWF Sweden.

The meeting was a moment to evaluate and celebrate, share achievements and lessons learnt in the last 5 years of the current 2018-2022 Leading the Change project phase. It also sought to build a better, stronger and more strategic next phase, with clear actions in the bridging phase.

Besides mobilizing and training youths, the program has ensured the mainstreaming of gender and human rights based approach thus enabling the participation of both young men and women, working with indigenous communities to understand the role of indigenous knowledge in conservation.
Opening the workshop attended by 27 participants, Dr. Peter Mbile, Senior Field Programs Coordinator for WWF Cameroon, encouraged young leaders to “seek nature-based solutions to address environmental challenges such as deforestation, climate change and loss of biodiversity that we face today, and also continue to build strong partnerships with other actors towards achieving your goals.”

The participants included leaders of Youth Network Organizations, representatives of Partner Organizations working with Youth, WWF colleagues and youth focal points from WWF offices in Africa, the Senior Adviser and Programme Coordinator of Education for Sustainable Development at WWF Sweden, Ms. Susie Broquist Lundegard, and the Regional Coordinator of Education for Sustainable Development Program, Ms.  Zipporah Musyoki – Webola.

Over the years, WWF Cameroon, in collaboration with WWF Sweden, has been coordinating youth engagement in Africa under the Sida Leading the Change Civil Society Programme through the Africa Youth Thematic Hub component. The project is guided by the four pillars of the Africa Youth Transformational Leadership Programme, which include advancing policy, capacity building, green/sustainable entrepreneurship and networking platforms. The regional component has engaged with Pan African Youth Networks to strengthen and build their capacity to enable them to contribute more meaningfully to the sustainable development agenda and towards having a strengthened civil society.