Climate Change - Steps on How the Youth Can Take Action (Part 1)
The youth around the world are ready to take action, but most of them don't know the right steps to follow in order to have a successful plan to combat climate change.
Here are highly suggested steps to follow by all youth.
And this has been motivated by the Alliance of Youth CEO's 'Climate Change - Take Action Now' Guide published in 2009.
1.
GETTING STARTED: LEARN MORE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE • Collect information from the internet, resource books, local and national newspapers, interviews with community leaders, elders or local experts, and talk to your local youth group or any NGOs (non-government organization) and POs (people's organization) focused on climate change.
• Draw and gather the problems you have discovered with other youth in your community.
• Make a list of all the vulnerabilities or hazards your community experiences and choose which are related to the weather and climate.
• Map the community according to its strengths and weaknesses.
Outline in a map the potential impacts you community may face, such as flooding, sea level rise, erosion, drought, water availability, food sources.
2.
IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM and LINK IT TO CURRENT WORK • After learning the potential impacts on your community, identify a problem that you would like to work on.
Talk to your group to list down possible actions your group can take to tackle the chosen problem.
List all the issues and take a vote, but take note of the most vulnerable in your community and further beyond.
• Investigate further by asking - What is the problem? Why is it a problem? Who is affected by the problem? What has caused the problem? •Identify projects that are currently being implemented.
It is vital to know what the community has done and is doing to deal with the problem so that the projects of your group will be on the same wavelength with those of your community, thus you will also gain their support in your own plans.
Ask your community the following: oWho is doing what already? oWhat are the skills needed? oHow can these match with the problem at hand? oHow can you be a part of what is already underway? oWhich tools or trainings are used by your local group, NGO or PO that climate change can be added to? 3.
PLAN YOUR ACTION You now have a good idea of where you are and where you want to go as a group.
The next step is to draft a plan on how to get there.
Ask yourselves the following: •Why is your project significant and why are you the best group to undertake this problem? •What do you want to accomplish? •Who do you want to target? •Where is the best place to carry out your project? •When and for how long will you carry out your project? •Who can lead to implement the identified project? •If it is not you, how can you convince the identified person to fulfill the action? •What resources will be needed? Consider money, technology, people, expertise and other.
•What skills or knowledge are needed? •Who has the relevant skills/ knowledge and how can we get them involved? •If we need funding, how can we get it? Carrying out your own fundraising can work well.
•Can you connect to an existing project in your neighborhood? Encourage and motivate others to be involved.
Communicating and involving other people in the community is very important for your group to succeed in any of your projects.
Set a time frame, which includes specific deadlines when each step should be accomplished.
4.
IMPLEMENT YOUR PLANNED ACTION There is so much the youth can do, and so many resources for these projects and activities which can be under any of the following topics: 1.
Raising awareness about climate change 2.
Disaster Risk Management (DRM) or actions to prepare for the impacts of climate change.
For instance, how can you be proactive before a health outbreak or calamity hits? 3.
Persuading those with authority and influence to make a change (advocacy).
5.
SPREAD THE WORD Uniting people through constant communication is very important in getting voices heard and people to listen.
There are many methods on how you can get messages across.
It can be through drama, community radio, television, internet, video, artwork, photographs, word of mouth, personally made posters, and many more.
You can get a well-known person to promote for you, request the media along or create a short press release.
6.
REFLECT AND EVALUATE The following questions may guide your group to think about what your project has achieved, the points it needs to improve on and the next steps to do afterwards.
Keep in mind, that although you think the project didn't do very well, evaluation is a time to examine and also learn lessons for next time.
• How did you feel about participating in the project? • What was successful about the project? Did it accomplish its goals? Did it create any long-term changes? Were there any unforeseen outcomes? • How many people knew about your project? Who did you tell? How many people heard through the media? • What surprised you? What are the things you have learned? Did the project change your outlook on anything or your actions in the future? • Did your project have any impact on any of the other problems that you identified in Step 2? • Was anything about the project ineffective? Did it create any new setback? • If this project was repeated, what would you do differently? • How efficiently did the group work together? Did everyone have a sense of involvement? Were decisions and accountabilities shared by the group? Let people know about your success.
7.
NEXT STEPS •Following through on your project.
Your project may have been short-term, however there may be a need for further action to sustain what you have started.
•Developing your action.
If your group's action was successful, how can the community and others build on what you started? •Start again from Step 2.
Another alternative is to go back to the list of problems your group has previously created in Step 2.
•Congratulate yourselves! Now that you've made a difference to one of these problems, you could consider selecting another challenge to work on.
•Motivate others.
Your group's enthusiasm, experience and passion for change could inspire other young people to take action themselves.
Challenge your group to consider which other people, organizations or groups they could target! Tip: You can use the following links as resources to create your PLAN OF ACTION.
http://www.
ifrc.
org International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Vulnerability & Capacity Assessment toolbox) http://www.
childreninachangingclimate.
org Children in a changing climate initiative
Here are highly suggested steps to follow by all youth.
And this has been motivated by the Alliance of Youth CEO's 'Climate Change - Take Action Now' Guide published in 2009.
1.
GETTING STARTED: LEARN MORE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE • Collect information from the internet, resource books, local and national newspapers, interviews with community leaders, elders or local experts, and talk to your local youth group or any NGOs (non-government organization) and POs (people's organization) focused on climate change.
• Draw and gather the problems you have discovered with other youth in your community.
• Make a list of all the vulnerabilities or hazards your community experiences and choose which are related to the weather and climate.
• Map the community according to its strengths and weaknesses.
Outline in a map the potential impacts you community may face, such as flooding, sea level rise, erosion, drought, water availability, food sources.
2.
IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM and LINK IT TO CURRENT WORK • After learning the potential impacts on your community, identify a problem that you would like to work on.
Talk to your group to list down possible actions your group can take to tackle the chosen problem.
List all the issues and take a vote, but take note of the most vulnerable in your community and further beyond.
• Investigate further by asking - What is the problem? Why is it a problem? Who is affected by the problem? What has caused the problem? •Identify projects that are currently being implemented.
It is vital to know what the community has done and is doing to deal with the problem so that the projects of your group will be on the same wavelength with those of your community, thus you will also gain their support in your own plans.
Ask your community the following: oWho is doing what already? oWhat are the skills needed? oHow can these match with the problem at hand? oHow can you be a part of what is already underway? oWhich tools or trainings are used by your local group, NGO or PO that climate change can be added to? 3.
PLAN YOUR ACTION You now have a good idea of where you are and where you want to go as a group.
The next step is to draft a plan on how to get there.
Ask yourselves the following: •Why is your project significant and why are you the best group to undertake this problem? •What do you want to accomplish? •Who do you want to target? •Where is the best place to carry out your project? •When and for how long will you carry out your project? •Who can lead to implement the identified project? •If it is not you, how can you convince the identified person to fulfill the action? •What resources will be needed? Consider money, technology, people, expertise and other.
•What skills or knowledge are needed? •Who has the relevant skills/ knowledge and how can we get them involved? •If we need funding, how can we get it? Carrying out your own fundraising can work well.
•Can you connect to an existing project in your neighborhood? Encourage and motivate others to be involved.
Communicating and involving other people in the community is very important for your group to succeed in any of your projects.
Set a time frame, which includes specific deadlines when each step should be accomplished.
4.
IMPLEMENT YOUR PLANNED ACTION There is so much the youth can do, and so many resources for these projects and activities which can be under any of the following topics: 1.
Raising awareness about climate change 2.
Disaster Risk Management (DRM) or actions to prepare for the impacts of climate change.
For instance, how can you be proactive before a health outbreak or calamity hits? 3.
Persuading those with authority and influence to make a change (advocacy).
5.
SPREAD THE WORD Uniting people through constant communication is very important in getting voices heard and people to listen.
There are many methods on how you can get messages across.
It can be through drama, community radio, television, internet, video, artwork, photographs, word of mouth, personally made posters, and many more.
You can get a well-known person to promote for you, request the media along or create a short press release.
6.
REFLECT AND EVALUATE The following questions may guide your group to think about what your project has achieved, the points it needs to improve on and the next steps to do afterwards.
Keep in mind, that although you think the project didn't do very well, evaluation is a time to examine and also learn lessons for next time.
• How did you feel about participating in the project? • What was successful about the project? Did it accomplish its goals? Did it create any long-term changes? Were there any unforeseen outcomes? • How many people knew about your project? Who did you tell? How many people heard through the media? • What surprised you? What are the things you have learned? Did the project change your outlook on anything or your actions in the future? • Did your project have any impact on any of the other problems that you identified in Step 2? • Was anything about the project ineffective? Did it create any new setback? • If this project was repeated, what would you do differently? • How efficiently did the group work together? Did everyone have a sense of involvement? Were decisions and accountabilities shared by the group? Let people know about your success.
7.
NEXT STEPS •Following through on your project.
Your project may have been short-term, however there may be a need for further action to sustain what you have started.
•Developing your action.
If your group's action was successful, how can the community and others build on what you started? •Start again from Step 2.
Another alternative is to go back to the list of problems your group has previously created in Step 2.
•Congratulate yourselves! Now that you've made a difference to one of these problems, you could consider selecting another challenge to work on.
•Motivate others.
Your group's enthusiasm, experience and passion for change could inspire other young people to take action themselves.
Challenge your group to consider which other people, organizations or groups they could target! Tip: You can use the following links as resources to create your PLAN OF ACTION.
http://www.
ifrc.
org International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Vulnerability & Capacity Assessment toolbox) http://www.
childreninachangingclimate.
org Children in a changing climate initiative