Youth4Climate

Forezava was awarded among the 1st 50 youth-led solutions in climate action by the UNDP Rome Center.

Achievements

The award was to enable us set up model farm(s) as well as scale our tree seedlings production through nursery establishment. We were also supposed to collect and aggregate seeds and other germplasm for the setting up of a seed library and bank of the most endangered local crop and tree varieties.

Challenges

The implementation of the Youth4Climate project was mainly hindered through a bearocratic approval process of payments. This delayed project launch and even caused unnecessary friction with some of our stakeholders. The problem of staff turnover also greatly impacted the project.

Lessons Learnt

We have learnt to set very realistic timelines for project activities. Moving forward we seek to limit reliance on donor-funded disbursements. As such the project has set up alternative income flows to assist in funding of projects into the future. These include: model farm units, an aggregation facility as well as a shop to sell both digitally and in person.

Unique Project Deliverable

The project has enable the launch of both digital and face-to-face Climate Action training toolkits such as the Climate Culture podcast, Arts4Ezava and Sports4Ezava.