Climate Fellowship Grant 2023 launched to engage Youth and Young Professionals in Climate Action and Governance
KATHMANDU, MARCH 13
Climate concerns are more relevant now than ever, and young people are the critical stakeholders in fighting climate change, responding to extreme climate events, and transforming a better world for living. To support youth in climate action and governance, the Youth Innovation Lab (YI-Lab) has launched the call for the second cohort of Climate Fellowship Grant 2023 through Nepali Yuwa in Climate Action and Green Growth project, which is supported by the European Union.
Climate Fellowship provides an experiential platform for youth and young professionals (YYP) interested in pursuing their careers in the field of climate change, disaster, and governance. Through the grant, nine selected YYP will be stationed at nine project municipalities and one at the province ministry for five months as Climate Fellow. The grant is equivalent to three lakh Nepalese rupees which covers a monthly stipend, travel allowance, communication allowance, meeting facilitation, training cost, and more.
Stationed at the municipal and provincial governments, Climate Fellow will work closely with the disaster and/or climate section and relevant staff to develop Local Disaster and Climate Resilient Plan (LDCRP). Furthermore, they will support the localization of the Bipad portal, https://bipadportal.gov.np, an integrated Disaster Information Management System initiated by the Government of Nepal. They will support municipal and provincial level governments to administer and operationalize the Bipad portal, support the day-to-day capacity transfer and collect, digitize, and validate disaster-related datasets.
The project municipalities include Chaukune Rural Municipality (Surkhet), Barahatal Rural Municipality (Surkhet), Panchapur Municipality (Surkhet), Thatikandh Rural Municipality (Dailekh), Bhairabi Rural Municipality (Dailekh), Naraharinath Rural Municipality (Kalikot), Khadachakra Municipality (Kalikot), Mahawai Rural Municipality (Kalikot), and Tilagufa Municipality (Kalikot).
The application call for the grant ends on 26 March 2023, at midnight. Interested youth and young professionals can visit https://theyouthcan.org/climate-fellowship for more information and complete the application form - https://bit.ly/3mdnjua to apply.
Pradip Khatiwada, Executive Director at YI-Lab, emphasized the importance of interweaving disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) in the planning process and budgeting. He stated that data on risk, vulnerability, exposure, and capacity of the area becomes crucial to do so. Climate Fellows stationed at the municipalities and province will work on localizing the Disaster Information Management System, Bipad Portal, and use its data in decision-making and planning.
Goma Karki, Project Lead at YI-Lab, highlighted the need to provide young people with a space where they can learn and exchange while understanding the needs of the community to become resilient. Working closely with the municipal and provincial government, Climate Fellows will have an opportunity to understand the local governance and planning process and work with the municipal and elected representatives to make the planning and budgeting disaster and climate resilient.
Youth Innovation Lab is a not-for-profit civic tech company that works at the intersection of emerging cutting-edge technological tools and their applications by equipping young professionals to solve emerging challenges in our community. YI-Lab's mission statement is, 'to engage young people to bridge science to people and policy through innovation'. YI-Lab harnesses indigenous knowledge, citizen science approach, develops low-cost technological solutions, promotes open data, promotes entrepreneurship, and conducts evidence-based advocacy campaigns. YI-Lab provides a conducive environment for young people to co-create solutions for inclusive development.
Nepali Yuwa in Climate Action and Green Growth (NYCAGG) project is led by Youth Innovation Lab (YI-Lab) in the consortium of Restless Development, CREASION, and CDMS through the financial support from the European Union. The project promotes Nepali youth inclusion in climate action and green economy in the post-COVID recovery of Nepal through their engagement in disaster and climate governance, entrepreneurship, and advocacy. It focuses on working with young people and empowering and providing them a platform to aid towards the post-COVID recovery and development process. Furthermore, the activities under Climate Fellowship led, Climate Smart Entrepreneurship led, Mentee-mentorship, Digital Advocacy, and Youth Sounding Board work towards empowering young people, providing them employment opportunities, generating innovative ideas to address climate and environmental issues, and advocating for policy changes to promote environmental protection.
The four-year project has started in Madhesh Province. The learnings from Madhesh province will be implemented in Karnali Province in the second year, Sudurpashchim in the third year, and back to Madhesh in the final year.
