TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Charis Charalambous
The Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) on Climate Change took place for the second time in Cyprus in late August 2023, ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) which was held in Dubai in November 2023.
The specific aims of the Conference were:
1) Enhance the knowledge of local and international youth in Cyprus on climate and environmental issues, as well as build their capacity in policy lobbying, leadership, campaigning, and movement/advocacy building
2) Come to agreement on strong positions on pressing issues in Cyprus that urge the local, national and global leaders to address the climate crisis and raise their ambitions for COP28
3) Create more spaces for the youth to work together to advance their climate and environmental advocacy work.
65 participants (from Cyprus, Cameroon, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Ethiopia) joined the event. Nine of the participants were online. The conference program included 7 experts and 7 guests and 4 keynote speakers (in person and online) which gave keynote speeches or expert presentations, not including the representatives of NGOs and other bodies that participated in the European Youth Fair at the end of Day 2. High-profile guests of the event included Mr. Munehiko Harada, Civil Affairs Officer at UNFICY, H.E. Mr. Irfan Siddiq OBE, British High Commissioner to Cyprus, and Ms. Anastasia Andritsou, Country Director of British Council Cyprus.
Participatory and active methods were used to
help the on-location and online participants get to know each other better, be energized, bond as a group, practice their brainstorming skills, share their first reactions to the Study Guides they had received on the theme of the working group, receive input from expert observers (who were present for the first part of the working group sessions) and collaborate to draft policy recommendations with the use of appropriate, technical language. During the last part of the working group sessions, the participants of each group had the opportunity to visit the other working groups and give their feedback on the policy recommendations they were drafting.
The Conference program was structured on 3 core elements:
1) Capacity-building through expert presentations on climate activism and climate policy drafting
2) Working groups for the collaborative drafting of policy recommendations on three different themes
3) Presentations of draft policy recommendations and feedback from experts
Other important elements of the program were:
a) Networking between participants and officials, experts and diplomats
b) Keynote speeches by high-profile guests and the LCOY coordinating team
c) Relaxed interaction between participants during lunch and coffee breaks
d) European Youth Fair with 14 organizations represented
From the feedback received, it was understood that the participants felt more united, energized, inspired, included, insightful, positive and entertained from the event. They appreciated the discussions, interactions, and diversity of participants.
I worked as a full-time member of the team of facilitators, in having preparation meetings with the organizers, preparing the daily agenda and flow of the working groups, facilitating the event on-site, and drafting the final evaluation report.
In total, I worked for this event for 6 days.