Youth Projects Development Platform - YPDP

CONGRATULATIONS 🎉

The Board of Directors, Management, and Staff of the Youth Projects Development Platform (YPDP) extend our heartfelt congratulations to His Excellency, President Hakainde Hichilema, on his re-election as President of the Republic of Zambia. 🇿🇲👏🏽

As a youth-focused organization committed to contributing to Zambia’s development, YPDP looks forward to continuing to work constructively with the Government of the Republic of Zambia and other stakeholders in creating opportunities for young people, strengthening community development, supporting youth-led initiatives, and turning young people's ideas into practical action. 🤝🏽🌱💡

We look forward to contributing to a Zambia where young people are not only beneficiaries of development but also active participants, innovators, entrepreneurs, and implementers of solutions that create jobs, improve livelihoods, and strengthen communities. 🇿🇲👩🏽‍🌾👨🏽‍💻🚀

We wish His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema a successful and impactful 5-year term of office as he continues to lead the nation towards greater economic opportunity, improved livelihoods, and sustainable national development. 🙏🏽🇿🇲

Congratulations, Your Excellency! 🎉👏🏽🇿🇲

🌍 From Youth Voices to African Climate Negotiations: Preparing for COP31

What should Africa be demanding at COP31 and what would climate justice look like in those negotiations?

These were some of the questions explored during the African Climate Alliance Pre-COP Consultative Meeting, which brought together young people, civil society representatives and climate activists to collectively reflect on Africa's priorities ahead of the upcoming climate negotiations.

The discussions went beyond simply understanding what happens at COP. Participants explored how Africa can strengthen its negotiating position across four critical areas:

🌱 Mitigation: How can Africa transition towards clean and renewable energy while protecting workers, communities and livelihoods?

💧 Adaptation: How do we build resilience to climate impacts while ensuring that adaptation reflects indigenous knowledge and local realities?

⚖️ Loss and Damage: Who bears responsibility when climate impacts result in permanent losses to lives, livelihoods, ecosystems and cultural heritage?

💰 Means of Implementation: How can climate finance, technology transfer, and capacity building become accessible to the communities on the frontline of the climate crisis?

The meeting used a participatory marketplace approach, allowing participants to rotate across all four negotiation tracks, build on previous groups' ideas, and identify shared challenges, gaps and opportunities.

One message emerged strongly across the discussions was that, Africa cannot achieve climate justice without equitable access to the resources required to implement climate action.

Participants called for adequate and accessible climate finance, stronger adaptation support, greater recognition of indigenous knowledge, equitable technology transfer, and stronger accountability for loss and damage.

The ideas generated through the consultation will be consolidated into a Joint Continental Policy Brief to be presented to the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) at a roundtable in Nairobi. The aim is to strengthen a shared vision between youth, civil society and negotiators as Africa prepares for COP31 and COP32.

For us at Youth Projects Development Platform (YPDP), participating in this process reaffirmed an important principle: young people must not only be present in climate discussions; their perspectives must be captured, documented and reflected in the policies and negotiating positions that shape Africa's climate future, lets live in realicty and bring our dreams to life.

🌍 Africa's youth are ready to contribute.

📢 Now, our voices must travel from the consultation room to the negotiation table.

🚀 Climate Action Begins With Us: Zambia's Children and Youth Make Their Commitment

Throughout LCOY Zambia 2026, children and youth developed bold recommendations for governments, development partners, and the international community. But they also challenged themselves with an important question:

💭 "What is our responsibility as young people?"

One of the strongest reflections from the discussions was that many young people are not fully aware of Zambia's existing climate and environmental policies. Participants acknowledged that while important legal and policy frameworks already exist including the National Climate Change Policy, the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0), and environmental regulations such as the prohibition of dumping waste in undesignated places many citizens, especially young people, have limited knowledge of these commitments and how they can contribute to their implementation.

📚 Participants agreed that capacity building must go beyond training a few individuals. It should empower children and youth to understand climate policies, environmental laws, and their rights and responsibilities under the Paris Agreement. Increased awareness will enable young people not only to participate in climate decision-making but also to become ambassadors of climate action within their schools, communities, and workplaces.

🤝 Children and youth also emphasized that protecting the environment cannot rely on government institutions alone. Environmental officers and law enforcement agencies cannot be everywhere. Lasting change requires behaviour change and a sense of shared responsibility, where every citizen understands the law, respects it, and actively contributes to its implementation.

As part of the Zambia Children and Youth Position Paper on Climate Action 2026, participants therefore committed to:

🌱 Raising awareness about climate change, environmental policies, and sustainable practices within their communities.

📖 Continuously learning about Zambia's climate policies, environmental legislation, and international climate commitments.

🗣️ Educating fellow young people on responsible environmental stewardship and encouraging positive behaviour change.

🌳 Promoting community participation in environmental protection, waste management, biodiversity conservation, and climate resilience initiatives.

🤝 Working collaboratively with government, civil society, schools, traditional leaders, and the private sector to strengthen the implementation of existing climate policies.

The message from Zambia's children and youth is simple but powerful:

Climate action is not only about creating new policies it is about understanding, owning, and implementing the policies we already have.

✨ When children and youth are informed, empowered, and engaged, they become powerful agents of change, helping build a Zambia that is more resilient, sustainable, and prepared for the future.

📘 These commitments are captured in the Zambia Children and Youth Position Paper on Climate Action 2026, which will be officially launched as Zambia's collective youth contribution to COY and COP31.

💰 Climate Action Needs More Than Ambition It Needs Investment

Every year, young people are encouraged to innovate, plant trees, develop climate-smart businesses, and lead community climate action.

But during LCOY Zambia 2026, one question kept coming up:

💭 How can young people deliver climate solutions without access to climate finance?

Zambia's updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0) estimates that the country will require more than US$50 billion by 2030 to implement its climate commitments, with a significant share expected from international support. Yet many youth-led organizations, innovators, and community groups continue to face barriers in accessing the very resources intended to support climate action.

🌍 Participants highlighted that climate finance should not only reach national institutions it must also reach the communities and young people who are already implementing solutions on the ground.

Children and youth therefore called for:

💰 Simplified and more accessible climate finance for grassroots youth-led organizations and innovators.

🌱 Dedicated funding for youth-led climate enterprises, adaptation projects, and green innovations.

🏛️ Greater transparency and accountability in the allocation and tracking of climate finance.

🤝 Meaningful youth participation in climate finance decision-making at national and international levels.

📚 Capacity building to enable young people to access climate funds, develop bankable proposals, and participate in emerging carbon markets.

These recommendations align with the Paris Agreement and the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), which seeks to strengthen international climate finance to support developing countries in implementing ambitious climate action.

The message from Zambia's children and youth is clear:

Climate finance must be accessible, equitable, and locally led. Investing in young people is not a cost it is one of the smartest investments we can make for a resilient and sustainable future.

📘 These recommendations form part of the Zambia Children and Youth Position Paper on Climate Action 2026, which will contribute to discussions at COY and COP31.

🌱 What If the Climate Solutions We Need Have Always Been With Us?

When discussing climate action, our minds often turn to new technologies, artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and scientific innovation.

But during LCOY Zambia 2026, children and youth challenged us to ask a different question:

👉 What if some of the solutions we need have existed for generations?

Across Zambia, Indigenous Knowledge Systems have helped communities understand seasonal weather patterns, restore degraded landscapes, conserve forests, protect biodiversity, and sustainably manage natural resources long before climate change became a global agenda.

Yet these knowledge systems are increasingly overlooked in climate policymaking and adaptation planning.

🌍 Participants emphasized that achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement requires more than technological innovation it also requires recognizing the knowledge, experiences, and practices of local communities. The Agreement itself acknowledges the importance of traditional knowledge, Indigenous peoples, and local knowledge systems in strengthening adaptation and building climate resilience.

Children and youth called for stronger partnerships between scientists, policymakers, traditional leaders, and local communities to ensure that Indigenous Knowledge Systems complement modern science rather than compete with it. They also recommended greater investment in research, documentation, and education to preserve indigenous climate knowledge for future generations, while integrating it into national climate policies, school curricula, and community-based adaptation programmes.

🤝 Climate action is strongest when it is locally owned, culturally relevant, and informed by those who have lived in harmony with nature for generations.

As captured in the Zambia Children and Youth Position Paper on Climate Action 2026, young people believe that building a resilient future is not about choosing between science and tradition; it is about bringing both together to create climate solutions that are inclusive, practical, and sustainable.

💚 The future of climate action lies not only in new innovations but also in valuing the wisdom that has always been with us.

♻️ From Waste to Wealth: How Zambia's Children and Youth Are Reimagining the Circular Economy

What if the solution to unemployment, pollution, and climate change was already around us?

That was the question children and youth explored during LCOY Zambia 2026 under the theme Circular Economy and Waste Management.

🌍 Zambia is generating increasing amounts of waste due to rapid urbanization and changing consumption patterns. Yet much of this waste still ends up in open spaces, drains, and landfills, contributing to flooding, pollution, disease outbreaks, and greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the World Bank estimates that the world generates over 2.24 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste every year, while 79% of Zambian households still rely on charcoal or firewood for cooking, placing enormous pressure on the country's forests.

But children and youth saw something different.

💡 They saw plastic as building materials.

🌱 They saw organic waste as compost and biofertilizers.

🔥 They saw agricultural waste as sustainable charcoal briquettes.

💼 They saw green enterprises, jobs, and climate solutions.

Participants agreed that Zambia must move away from the traditional "take-use-dispose" model towards a circular economy, where resources are reused, recycled, and transformed into economic opportunities while protecting the environment.

📢 As part of the Zambia Children and Youth Position Paper on Climate Action 2026, young people called for:

✅ Investment in youth-led recycling and green enterprises.

♻️ Mandatory waste separation at source in homes, schools, and institutions.

📱 Greater support for innovation and digital technologies in waste management.

🌿 Promotion of sustainable alternatives such as composting, briquettes, and other circular economy businesses.

🤝 Stronger partnerships between local authorities, communities, the private sector, and young innovators.

The transition to a circular economy is not only about managing waste it is about creating jobs, reducing emissions, strengthening climate resilience, and building a greener economy for future generations. These recommendations contribute directly to the Paris Agreement and advance SDGs 8, 11, 12, and 13.

🌱 Waste is not the end of a product's life it is the beginning of a new opportunity.

⚡ A Just Energy Transition Is Not Just About Energy It's About People

"What happens when the rains don't come?"

This simple question sparked one of the most powerful discussions during the Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) Zambia 2026.

For many participants, the answer wasn't theoretical. It was personal.

Some spoke about studying by candlelight during prolonged power cuts. Others described how their families had lost crops after the 2023–2024 drought, forcing them to rely on charcoal as household incomes declined. Young entrepreneurs shared how load shedding disrupted their businesses, while students explained how unreliable electricity affected their education and access to digital opportunities.

These experiences reminded us that Zambia's energy challenge is no longer just an energy issue it is a development challenge, a livelihood challenge, and ultimately, a climate justice challenge.

Today, Zambia generates more than 80% of its electricity from hydropower. While hydropower has supported the country's low-carbon development, increasing climate variability has exposed the risks of depending heavily on one source of energy. As prolonged droughts reduce water levels in major reservoirs, power generation declines, resulting in load shedding that affects households, schools, hospitals, farms, industries, and businesses across the country.

At the same time, nearly four out of every five Zambian households continue to rely on charcoal or firewood for cooking. This dependence places immense pressure on Zambia's forests, accelerates deforestation, contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, and exposes millions of women and children to harmful indoor air pollution. Yet for many families, this is not a choice it is the only affordable option.

During LCOY Zambia 2026, children and youth agreed that the transition to clean energy must be just. A Just Energy Transition is not simply about replacing one energy source with another. It is about ensuring that climate action improves people's lives, creates decent jobs, reduces poverty, expands access to affordable energy, and leaves no community behind.

Young people proposed a future where Zambia invests more boldly in solar, wind, mini-grids, battery storage, clean cooking technologies, and locally manufactured renewable energy solutions. They called for greater investment in green skills, technical and vocational training, and youth entrepreneurship so that young people become the engineers, technicians, innovators, and business leaders driving the country's green economy.

Participants also emphasized that climate finance must reach grassroots innovators. Across Zambia, young entrepreneurs are already producing charcoal briquettes, installing solar systems, developing clean technologies, and promoting climate-smart agriculture. Their challenge is not a lack of ideas it is limited access to finance, markets, and technical support.

The discussions reinforced an important message:

A just energy transition will not succeed if it only changes how electricity is produced. It must also change who benefits from the transition.

As reflected in the Zambia Children and Youth Position Paper on Climate Action 2026, young people are calling upon governments, development partners, financial institutions, and the private sector to invest in people as much as they invest in infrastructure. This means expanding renewable energy, strengthening climate-resilient energy systems, supporting youth-led innovation, creating decent green jobs, and ensuring that no child, young person, or community is left behind.

The Paris Agreement calls for a transition that advances sustainable development and reflects the principles of equity. For Zambia's children and youth, that transition begins by ensuring that clean energy is not only available it is accessible, affordable, inclusive, and capable of transforming lives.

Tomorrow, we continue our LCOY Zambia 2026 series by exploring how the circular economy can turn waste into opportunity, create green enterprises, and build more resilient communities.

🌍 From Commitments to Action: Young People Call for Meaningful Participation in Implementing the Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement recognizes that achieving global climate goals requires the participation of all people, particularly through climate education, public awareness, access to information, and meaningful public participation (Article 12). It is through this commitment that countries develop and implement their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) the national climate plans that guide action to reduce emissions and build resilience.

During LCOY Zambia 2026, children and youth emphasized that while Zambia has strengthened its climate ambition through NDC 3.0, young people remain underrepresented in climate governance, policy implementation, and monitoring. Participants stressed that meaningful youth participation is not simply about consultation it is about ensuring that children and youth are recognized as partners in delivering Zambia's commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Delegates called for greater representation of children and youth in climate governance structures, increased investment in youth-led climate solutions, stronger climate education and capacity building, and improved access to climate finance and innovation opportunities. They also highlighted the need to ensure that rural youth, indigenous communities, young women, and persons with disabilities are fully included in climate decision-making processes.

The Zambia Children and Youth Position Paper on Climate Action 2026 therefore calls upon governments and Parties to the UNFCCC to strengthen youth participation in the implementation of the Paris Agreement, recognizing that climate action will only succeed when those most affected by climate change are empowered to shape the decisions that determine their future.

📘 The Zambia Children and Youth Position Paper on Climate Action 2026 will be officially launched later this week.

Tomorrow, we unpack another major recommendation from LCOY Zambia 2026:

⚡ How can a Just Energy Transition create decent green jobs, reduce energy poverty, and accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement?

🇿🇲 Zambia's Children and Youth Unite for Climate Action Implementation

On 30–31 July 2026, the Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) Zambia 2026 brought together 120 children and youth from all ten provinces of Zambia at Mika Exotic Hotel, Lusaka, under the theme "Children and Youth Empowerment for a Just, Resilient, and Sustainable Climate Future."

The conference provided a national platform for young people to engage in meaningful dialogue on climate justice, climate governance, clean energy, climate finance, indigenous knowledge, circular economy, and youth leadership. The conference was preceded by two national virtual consultations, ensuring that the voices and experiences of children and youth from across the country informed the discussions.

Over the next six days, we will take you through the key discussions, recommendations, and commitments that emerged from LCOY Zambia 2026. We will unpack the priorities identified by children and youth, highlight the innovative solutions presented during the conference, and share how these recommendations will contribute to national, regional, and global climate discussions ahead of COY and COP31.

📘 We are also excited to announce that the Zambia Children and Youth Position Paper has now been finalized. The publication captures the collective voice and policy recommendations of Zambia's children and youth and will be officially launched later this week.

We invite you to follow this journey, engage with the conversations, and stand with Zambia's children and youth as we move from local action to global climate influence.