Malawi’s Climate Leaders: an update

At 2050’s last Youth Summit in April, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced funding for a new partnership project between the Malawi-Scotland Partnership (MaSP) and 2050 Climate Group. This Malawi’s Climate Leaders project aims to engage young Malawians in climate change challenges in their communities and on a global scale. It hopes to help them tackle the social, environmental and economic effects that climate change has on their future, and to empower them to take action and become the voices of change for their generation.

Our local project team consists of Project Coordinator, Promise Matatiyo, and Project Intern, Chinsisi Kazuwa, who went on a trip to Northern Malawi last week to connect with other youth organizations active in climate and environmental change. This trip took them from the MaSP office in Lilongwe to the city of Mzuzu in the Northern Region.

Here, they visited a Youth Against Climate Change forest conservation project in Mzimba and a water purification project by Centre for Youth and Development (CYD). Malawi has a very young population, with over 60% of the population being below the age of 24. There has been an increase in social and environmental awareness among this younger generation and a strong interest to participate in tackling climate change issues. Therefore, our project team is currently mapping the climate action work of other youth organizations to see where the opportunities for action are. These project visits last week were the first step in building a network of engaged young individuals with whom to share ideas and collaborations for climate action.

This week, the first meeting of our Steering Committee, consisting of young people, is taking place. With this committee, the project team will co-design the project activities to align them with the leadership skills and climate change themes that are most beneficial to Young Leaders in Malawi. In January we are very excited to welcome Promise and one of the Young Leaders in Scotland for a month-long intercultural exchange visit. Afterwards, two members of the 2050 volunteer team in Scotland will travel to Malawi in February-March.

Please stay tuned for updates on the progress of this exciting new project and the events that will be taking place during our exchange visits through our newsletter and social media!