Beyond awareness

Awareness is the first step, not the last.

Nina Mbah, impact media producer and co-founder of African Climate Stories, argued that awareness on its own changes nothing. Many young people want to act but are discouraged by the scale of the problem, or by comparing themselves with people who already have large platforms. The task is to break a problem down into the smallest action a person can take next, because things that become significant usually start very small.

Pick your struggle, then build on your strength.

The climate field is crowded with researchers, scientists, government, policy and finance, and its jargon can make young people feel unqualified to propose solutions. Nina's advice was to decide early which part of the field suits you, rather than imitating what looks impressive, especially when money and other resources are scarce.

Young people are not waiting for a perfect definition of green jobs.

Baliqees Salaudeen-Ibrahim, CEO of Green Republic Farms, began with a question: what is your own definition of a green and inclusive job? Farming is still widely seen as a poor man's job. Yet a decade ago, young activists treated recycling and upcycling as community projects; today some of those efforts have grown into recycling companies that train women and create employment.

From microphones to mandates.

A'aron John put the question directly: being consulted is not the same as having responsibility or power. Olumide Idowu, co-founder and executive director of ICCDI Africa, agreed. Young Africans have become very effective at raising awareness, but a climate champion should also be trusted to design projects, manage resources, engage communities, collect data and demonstrate results. Young people learn leadership by actually leading.

Universities should produce climate problem solvers, not only climate graduates.

Olumide traced the problem back to childhood, when few children tell their parents they want to be farmers. Climate education, he argued, should start in primary school and be practical: children should learn how climate affects the food they eat, the water they drink and the flooding in their communities. At university, every discipline, from law to engineering to agriculture, should teach how climate change affects that profession and how the profession can respond.

The gap is access, not awareness.

Salem Mihindeou AYENAN, an Africa Regional Committee Member at the Youth Climate Justice Fund, has reviewed applications from thousands of youth-led climate justice groups through its work. Many understand the crisis because they live it. What they often lack is the institutional history, grant-writing capacity and financial systems that funders expect, and receiving a grant brings its own demands: budgets, records, monitoring and reporting. Funding can be part of how an organisation builds those systems, if young people are trusted as actors.

From clean-ups to building something real.

Asked what early experiences shaped her, Baliqees described volunteering from a young age and spending money meant for food on organising clean-ups. Over time she saw that clean-ups and tree planting were not enough, and that raising placards did not make decision-makers take young people seriously: they wanted to see innovation. Agriculture became her way to show what young people can build.

Watch the conversation

The full recording, with chapters and captions, and short clips from the session are published on CCAIE's YouTube channel.

Quotations are taken from the session recording and lightly edited for readability. Figures were checked against the sources listed here.

Sources

1. African Development Bank (2016). Leaders underscore urgent need to create jobs for African youth. — afdb.org
2. FSD Africa (2024). Research on green jobs in Africa: more than 3 million direct jobs by 2030.
3. Youth Climate Justice Fund and ClimateWorks Foundation (2025). Youth Climate Funding Study. — climateworks.org
4. UNFCCC (2025). 2025 NDC Synthesis Report. — unfccc.int
5. African Union, European Union and UNICEF (2021). #YourVoiceYourFuture. — unicef.org
6. Session recording and transcript, Climate Readiness Series, 25 September 2026.
7. Photo of Salem Mihindeou AYENAN: credit Salem M. AYENAN.