Photo: COP22 Call for Resources for Youth Climate Action flashmob https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwjaUkmBOOM, 10 November 2016, COP22 venue, Marrakech/Morocco 

In the context of the UN Climate Change Conference COP22 in Marrakech (07 Nov – 18 Nov 2016), the International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges IAAI – an UNFCCC and UN ECOSOC accredited civil society organization based in Klagenfurt am Wörthersee (Austria) – in cooperation with partners (CliMates, UNESCO MOST et al.) launched a resource mobilization campaign for youth climate action (hashtag #GloCha #GiveYouthaChance).

The initiators of #GiveYouthaChance campaign are convinced that the time is ripe for a large scale social movement towards resource mobilization for youth climate action. COP22 will be an important milestone for setting up transformative partnerships for Paris agreement implementation and therefore a unique opportunity for all those who have resources and who are inclined to use them in a globally coordinated way to empower young people to take meaningful and rewarding action on climate change.

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The campaign calls for resources

1. for youth participation in UNFCCC processes
2. for UN system’s programs on youth empowerment for climate action and
3. for an Agenda2030 youth action marketplace that will empower young people for local climate action in a globally coordinated manner and connect them with blended financing from local and global public, private and philanthropic sources.

The campaign consist of

–    a crowdfunding component that is targeting small donations of ordinary global citizens (please visit https://www.razoo.com/us/story/Glocha-Global-Challenges-Foundation-New-York/related_causes for details) and

–    a “Global Challenges Giving Pledge” call and registry for philanthropists and public and private institutional wealth holders.

The Call for resources for youth climate action aims (draft as of 04 November 2016) to reach those who are ready to invest in youth empowerment for global challenges action in a global multistakeholder partnership structure which is very much aligned and complementary to the functioning of the competent United Nations bodies and programs.

3rd of November 2016 the #GiveYouthAChance COP22 Call for Resources for Youth Climate Action initiative has been authorized by COP22 Steering Committee to use the official COP22 project label (please find labelling application approval letter attached below)

The short term fundraising target of the campaign is 1 million Euro (or 1,1 mio US$) which shall be achieved before the end of January 2017 (to be reported at ECOSOC Youth Forum 2017) and a long-term fundraising goal of 100 million for which the time plan will be elaborated at the review of first phase of the #GiveYouthaChance campaign end of January 2017.

Organizational background

#GiveYouthaChance is organized in the framework of the multistakeholder partnership GloCha involving representatives from UNFCCC youth constituency YOUNGO (e.g CliMates), partners from UN system (UNESCO MOST, UN Habitat, UN Women, ..) and other partners (e.g. the Citizens Climate Engagement Network CCEN, WorldWeWant2030, Regional Government of Austrian province of Carinthia, National Youth Authority of Ghana, Digital Nomads Lesvos, etc.).

For administration of the #GiveYouthaChance campaign and for joint information and resource management there will be set up at COP22 a multistakeholder partnership structure – the Global Challenges youth empowerment partnership GloCha – which shall develop into of the world’s leading youth focused SDGs delivery mechanism for SDG 10 (reducing inequalities), SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities), SDG 13 (climate action) and SDG 17 (partnerships).

The initiative, its innovative approaches and its partners have been presented at several United Nations events, e.g. at the UNFCCC COP20 in Lima, at the ECOSOC Partnership Forum 2015, at UNFCCC COP21 in Paris, at the ECOSOC Youth Forum 2016 (with UNFCCC ACE) in New York, at Bonn Climate Change Conference 2016 and at the UN Agenda 2030 Science, Technology and Innovation Forum 2016 again in New York.  

Engagement Opportunities

1. Opportunity to join the #GiveYouthaChance campaign at 12th Conference of Youth/COY12 and COP22

The wording of the call for resources will be finalized at a #GiveYouthaChance workshop at the Conference of Youth preceding COP22 on Sunday 6th November (a draft can be found attached below). At the workshop there will be elaborated also the Terms of reference and Memorandi of Understanding templates for participation of public and private stakeholders (especially youth organizations and local authorities and cities administrations) in the GloCha Youth Empowerment partnership and its #GiveYouthaChance resource mobilization campaign.

If You are interested to receive an invitation to the workshop, please get in contact with the organizers by sending an email to giveyouthachance(at)glocha.info

2. Opportunity to present pledges for youth climate action empowerment at COP22

Potential pledgers are invited to get in contact with #GiveYouthaChance organizers by sending an email to giveyouthachance(at)glocha.info or/and to express their support for the initiative through this online form: https://goo.gl/forms/NT0ITVM3ZLj5vu0x2.

The formal launch of the initiative has been at the official COP22 side event “Financial, Technical and Institutional Support for Scaling Up Youth Climate Action” organized jointly by IAAI, CliMates and Green Cross International on COP22 Young and Future Generations day 10th of November 2016 (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjAFFC-RiNU&t=73sl, the side event report can be found in hte list of attachments below).

An opportunity for media representatives to learn about the initiative will be at a #GiveYouthAChance press conference on Saturday 12th November 11.30-12.00h in Press Conference Room Dakhla.

For further information please get in contact with

Dr. Miroslav Polzer, executive director of IAAI, polzer (at) glocha.info  , Tel.: +436644203648 www.glocha.info

We Must. We Can. We Will

Empower Youth to Take Climate Action Now!

#GiveYouthAChance