Mabadiliko ni sasa (Change is now): Co-designing a science-based climate peer-to-peer training for Kenya

Cooperating countries: Kenya and Austria

Coordinating institution: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Thomas Schinko, schinko@iiasa.ac.at

Partner institution: African Center for Technology Studies (ACTS)

Project duration: 1 July 2024 - 30 June 2026

Abstract: 

Awareness of the climate crisis is constantly growing and so is pressure on the younger generation to act. While the younger generation have a high willingness to act, young people are often not very well informed about the scientific facts behind the climate crises and even less aware of what actions they can feasibly take to make a change. This often leads to overly high self- and externally imposed pressure on young people, which in turn causes concerning levels of climate anxiety and even depression. We aim to develop a climate peer-to-peer training, informed by experiences from the makingAchange climate peer training project developed for Austrian students and successful educational training models from KeAWARD in Kenya, developed in partnership and support from the African Centre for Technology Studies. Our goal is to empower young people in Kenya to build their self- and collective efficacy while increasing their individual resilience amid the climate crisis. This project will allow us to synergistically build on two well established and successful engagement formats in Austria and Kenya to tackle grand global sustainability challenges by enabling mutual learning between global North and global South researchers, practitioners, and students.