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Ashley Phiri, [email protected] 

THE City of Bulawayo has received a US$50 000 grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies Youth Climate Action Fund to combat the negative effects of climate change. 

Bulawayo Mayor, Councillor David Coltart, said the funds would be channelled towards a programme that would be rolled out in schools to encourage young people to keep Bulawayo clean.

“This is Bloomberg’s latest government innovation initiative that aims to help mayors unlock the power and ingenuity of young people in leading climate action at the local level. 

“In Bulawayo, we are going to use the resources provided by Bloomberg to roll out a programme in our schools to encourage young people to lead in keeping our city clean and free of plastic waste,” he said.

The other funds will be distributed as grants to young people who are doing projects to combat the negative effects of climate change. 

In a statement, Bulawayo City Council (BCC) corporate communications manager, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu, said interested young people should prepare to submit their proposals at the end of the month.

“Young residents aged 15 to 24 years are encouraged to look out for the City of Bulawayo Call for applications later this month to learn more about the Youth Climate Action Fund, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and how to submit ideas for the opportunity to receive funding,” she said.

The call will include ideas for youth-led awareness, education, research and development initiatives, including youth-led climate education programmes, youth climate hackathons, youth-developed climate surveys and research, youth-informed clubs or curriculum and youth-designed public art and awareness campaigns.

Climate change

Also to be considered are youth-driven climate mitigation and adaptation projects, including youth-led community gardening, tree planting, reforestation and urban farming campaigns. 

Others include youth-managed recycling and waste reduction programmes, youth-produced climate resilience workshops and disaster preparedness programmes.

“Co-governed youth climate action plans including partnerships between city leaders and youth groups to inform climate-related policy ideas, decisions, actions or the formation of youth climate ambassadors or advisory boards will also be considered,” said Mrs Mpofu.

“Bloomberg will reward cities that respond to the urgency and utilise the funds to the organisation’s satisfaction and will receive an additional US$100  000 to support more youth-driven projects over the course of one year.”

The leader of Government Innovation Programmes at Bloomberg Philanthropies, Mr James Anderson said targeting the youth for this programme will help unlock new efficient ways to deal with the climate change crisis.

“Youth today are the guardians of our future and in bringing them together with local governments through this ground-breaking initiative, we will see cities reach new-found progress in shaping more resilient and regenerative communities that can act on the climate emergency in entirely new ways,” he said.

“For cities to catalyse and broaden their ambitious efforts, they’ll need to continue to shift away from traditional top-down models to those that solicit ideas and crowd-in energy from across the community, especially from young people who are so vested in solving the climate crisis.”

Bloomberg Philanthropies invests in 700 cities and 150 countries around the world to ensure better and longer lives for the greatest number of people. The organisation focuses on creating lasting change in five key areas which include arts, education, environment, government innovation and public health.