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Raymond Jaravaza, [email protected]

IN order to find practical ways of fighting climate change and developing local innovations to enhance resilience, Lupane State University (LSU) has partnered youth empowerment organisations to train climate change champions who have already enrolled for the six-week course tailor-made for young people.

The course is called “Advanced Urban Green Skills Technologies” and is being run by the university in conjunction with Urban Futures, Greenheart, Unemployed and Vulnerable Youth Trust, Africa Food Revolution, as well as the Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association.

Mr Langton Moyo, the Urban Futures Project in Bulawayo co-ordinator, who are facilitators of the course, said 52 young people have enrolled.

“The Urban Futures Project in Bulawayo is a relatively newly established project that started operating in October 2023 with funding from Hivos International and the project focuses on capacitating youth climate change champions with the right skills and knowledge to pioneer solutions around climate adaptation,” he said.

Hivos International

“The first batch of students who are the pioneers of the project, are 52 in total and are divided into two groups of 26 each. Our aim is to build a new network of climate change champions who will be tasked with finding solutions given the undeniable facts that water is getting scarce by the day.

“Temperatures are rising but the world still needs to produce food for its ever-growing population,” said Mr Moyo.

The course runs for six weeks at no cost to the young climate change champions. Every Friday, they take field trips to farms around Bulawayo to have an appreciation of the challenges farmers have to navigate in the face of climate change.

The team recently visited local cattle pedigree breeder, Mr Jairos Mahlangu, who despite limited grazing land in a communal village in Mbalabala, Matabeleland South province, is a thriving Brahman breed farmer. He has also ventured into dairy farming.

The group of young climate change innovators spent time with the farmer and had the opportunity to ask him how he has navigated climate change challenges such as scarcity of water in his area.

Mr Jairos Mahlangu

“The course is mostly focused on building climate change innovations. We then challenge the climate change champions to come up with innovations that can be used by farmers to adapt and beat climate change,” added Mr Moyo.

From Monday to Thursday, the group does theoretical lessons.

“It’s important for the students to take field trips for them to have an appreciation of what the older generation of farmers are doing to tackle climate change challenges such as water shortages, dwindling pastures for livestock and the high costs of supplementary feeding,” he said.

Mr Nkululeko Mpofu, a lecturer at LSU, said participants do not need to have passed university entry requirements to take part in the course.

“It’s not every youth who gets the chance to get into university so by partnering youth empowerment organisations such as Urban Futures, LSU developed a programme called Advanced Urban Green Skills Technologies to expose young innovators to the various technologies that the university has to offer in the fields of agriculture,” he said.