Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND)

The Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND) was established in September, 2008 but was quite dormant as we spent more time as young people learning from well established CSOs and other actors. In 2013, a movement known as 350 Ghana Reducing our Carbon (G-ROC) was formed and I held the role as the National Coordinator. SYND is a member of this coalition hence all activities or interventions were organised in the name of 350 G-ROC. 350 G-ROC is the local chapter of 350.org, a climate change movement organisation based in the USA. In 2020, I won the Goldman Environmental Prize Award for Africa and got appointed to the Board of 350.org. I therefore had to step down as the National Coordinator of 350 G-ROC to focus fully on SYND as part of dealing with any possibility of "conflict of interest". We received a small grant support of $19,000 from Growald Family Fund (now Growald Climate Fund - GCF) in 2019 to support our advocacy work on climate action. We also established the Youth in Natural Resources and Environmental Governance (Youth-NREG) Platform in May 2019 through the support of the World Bank and UNDP-Ghana. We believe that it is critical to engage young people actively in climate-related decisions as it will not only help them cope or adapt to climate impacts but also will guarantee the sustainability of interventions by duty bearers or policymakers in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our key strategies to achieve our vision and goal are: - Conducting research on climate change-related issues from the youth perspective; developing communication and advocacy materials such as policy briefs, position papers, fact sheets, and case studies; - Training young people as key actors contributing to the planning and implementation of climate and other environmental interventions at all levels of the decision making, and mobilizing young people for non-violent demonstrations or walk-in demands for climate actions.