CYCLES concludes a one-day Youth-led Multi Stakeholders dialogue on youth awareness on key national climate and environmental policies and their inclusion in policies implementation processes held in Monrovia at the YMCA of Liberia, conference hall, on Crown hill, Broad Street. On Friday, June 23,2023
The dialogue brought together over 50 participants comprising of national Youth institutions, local communities, Youth Climate change focused CBOs & CSOs, community youth groups, High school and university students, as well as government agency such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Municipality representative from the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) and the Media.
This dialogue is an outcome of several Youth-Led consultative engagements conducted in Bong, Gbarpolu and Montserrado counties to understand young people level of awareness on key climate change and environmental policies, and their active participation in policy engagements and implementation processes, the result of these consultations reveal that many young people from rural settlements and communities, especially communities and settlements affected by the impact of climate change, have limited or no knowledge on these policies, and are not actively involved in policy development and implementation.
Also during the consultations, young people expressed their concerns about the effects of climate change, environment and waste management policies on the local population. They are worried about the impact of these policies on their health, their livelihoods and their future.
As such, young people demanded that they want to be included in policy implementation, they want to be consulted and involved in decision making processes from the beginning.
Therefore, the Dialogue organized by CYCLES with support from ActionAid Liberia under the SPA II Project which seeks to empower young people to built solidarity through campaigning for climate resilient society for a sustainable future, serve as a platform that brings young people across the table with policy actors to further amplify their voices at the national level.
At CYCLES we believe that young people have valuable perspectives to offer on climate change, environment and waste management policies. They are the ones most affected by these policies, and they are the ones who will be responsible for implementing them.
We therefore urge policy actors to listen to the voices of young people and to include them in the decision-making process. Together we can create policies that are effective and that will benefit the entire population ensure a sustainable future for Liberia.