This is How We Celebrated Our 3rd Birthday!

On February 14th 2023, we have completed three years of building people power and fighting climate injustice- and to celebrate #ThreeYearsofYFC we have brought our community and team members together in Delhi.

In this blog, you can read about what all we did..!

You can read key highlights for the day in the paragraph below

Initial Days of YFC

Our team member Vijay Sehrawat shared how YFC started off as a small group of college kids (like most big SMOs started out)- and he said "i never imagined that in a matter of three years we would be able to achieve all that we have been able to and influence and connect with as many young people as we have had the privilege of associating with."

He also shared YFC's approach to campaigning and movement building.

Launched Three Years Report

We have launched a report which highlights some key campaigns and work that we have done in the past three years to make climate justice a priority for people and politics. The report also discusses our approach and principles to building a youth-led movement. We have also tried to cover a couple of learning on full volunteer-run staff, members' safety, and well-being, inclusion, and diversity. You can read the full report here and if there are any suggestions/feedback, we would love to hear it.

During report launch our team members Srijani Datta, said "Three years of completion of a youth-led climate action group is more significant than one might think. It subverts many of the current structures which are in place, not just the ones which discriminate on the basis of age, but also which discriminate against Social Movement actors and organisations."

Leadership Stories

Our team member Yashna Dhuria have shared what has been her journey in YFC. She said "During 12th standard exams, i saw lot of news about forest fires which fuelled my climate anxiety after which i tried have conversation with my school teachers who have asked me to focus on exams instead of validating my emotions. Few days later, i got to know about YFC's event through one friend, i attended the event and later joined team. After that, I learned about social movements and grew in every sphere of life more than I could ever learn from any prestigious college or elsewhere."

Open Mic and Games

Our community members have lot of fun playing musical chairs, listening to open mic performances.

Launched Community Fundraising Platform

We've launched community fundraising platform for people who want to support us financially so our team can keep doing the amazing work they're doing for past three years. You can make one time donation or opt for monthly subscription at youthforclimateindia.org/donate

#StrongerTogether

Presenting Our Impact Report As We Completed Three Years

Below is a letter from our core team, you can read that first or continue reading report here

Dear Reader,

Three years of completion of a youth-led climate action group is more significant than one might think. It subverts many of the current structures which are in place, not just the ones which discriminate on the basis of age, but also which discriminate against Social Movement actors and organisations.

Three years without any funding support for even our core team means that we have sustained and grown even in a pandemic based sheerly on the team’s motivation, urge to change the status quo and concern about socio-environmental issues. The stories of all those who have come together to make these glorious three years happen are marked by a sense of injustice; injustice towards our communities and the environment that we are embedded in; along with a sense of hope for a better future, which is in itself derived from the warm community that we have built over the last three years.

When we have to show our accounts for legal and administrative purposes, we do not know how to account for the numerous times people have come forward to offer their resources- not just their money and time, their offices, their books, their networks and platforms. We are grateful for this support and faith you put in us.

We started off as a small group of college kids(like most big SMOs started out) and we never imagined that in a matter of three years we would be able to achieve all that we have been able to and influence and connect with as many young people as we have had the privilege of associating with.

We have our very own climate justice library, of the youth, by the youth and for the youth. We have a dynamic clean-air based campaign which is looking to expand all over India! We are also launching our newsletter, and translaor’s network in the coming months. All in all, it’s cause for celebration all around. This also means that we will require your support more than ever before. The next three years will be fundamental to the trajectory of Youth For Climate India as we hope to absorb some wonderful young people from the climate movement into full-time, paid roles, undertake more grassroots organising and diversify on the basis of socio-political factors.

Thanks for taking out time to read this letter.

Warmly,

Core Team

Srijani, Yashna, Gauri, Aakansha and Vijay

Now, you can enjoy reading our report using link below.

YFC_AnnualReport_Final

.pdf

Download PDF • 1.41MB

Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) 2022, Gujrat

Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) 2022- Nadiad, Gujarat, Hosted by @cee_india last month. Our team-member, Srijani Datta was invited to take a session on Adaptation and Loss and Damage to help build the knowledge and capacity of youth participants at LCOY.

During the course of three days, the participants learnt about the UNFCCC process, Role of Youth in it, About Adapttation, Loss and Damage, Agriculture, Youth led climate initiatives from across the country. On the last day, they drafted policy recommendations in the sectors of climate finance, agriculture, water, education, governance, entrepreneurship.

We are grateful to the LCOY team for making this event a truly youth led space, where diverse young people from across the country could convene to discuss, debate and ideate on climate change issues facing India.

#YouthForClimateIndia

#ClimateJustice

#YouthLeadership

#UnitedNations