Bulawayo city gets US$100k to back youth-led initiatives

The City of Bulawayo has received an additional US$100 000 from Bloomberg Philanthropies to support youth-led climate and sustainability projects this year.

The latest disbursement marks the city’s second round of the funding support programme after the success of the first round, which ran from April 1 to December 31, 2024.

As part of the initiative, the city has invited young people between the ages of 15 to 24 to be part of this year’s climate adaptation programme.

As part of the recruitment process, the city launched the open call for the 2025 Youth Climate Action Fund (YCAF) to mobilise young people for the initiative.

The programme provides opportunities for young people to co-produce, co-govern and co-design youth-led initiatives.
In a public statement, Bulawayo City Council Mayor Senator David Coltart said the Youth Climate Action Fund presented opportunities for young people aged 15 to 24 years to help develop an effective climate change response plan for Bulawayo.

Driven by initiatives of the participating youth, Clr Coltart said he expected Bulawayo to become a green and sustainable city.
To qualify for the Youth Climate Action Fund, young people apply for funding in line with the city’s climate action priorities.

These include planting trees for a changing climate adaptation, environment and natural resources, clean or renewable energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, building resilience, youth-led awareness, education, research and development initiatives.
In the first round of the youth-led initiatives, young people conducted various innovative projects, including Bulawayo’s carbon footprint assessments, youth-led waste management innovations, innovative renewable energy projects, tree planting, community garden initiatives, biogas production, public education campaigns, climate hackathons to launching recycling or waste reduction initiatives.

The projects are critical for the city’s road map towards a 40 percent per capita emissions reduction, which is part of co-governance strategies for mitigation planning.

In a public announcement, Clr Coltart expressed hope that young people in Bulawayo will also utilise this opportunity from YCAF to come up with innovative projects on how to plant and grow indigenous trees in the City and help achieve the city’s reforestation and afforestation target of at least 3 000 trees per year.

The YCAF was established and is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies. It is administered in partnership with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and the Bloomberg centre for Public Innovation (BCPI) at Johns Hopkins University,US, as a fiscally sponsored project of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA)

The fund provides technical assistance and funding to cities worldwide to engage scores of youth aged 15 to 24 in designing, implementing and overseeing urgent climate solutions.-chronicle