Climate Change & DRR Training for Malaysian Youth and Young Professionals
The purpose of the training series is to equip targeted youth groups in Malaysia with knowledge about DRR and climate change. Starting in 2020, we aim to cover a more youth-centric audience, hence we are reaching out to educational institutions and various youth-led platforms to help us drive this.
Description
U-INSPIRE Malaysia is a platform for Youth and Young Professionals (YPP) in Science, Engineering, Technology, and Innovation (SETI) working to support Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) policy and accelerate the implementation the Sendai Framework at local, national, and international level. The goal of this commitment to equip targeted youth groups in Malaysia with knowledge about DRR and climate change.
To achieve this goal, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Southeast Asia Disaster Prevention Research Initiative (SEADPRI-UKM), Asian Network on Climate Science and Technology (ANCST) and U-INSPIRE Malaysia@UKM are collaborating with the Malaysian Youth Delegation (MYD) to conduct the Training Series targeting undergraduate and postgraduate students in Malaysia, as well as young professionals in the field of disaster risk reduction and climate change through ANCST and U-INSPIRE networks. Because we target a more youth-centric audience, we are reaching out to educational institutions and various youth-led platforms.
As a result of this commitment, a series of online training sessions were conducted (4 sessions during 2020) reaching a number of Malaysian graduate students and young professionals. It is expected that with better knowledge on climate change, sustainability, and the environment, young people will better engage in the climate change discourse, particularly at the local level. See the section of deliverables for more details.
Did the Sendai Framework change or contribute to changes in your activities/organization? If so, how?
The Sendai Framework and SDGs placed importance on enhanced investments in youth engagement in science and technology as enablers for implementing and monitoring resilient societies. It has been recognized that young scientists from various disciplines within the crosscutting field of disaster risk reduction (DRR) have the potential to enable an effective and sustainable implementation of the Sendai Framework.
What led you to make this commitment/initiative?
What was your position before making this Voluntary Commitment / prior to the Sendai Framework?
The innovative capacity of the younger generation should be utilised to ensure that best practices and scientific evidence is used to support decision makers now and in the future. A designated space is needed where the youth and young professionals can collaborate and exchange knowledge with their peers to utilise and tailor their current and future interdisciplinary research to meet the needs of decision-makers.
Deliverables and Progress report
Deliverables
Deliverables are the end-products of the initiative/commitment, which can include issuance of publications or knowledge products, outcomes of workshops, training programs, videos, links, photographs, etc.
The inaugural training series in 2020 is focused on climate change issues at the national level. The purpose of the training is to equip youths especially Malaysian graduate students with crucial knowledge about the issues of climate change, sustainability, and the environment. Critical topics and issues that are relevant to the broader climate change discourse will be explored, especially those that concern the local arena. It also intended to spread awareness to the general public to understand climate diplomacy and various other climate-related topics from a youth’s perspective.
The successful sessions planned are as follows:
1. June 2020: UNFCCC101: Paris Agreement and its relevance to Malaysia
2. July 2020: Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation
3. August 2020: Malaysia and Climate Change Policies
4. September 2020: Malaysia and Climate Finance
Porgress report
Led by SEADPRI-UKM, U-INSPIRE Malaysia@UKM, ANCST, the Malaysian Youth Delegation with support from other partners, conducted a series of virtual training on climate change for the YYPs in Malaysia and the region. The purpose of the training was to equip the YYPs with crucial knowledge pertaining to the issues of climate change, sustainability, and the environment.
The training was conducted virtually every month on the Zoom platform from May 2020 to September 2020. The average number of participants who attended each training session was about 55-65 people, who came from various backgrounds and with an interest in climate change. The training featured several speakers from the Malaysian Youth Delegation who have been exposed to and have had training regarding the respective topics at hand. Critical topics and issues that are relevant to the broader climate change discourse were explored monthly, especially those that concern the local arena. The successful events conducted were also published in Buletin SEADPRI No. 21 (refer to page 7) for information dissemination to the public.
Organizations and focal points
Implementing Organization(s)
Focal points
Partners
