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The Global Youth Climate Training Programme (GYCT) is a free, fully online capacity-building programme that equips people aged 16-35 with the knowledge and confidence necessary to engage in international climate policy. Young people are increasingly being given a seat at the table in domestic and international climate policy, and therefore require appropriate capacity-building to ensure their interventions are cogent and relevant.
This project is a collaboration between the Global Youth Coalition (GYC), a coalition of climate youth changemakers, and researchers at the University of Oxford (Oxford Net Zero, Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment). The joint team delivering this project represents a strong international and intergenerational collaboration, spanning multiple continents, professional backgrounds and ages. We received 10,000 applications for our first iteration of the programme, demonstrating greater need for effective youth capacity building programmes.
2024 Programme
This year, with the generous support of the ClimateWorks Foundation, we are running our second iteration of the programme from 3 September-1 October 2024, with one final session on 1 November 2024. The whole course takes place online.
Last year, our programme was all about demystifying the UNFCCC and its many tracks of negotiation. Yet, on the margins (and increasingly moving to the heart) of COPs are the actions of non-state actors: corporates announcing pledges for fossil fuel phase out, cities making net zero promises, finance being promised by private entities. It is so important that young people are given the tools and the confidence to navigate this landscape and separate the greenwash from the legitimate in real-time. This year, our programme focuses on understanding the integrity and ambition of nonstate climate action. The programme brochure for this year includes details such as the schedule, focus of this year’s course, and applicant criteria. It can be found here as a PDF and here as a Word version (if using a text-to-voice reader).
Applications are now OPEN at this link. Applications will be open until 10 August at 23:59 UTC. Applicants will be accepted on a rolling basis, with all decisions out by 23 August. Applications will only be considered through the form above. E-mailing your CV will not be considered as an accepted application.
The time of the sessions will be decided based on the time zone most appropriate to our selected cohort, but sessions will be between 1-5pm UTC. This programme will be delivered fully online. Participants who are unable to join sessions live will have the recordings to watch within 5 days of the session. However, we will not record the interactive/workshop sessions.
Each week participants will receive a quiz covering the material of that week of training (total of 5 quizzes). Participants successfully completing 4 out of 5 of these quizzes will receive a certificate.
Opportunity: COP29 bursary
Through the generous support of the ClimateWorks Foundation, we are delighted that this year we are able to offer 5 bursaries for admitted applicants in our 2024 training to attend COP29. This bursary of up to £3000 is to cover flights, accommodation, food and transport. We can unfortunately not support accreditation – this is primarily for applicants who have the ability to attend COP29 but face financial barriers.
Application process for the bursary:
Application criteria for the bursary:
Since we are unable to support all applicants, first priority will be given to applicants representing diverse regions and groups most impacted by climate change.
Read more: https://netzeroclimate.org/global-youth-training/