COP28: Young People and the Informal Sector Leading the Change

Join Cities Alliance and partners at COP28 to explore the role of youth and the informal sector in building inclusive governance and taking climate action in cities. 

City development processes influence each and every group in society, including young people and the informal sectors. Yet, these stakeholders still have a limited impact on decisions that directly affect their future.

During this session, representatives of non-governmental institutions, research centres, and youth groups will discuss the role and ways to maximise the potential of various stakeholders in engaging in city development processes.

Promoting inclusivity, making a tangible impact, and leading the change by young people and the informal sector will be addressed using interactive methods, giving session participants a platform to share their experiences and enrich the discussion.

The session will seek to:

• Enhance meaningful inclusion of the youth, urban poor and informal voices during climate engagements and urban resilience building.
• Influence climate action programming by co-designing policies and programmes with local voices.
• Provide the platform for stakeholders including youth and marginalized groups to provide feedback or information on their work on innovation towards resilient cities.
• Showcase youth-led climate initiatives on local resilience for urban planning and management practices.  
• Promote and facilitate mainstream local-led adaptation, indigenous knowledge and innovative tools in urban sustainable development.
• Localize climate change actions that are gender and youth-sensitive whilst respecting the heterogeneity of the urban landscape.
• Demonstrate organised communities' resilience potential and capacity as a viable avenue of channelling climate finance to reach the local levels.

Moderator: Margaret Imparim, Assistant Global Coordinator, Youth Climate Council (YCC), Global Alliance

Keynote: Md. Al Mamun Rakib, Youth Fellow, International Center For Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) 

Panel: 

• Sarah Darcie, Policy and Research Officer, Youth Climate Council Brazil and UNFCC Climate Champions’ Youth Fellow 2023
• Arne Janssen, Climate Change and Resilience lead, Cities Alliance
• Sumaiya Binte Selim, Programme Coordinator, International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) 
• Adriana Valenzuela, Education & Youth Leadership Lead, Global Centre on Adaptation
• Sophia Hatley, Adaptation Policy Advisor, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

This hybrid event, co-organized by ICCCAD, YCC and Cities Alliance, is part of the programme around 'Cities and Urbanisation' within COP28's Resilience Hub.