Call for proposals
Conduct workshops on Climate literacy and Climate Learning toolbox.
Brief Introduction about the organization:
Paryavaran Mitra is a non-profit organization working on socio-environmental issues. It has been promoting sustainable development through participation in environmental governance at local, regional, and national level by participation in the policy making process. Paryavaran Mitra promotes environment education and awareness of all groups of the society through various programmes, seminars, and training. It has been supporting international initiatives towards evolving systems and processes for sustainable development. The Unique contribution of Paryavaran Mitra is in Public Interest Litigation for more than two decades ensuring support and presence in all and one litigations of Gujarat. Paryavaran Mitra is an observer organization in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and has participated in Conference of the Parties and high-level meetings. It has also been granted special consultative status by ECOSOC (United Nation’s Economic and Social Council) in 2018.
Introduction
The climate crisis is the crucial human rights challenge of this era and having a devastating impact on the well-being of youth, who are not experiencing the effects of climate change and related environmental degradation in the same way as adults are. The proportion of young people in the total population is above average in India. They are particularly affected by the impacts of climate change, especially through food and water insecurity and a polluted environment. At the same time, they are the future decision-makers and key players when it comes to climate protection measures. However, youth face various obstacles that prevent them from engaging in climate action: this includes lack of access, knowledge, capacity, and resources. They are also excluded from policy-making processes. Young people need to be recognized and listened to as agents of change at the local, national, and regional levels so that they can offer solutions to secure their own rights and collectively promote sustainable development for themselves, their communities, and societies across India.
The project titled “Strengthening, networking and capacity building of youth-led activities for the right to a clean and healthy environment” aims to contribute to the advocacy for the right to a healthy environment for youth in India. The project will facilitate 10,500 youth members in India realize their right to a healthy environment. The vision and goals of the project are aligned with the collectively identified needs of youth members. The project will be implemented 13 states and will collaborate with existing climate-related programmes in India.
At the grassroots, the project plans to provide foundational knowledge and capacity for 10,500 youth members to lead transformational change in environment protection and increased climate resilience. Most importantly, the project would support 20 youth-led local enterprises for nature-based solutions to waste-management, and water and food insecurity. In this context Paryavaran Mitra, requires technical support from organizations working on environment rights and education for the following two major components under the project:
1. Education for climate protection
To create high-quality educational opportunities, specialized institutes will be contracted to carry out the activities.
a.) Climate literacy Workshop
The term Climate Literacy stands for an elementary understanding of climate and climate change, including one’s options for action. The measures in the area of Climate Literacy serve the basic knowledge transfer to the participants in the project. For this purpose, a training module with 7 learning areas needs to be designed. The following contents will have to be included in the module: 1) The climate system, 2) The carbon cycle, 3) Climate variability, 4) Climate modelling, 5) Human impact on the climate system, 6) The consequences of climate change, 7) Climate policies and measures. The module curriculum will be designed as a series of lesson plans (with additional resource material). Its didactic and methodological structure promotes activity-based learning and strengthens local, national, and international understanding of the issue. A 2-day workshop by the technical consultancy agency will have to be conducted in the first quarter of 2023.
b.) Workshop on Climate Learning Toolbox
In addition, a climate competence toolbox needs to be developed. The Climate Learning Toolbox should have five autodidactic, activity-based online modules on the linkages between healthy biodiversity (ecosystem, food chain, ecological resilience, and ecological niches), climate change (fossil fuels, greenhouse gases, global warming, environmental feedback, and ecosystem services), society (food and water insecurity, climate refugees, environment and health, carbon emissions, and renewable energy), and climate action (environmental policy, policy-making processes, and climate communication for advocacy in India). There also needs to be two additional modules on a) leadership and communication and b) decision making, problem solving, creative thinking, and critical thinking skills. The curriculum and training materials need to be available in English and Hindi. A directory of applied global environmental-based solutions by companies and social impact projects should be included in the toolbox to inspire and share knowledge about youth-led actions to address climate change (see also sub-objective 2). All communication and knowledge materials will have to be hosted on an easily accessible open-source platform. To introduce the Toolbox, the technical support team should be able to conduct a 3-day training session in 2023 and a one-day follow-up workshop in 2024.
2. Workshop on Corporate development
The project will support 480 young people who want to create local start-ups with environment-based solutions like organic waste recycling through compost production for nurseries and native tree nurseries, agroforestry and social forestry, integrated aquaculture in backyard farms, eco-tourism or organic farming.
For this purpose, the technical support organizations needs to conduct a business development workshop in 2023 before the start-ups are established. The comprehensive four-day workshop will have to provide participants the information for registering businesses and setting up financial and working systems to facilitate business operations. One day will have to be devoted to marketing, communications and business management. Participants will be presented with success stories of existing businesses with environmentally based solutions. The technical support organization that conducts the corporate development workshop will supervise the youth member’s business initiatives during the project period and provide guidance during the creation of the start-ups. The technical support organization will also ensure that the young people are brought into contact with all important contact persons, for example in public authorities. Interested firms and independent consultants having proven experience in the above subject matter must apply and send technical and financial proposals by 15th September 2022 at the mail id paryavaranmitra@yahoo.com.