Active Citizens Programme response on climate change (2020 – 2021)
In the last six months, British Council Pakistan, under its Active Citizens Programme, has engaged more than 4600 youth leaders through a digital/blended learning methodology. This has increased their knowledge, skills and awareness of digital citizenship and digital literacy, and of climate change as a global challenge affecting their communities.
During the pilot phase, the programme developed bespoke learning materials for youth participants to build their understanding of climate change issues and equip them with skills to recognise the impact of climate change on their local communities. These new learning materials also supported the participants in developing ideas as climate action focused projects in their local communities, which have ranged from awareness raising to innovative solutions to address climate change.
After the training programme, with the help of their universities and civil society partner organisations, Active Citizens developed 150+ social action projects focused on climate change, influencing communities and local governments to prioritise climate action plans and play a key contributing role.
These projects include: awareness raising campaigns with communities on waste management, cleanliness drives, tree plantation drives, raising awareness on use of plastic and appropriate disposal, collaborations with local businesses to support green economy , use of water resources in climate sensitive ways, collaborations with education institutions to sensitise students and teachers on climate action , collaborations with local government particularly environment, forestry and municipality departments on climate related actions and initiatives. Overall, 50,000 community members have benefitted from their projects in selected districts of all four provinces. A strategy is under development to develop a three year, scaled-up plan for this pilot initiative.
The Active Citizens Programme is a Global British Council initiative which seeks to deepen the trust and understanding within and between communities through establishing a local network of Active Citizens comprising of young people. Through the programme, these young people are trained to serve as catalysts for promoting intercultural understanding within and among local and international communities as social actors, influencers, and leaders.