Locations
Empowering Youth and Women with Green Skills for Accelerating Implementation of NDC for Eswatini
Summary
This project supports the implementation of Eswatini’s revised climate action plan known as the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The revised NDC submitted to the UNFCCC in October 2021 has a special focus on youth and gender as well as articulates that providing green skills to youth and women will contribute towards the transition to a climate-resilient future. This project therefore empowers youth and women by equipping them with “green skills” in various sectors including climate-smart agriculture, waste management and renewable energy.
Background
Eswatini faces a triple crisis, that of COVID-19, natural disasters and civil unrest which particularly affected the youth and women, especially in the vulnerable communities. Most of the youth reside in rural areas and face a plethora of development challenges, including a lack of access to productive economic resources and skills for entrepreneurship.
The civil unrest is estimated to have caused damage of more than US$ 210 million and the loss of over 5,000 jobs. With Eswatini being a net importer of food, border closures impacted an estimated 27 per cent of the population at risk of food insecurity.
Major Achievements
- 100 youth and women skilled in renewable energy technology at the Energy Academy that has been established by UNDP at the University of Eswatini (UNESWA).
- 100 youth and women trained in waste recycling.
- 20 trainees were provided with starter packs (equipment and tools worth $1000 each) for renewable energy businesses.
- 100 farmers trained in climate-smart agriculture, use of AMIS mobile app for marketing and are provided with inputs.
- An Innovation Challenge launched, and 20 winners were provided with technical (equipment and tools) and financial resources (worth $500 each).
- 100 renewable energy and agriculture MSMEs enrolled and mentored by UNDP and AeTrade in digital trade.
- The Youth Accelerator Programme on Agriculture and Energy was launched and 20 youths were supported to build their businesses through the UNDP Accelerator Lab.
Project Outcomes
The project aims to:
- Empower women and youth with knowledge and skills for youth and women in sustainable energy, climate-smart agriculture and waste management technologies.
- Improve entrepreneurship and trade through capacity building of 100 small businesses in digital trade.
For more information about this project, contact UNDP Sustainability Specialist, Mangaliso Mohammed, at mangaliso.mohammed@undp.org
