Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) (October 2022)

The United Nations Local Youth Conference is one of the important conferences to support and empower youth. In 2015, the idea and interest of youth in climate action began. In 2017, there was an official process to support youth. As well as youth organizations for regional and local organization, the local United Nations Youth Conference must be organized before or during the global conference (COY).

LCOY serves the purpose of training youth and raising their capacities. The first LCOY Sudan (2021) was conducted in partnership with the British Council’s Youth Climate Dialogue Forum under the theme Peace and Climate Security with Youth Empowerment. This topic was specifically chosen to address, discuss and raise awareness of the most important climate change issues in Sudan. This includes ongoing tribal wars and conflicts due to food insecurity, which are direct contributors to climate change.

LCOY-Sudan

DCES represented the basic pillar of the conference, as the idea, initial and final coordination were led by the CEO of the center and others, and the participation of the rest of the members played a major role in the success of the conference.

The conference was held at the Grand Hotel – Khartoum and lasted for two days, 23^rd – 24^th of October, in the attendance of 56 delegates, as well as the presence of several representatives of the organizations coordinating the conference, on the first day. On the second day, the number of attendees was much larger than the target number, as the number of attendees was more than expected, about 95 people.

The LCOY team contributed to youth climate dialogues by facilitating sessions on climate change and compiling recommendations from young people regarding policy engagement, community volunteering and personal action. The organizing team also held a public discussion on climate in partnership with Sudan, a discussion that engaged young people in the topic and allowed them to think critically about the context of Sudan and climate change. Participants from LCOY had the opportunity to network, were introduced to different initiatives concerned with the environment and climate change and continued to collaborate and innovate their own initiatives. Despite the small size of the event, it was a great success.