Webinar: Youth, Water, Climate & Sustainability – From Concerns to Action
Climate and water challenges affect young people most — but young people are not just the future, they can act today. This webinar offers practical inspiration on how to turn concern into action, use your own skills and resources, tell powerful stories, and create change in your community. Come with your questions, ideas and energy — and take the first step.
Date/time: Wednesday, 30 September, 2PM UTC
Panelist 1: Madhukar Swayambhu – Vaidic Srijan LLP India: Climate Communication, Media & Storytelling for Behavioral Change. Why the story must move from the summit stage to the street corner —because the common person, not the world leader, is the first to pay its price.
Panelist 2: Maria R.Mukami, Executive Director Just Green Tanzania: From Concern to Action: How Young People Can Turn Environmental Awareness into Community Change. Young people don’t have to wait until they are experts, wealthy, or in positions of power to start solving environmental problems. They can start with what they see in their own communities, learn, organize, and turn awareness into action.
Panelist 3: Annemarie Koch and Souleymane Guindo, Kene Elou Te / Ecole RadioChico, Schweiz/Mali: Start With What You Have. A lived experience from Mali showing how small actions can grow into community change. Their contribution will not focus on what has been achieved, but on encouraging students to recognize their own possibilities and take a first step with what they already have . The session will invite students to ask themselves: “What do I already have – and what could I start with today?”
Moderator and Panelist 4: Roland Brunner, Coordinator Blue Community Network: Be part of the solution: Turn Blue! Everybody, everywhere can be a Blue Community.
The webinar is organised in cooperation with Janet A. Phoenix, Executive Director of the Coalition for Environmentally Safe Communities (CESC).
Blue Community Ambassador Salah El Sadi, Senior Advocacy Intern with the Coalition for Environmentally Safe Communities (CESC), initiated and coordinated this webinar and helped establish the collaboration between the Blue Community Network and CESC around youth engagement, water, climate action, and environmental advocacy.
REGISTER HERE FOR THE ZOOM LINK
More about the panelists
Dr. Madhukar Swayambhu is a seasoned corporate leader from India. He has over 30 years of experience as entrepreneur and startup mentor. He is the founder of the Indian Blue Community Vaidic Srijan and works as its Research Head. He is a member of many international environmental and water protection organisations and serves as Secretary for the Blue Community South Asia.
Maria Mukami is a youth climate advocate, passionate about youth empowerment and climate action, a UNDP Student Ambassador, and the Founder & Executive Director of JustGreenTz. in Tanzania, South-Eastern Africa.
Annemarie Koch is involved with Kene Elou Te Mali and Kene Elou Te Switzerland and contributes to the Blue Community initiative. Her approach is shaped by many years of practical experience, including 15 years of living in Asia, and by listening and learning from people in different contexts. She believes that even a big vision can begin with what is already there – and with one small first step.
Souleymane Guindo, lives in Mali, a country in the French-speaking part of West Africa. He is the coordinator of the Blue Community youth project Réseau Ecole RadioChico / Kene Elou Te Mali and serves as the coordinator for the Blue Community in French-speaking Africa.
Roland Brunner worked for many years as journalist and in international cooperation. 2013-2023, he was a campaigner and organizer with the labour union for public service employees in Zurich, Switzerland, and did a successful referendum campaign against a new water law that would allow privatization of services. He serves as the coordinator for the global Blue Community Network.
