YOUTH ALLIANCE FOR CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY (YACES)
Mobilizing Youth Voices to Sustain Our Environment
Executive Summary
Ghana faces increasing environmental challenges including deforestation, plastic pollution, and the adverse impacts of climate change. Young people, who make up over 50% of the population, are critical actors in addressing these issues. Despite their potential, youth often lack structured platforms, resources, and capacity to engage effectively in environmental governance.
Furthermore, the savannah ecological region is characterized by a diverse group of people who are within the financially vulnerable population. Their vulnerability compels them to engage in numerous activities that puts the environment and its inhabitants at risk. The Youth Alliance for Climate and Environmental Sustainability (YACES) seeks to serve as a national youth-led initiative mobilizing, equipping, and amplifying young people across Ghana with primary focus within the northern territory or northern savannah zone to lead sustainable actions in areas on climate and the environment.
With so much impact of climate change on inhabitants of the Northern regions, YACES would provide a timely, unified platform to educate, organize, and empower youth to become active agents of change in their communities.
Beyond awareness creation, YACES seeks to foster intergenerational collaboration bridging the knowledge gap, influence policy, and implement sustainable, community-rooted environmental solutions.
The Youth Alliance for Climate and Environmental Sustainability (YACES), an initiative under CORD Ghana, aims to bridge this gap by providing a national platform for young people (ages 13 – 35) to learn, lead, and implement climate and environmental solutions.
General Objective
To empower Ghanaian youth to lead inclusive and innovative climate and environmental solutions at local, national, and global levels.
Vision Statement
A just, sustainable, and climate-resilient future for all, where youth leadership and collective action drive environmental stewardship and climate justice.
Mission Statement
To empower and mobilize young people to take collective action on climate change and environmental sustainability through education, advocacy, innovation and influence climate policy at all levels.
Conclusion
YACES represents a bold, youth-driven commitment to the future of our planet. Through collective action, policy influence, and grassroots innovation, YACES seeks to place young people at the forefront of Ghana’s environmental transformation.
YACES is conveyed by Center for Opportunities and Rural Development
