Centering African Youth

At this year’s London Climate Action Week (LCAW), a powerful moment of reflection and strategy took place during a roundtable convened to launch the The State of the Youth Climate Movement in Africa Report. Developed in collaboration by GAYO, Purpose, and UMI, the report charts the inspiring landscape of youth-led climate action across 25 African countries. It features 75 youth organisations whose work is reimagining what’s possible when young people take the lead in driving climate solutions, locally rooted, intersectional, and relentlessly hopeful.

The roundtable brought together African youth leaders, policymakers, funders, and allies to not just celebrate this work, but to ask: What does meaningful support look like? The discussion surfaced a shared desire to move beyond tokenism, to ensure African youth are not only seen, but centred in decision-making spaces and investment flows.

Participants reflected on the fact that African youth movements are often underfunded, over-stretched, and yet still manage to lead with creativity and community care. From reforestation to energy access, advocacy to adaptation, these groups are responding to the climate crisis in ways that reflect both lived experience and a long-term vision for justice.

But the report also signals what’s missing: consistent, core funding; cross-continental convenings; and clearer pathways into influence and governance. The roundtable underscored the need to shift power- funding youth groups directly, investing in their capacity to set agendas, and listening when they define success on their own terms.

The Youth Mapping Report is more than a directory, it’s an invitation to act. To funders, it offers a tangible starting point. To governments and institutions, it shows where legitimacy already exists. And to young people across the continent, it affirms: you are not alone – your work matters, and it is already changing the climate story.