Source: Priscilla Adogo Ahiada
From the 17th to 19th of May 2022, I had the opportunity to represent the Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND) at the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Forum held at the Kigali Convention Centre in Rwanda.
The gathering brought together relevant stakeholders including policy makers, private sector and young people to address possible actions in attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7.
After going through the registration process and Covid-19 test, I headed to the main auditorium for the opening ceremony which was graced by the President of Rwanda, H.E Paul Kagame and other international dignitaries including the the Second Lady of Ghana, H.E Samira Bawumia and Hon. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Ghana’s Minister of Energy.
During the 3-day Summit, I participated and contributed to discussions in meetings that I joined. For instance, on 17th May, I joined the ACCESS Coalition session which focused on the work of the various Regional Nodes on SDG7.
ACCESS Coalition has 3 Regional Nodes – East Africa, West Africa and Southern Africa. As the West Africa Regional Node, SYND (represented by Solomon Yamoah and I) shared our various interventions including capacity building workshops for members on the World Bank and AfDB Frameworks or mechanisms and how organisations can engage such DFIs.
Also, we shared some key highlights from our research on women’s perception and knowledge on clean cook Stoves.
We distributed free copies of the clean cooking bags to participants at the meeting.
ACCESS Coalition organized a follow up meeting to discuss ways of strengthening the working relationship among ACCESS members and member countries.
One key issue for discussion was about how Regional Nodes can work to support each other’s efforts to help strengthen the coalition.
The ACCESS Secretariat led by Mr. John Kioli thanked the leadership of SYND for making partners love the work we do in Ghana.
I also joined the Youth Round Table session which was led by the Special Representative of the Secretary – General (SRSG).
The meeting provided the opportunity for all young activists to share their respective success stories and failures. This was meant to create a space to inspire young people not to give up in their quest to bring about positive change.
Furthermore, I attended the gala dinner organized by the Bloomberg Philanthropists where we met some Egyptians and triggered discussions around our COP27 Webinar Series.
The monthly webinar series seeks to amplify the voices of young people and provide space for other key actors to speak on different climate-related issues ahead of COP.
Last year, we partnered with the British High Commission in Ghana to host the webinar series towards COP26 in Glasgow, UK.
Solomon and I met Ailun Yang of Bloomberg Philanthropists and we shared our advocacy work on energy access with respect to women and clean cooking and its impact on the environment and health for society.
SOME ACTION STEPS FOR SYND:
I have noted some action steps for my organisation based on the knowledge and experiences I obtained from the Forum. They are:
- Strengthen our Young Green Entrepreneurs platform to champion employment opportunities among young people and showcase climate solutions.
- Amplify the role and contributions of women in clean energy access as the Regional Node of ACCESS Coalition.
- Engage the relevant state agencies responsible for the planning and implementation of the SE4ALL National Action Plan.
I wish to profoundly thank SE4ALL for supporting my participation in the Summit.
Thank you.
Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com
