Towards Intergenerational Equity: Analysis of Youth Engagement Strategies in Climate Action Planning in Mzuzu, Malawi

Abstract

Globally, meaningful youth participation in planning processes aimed at dealing with climate change impacts has been advocated for sustainability purposes. Article 6 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change requires parties to ensure there is public participation in addressing climate change, its effects, and the development of responses. In the city of Mzuzu, Malawi, local community members have been involved in planning processes at different planning levels but more intensively at the community level. Despite this approach receiving much attention, minimal consideration has been put on which societal groups are to be engaged directly, with youths being excluded to a large extent, even though about 49% of the population in Malawi is aged between 10 and 34 years. This article, therefore, seeks to foreground how current stakeholder engagement strategies in climate change planning marginalise the youth. To do this, this article critically reviews current stakeholder engagement strategies and assesses the extent to which youth are involved in the planning processes in Mzuzu City. It further assesses the factors affecting youth involvement in the planning process and subsequently recommends how stakeholder engagement strategies can be designed and implemented to ensure effective youth engagement in climate change planning processes in the city.

Charting a youth vision for a just and sustainable future

“…Youth participation in decentralized governance needs legal definition in such contexts. Similar efforts in Mzuzu City, Malawi, showed that attracting youth participation in decentralized decision-making requires systematic capacity building (Zimba et al, 2021). Further, experience in urban-peripheral areas in Brazil showed that mainstream discourse on climate change might be disconnected from young people's everyday experience, leading to a perception of disinterest among students (Börner et al, 2021).…”

The “Dark Side” of Climate Action Planning

“…In Global North and South cities, marginalized communities are frequently omitted from adaptation planning processes, leading to maladaptive outcomes that exacerbate socio-spatial inequities (Anguelovski et al 2016). In Mzuzu, Malawi, where climate-related disasters are increasingly being experienced, youth make up almost half of the population, but this group is largely excluded from planning processes related to climate change (Zimba, Simbeye, and Chirwa 2021). Climate change adaptation planning in Delhi, India similarly falls short in terms of adequate representation of vulnerable groups in planning processes (Hughes 2013).…”

Effectiveness of Youth Engagement Strategies For Climate Change and Sustainable Development Agenda in Monduli District

“…As such, the role of rural youth in strategic interventions that promote low-carbon development pathways and climate resilience is insignificant. Previous studies-such as Narksompong et al (2015), Nkrumah (2021), O'Brien et al (2015) and Zimba et al (2021)-portrayed youth as passive stakeholders and mere project beneficiaries; instead of being active leaders, promoters, active agents and powerful actors to influence low-carbon development pathways and a climate resilient future. According to Simons (2022), vulnerable and marginalised rural youth have lacked effective strategies to influence engagement in climate change agenda and sustainable development in the face of evident adverse impacts of climate change.…”

“…According to Ho et al (2015 andZimba et al (2021), existing youth engagement strategies rely on diverse stakeholders' interventions. However, Kosciulek (2022) and Samaddar et al (2021) observed that top-down strategies have relied on governments (public); while bottom-up strategies have relied on individuals, families and the community.…”