African Youth Resilience Initiatives Against COVID19 and Pandemics GENERAL REPORT June 2020 www.anyl4psd.org; [email protected] Tel: +237695962496/+22792454185 P.O.BOX 1932 Yaoundé- Cameroon 1 Table of content Glossary ...................................................................... Erreur ! Signet non défini.3 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 4 Organization of the regional online certified workshop African Youth Resilience Initiatives against COVID 19 and pandemics ....................................... 5 Opening ceremony, objectives, program and articulations of the workshop ............. 5 Regional online certified workshop’s sessions and articulations .............................. 6 Session one: Frontier between humans and nature: the degradation of nature and the emergence of pandemics ........................................................... 6 Session two: Understanding COVID19 pandemic and its impacts ..................... 10 Session three: Addressing the multi-sectoral challenges of the short and long term impacts of COVID19 by green grow recover to achieve the sustainable development goals .......................................................................................... 18 Session four: Role of the Coalition New Deal for Nature and People and Youth in the Fight against pandemics and COVID19 .................................................... 25 Working Session Five : Shaping together the African youth and civil society roadmap and declaration against covid19 and pandemics for a green growth recover in Africa and the in world .................................................................... 30 Presentation of the African youth and civil society declaration and roadmap against covid19 and pandemics for a green growth recover in Africa and the in world. ................................................................... Erreur ! Signet non défini.32 Content of the African youth and civil society declaration and roadmap against covid19 and pandemics for a green growth recover in Africa and the in worldErreur ! Signet non défini.32 Summary of the declaration ................................................................................... 41 Set up and operationalization of a regional New Deal for Nature and People Coalition of civil Society Organisations to implement the African youth and civil society declaration and roadmap against COVID19 and pandemics in Africa ................................................................................................................ 51 Set up of a regional coalition on New Deal for Nature and People, Creation and management of community (online) platforms ....................................................... 51 Accompaniment of civil society organisation in the organisation of online and offline restitution of the regional online certified webinar ...................................... 53 Accompaniment and mentoring of the New Deal for Nature and People Coalition in drafting and implementation of innovative gender based and inclusive resilience initiatives to address the causes and the impacts of the COVID19 ............ 55 Impacts of the project African youth resilience initiatives against COVID19 and pandemics so far ....................................................................................... 58 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 60 Annexes ............................................................................................................ 79 www.anyl4psd.org; [email protected] Tel: +237695962496/+22792454185 P.O.BOX 1932 Yaoundé- Cameroon 2 Glossary AFCOR: Africa Coronavirus Task Force ANYL4PSD African Network of Young Leaders for Peace and Sustainable Development BCP: Business Continuity Plan BDC: Biodiversity Convention CDC: Center for Disease Control CDD Convention on Desertification and Degradation COVID-19: coronavirus disease 2019 CSO: Civil Society Organisation C4P: Children for Peace DRR: Disaster Risks Reduction FSB: Financial Stability Board GBV: Gender Based Violence HRPs: Humanitarian Response Plans RRP: Refugee Response Plans HCT: Humanitarian Country Team GHG: Greenhouse Gas GHRP: Global Humanitarian Response Plan IEA: International Energy Agency IMF: International Monetary Fund IPBES: Sciences and Policy for people and Nature IPLC: International Labor Process Conference LDN: Land Degradation Neutrality OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OMVS: Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du fleuve Sénégal MERS: Middle East respiratory syndrome ND4NP: New Deal For Nature and People NGO: Non-Governmental Organizations SARS: Severe acute respiratory syndrome SDG: Sustainable Development Goals SLM: Sustainable Land Management SRHR: Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights IUCN: International Union for Nature Conservation UN: United Nations UNCT: United Nations Country Team UNFAO: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization WBG: World Bank Group WEF (Water, Energy, Food) WFP: World Food Program WHO: World Health Organization WWF: Worldwide Fund for Nature www.anyl4psd.org; [email protected] Tel: +237695962496/+22792454185 P.O.BOX 1932 Yaoundé- Cameroon 3 Introduction Africa and the world are grappling with the worst public health emergency in recent memory. The recent outbreak of COVID-19 represents the latest in an unfortunately growing list of disasters confronting humanity. The COVID-19 pandemic in Africa and the world is not only a challenge for global health systems, but also a test of our human spirit. Its social and economic impacts have been creating a global crisis unparalleled in the history of the United Nations—and one which requires a whole-of-society response to match its sheer scale and complexity. As many countries try to defend themselves through severe restrictions on people's movement and interactions, the disease continues to decimate families, upend governments, crush economies, and tear through the social sector. Fiscal stimulus packages and emergency measures to address public health gaps have been put in place in many countries to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19. On 5 April, the Secretary-General called for a global ceasefire and an end to all violence everywhere so that we can focus our attention and resources on stopping this pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the need for governments and the international community to focus more on health, environment, land degradation and human security issues. Youth has an important role to play in the fight against COVID 19 and pandemics in Africa. The youth represent roughly 70% of the population of Africa and are considered as the spearhead of the nation. With children, and women, young people are particularly the most affected by this global crisis. Young people have a role in transiting from unwitting perpetrators of environmental degradation to custodians of natural capital. Such a changeover will potentially result in sustainability benefits contributing thereby to restore and regenerate degraded ecosystems. However, despite the recognition of the important role of the youth as changing agent, not enough has been done to enhance their ability to drive the fight against COVID 19 and pandemics. Innovative resilient initiatives by young people can be a steppingstone towards creating space for youth contributions to green growth and the reduction of pandemics. For African countries to be free from pandemics-COVID 19 and to transition to a green economy after the COVID 19, the youth needs to be organized and empowered and equipped with the right set of knowledge, information, skills, values and resources through various online and offline approaches. Young people require capacity building to strengthen their internal capacities, external engagement, and advocacy capacity and monitoring and evaluation capacity for effective fight against COVID 19 and pandemics. Building their capacity would enable them to possess participatory competencies, management competencies, technical competencies and transformational competencies towards green growth and contributing to positive socio- economic transformation of the Country and the Africa continent. This is the main reason justifying the organization of the project African Youth Resilience Initiatives against COVID 19 and pandemics. www.anyl4psd.org; [email protected] Tel: +237695962496/+22792454185 P.O.BOX 1932 Yaoundé- Cameroon 4 Some key objectives of the project are as follows: o Improve the capacity of African youth leaders in internal and external engagement through advocacy to constructively engage governments, local elected; traditional and religious leaders, private sector, civil society, faith based organizations, and ( indigenous communities in collaborative gender based and inclusive resilience initiatives to address the causes and the impacts of the COVID19; o Set up and operationalise a regional New Deal for Nature and People Coalition of civil Society Organisations is set up and operational in WWF countries of operation and in others African Counties; o Mentor African youth leaders in the drafting and implementation of their innovative initiatives and advocacies in the frame of the campaign against COVID19 and pandemics; o Mentor and accompany African youth leaders to share through articles, videos, memes and on several digitalized (online) platforms (YouTube, twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp…)