We are coming to the end of the Youth Against Climate Change project. It was a "soft" project, ie. we did not promote any specific technology or practice in it, which we usually do in GEF SGP projects. There were several good activities carried out within the framework of the project, from which we learned very important lessons:

1. A competition was held among young people, within the framework of which we tried to support those young people who really do, introduce specific technologies. We gave out modest prizes ranging from $500 to $2,000 for the winners of the competition. The winners were young people with the following initiatives:

1. Project for automatic locking system for drip irrigation systems, which increases the efficiency of water saving;
2. A project to create a self-propelled plant powered by solar panels for planting saxaul.
3. Compost production project in Nukus
4. Youth Climate Change Game Project
5. Project for the creation of a hydroturbine for installation inside main pipes

I must say that the first three ideas - "fired". Those. people really promote their initiatives, they work and develop. And very well. And our modest injections helped them move on. The drip valve guy now has orders for over 8,000 ha; the guy with the compost opened a nice big compost plant with commercial structures; the guy with the self-propelled unit is developing, received a grant from the Ministry of Innovation.

All the rest did nothing. Those. the results showed a ratio of 50 to 50. But I think that those who work will do a lot. And that's good.

2. We held the Youth Climate Forum of Uzbekistan. Participation was quite substantial. And we got clear lessons from the preparation and holding of the Forum:

1. in the country is extremely weak, close to the “zero” level of knowledge and understanding of what climate change is, why it happens, for what reasons and what will be the consequences. People confuse and do not understand elementary things.
2. The level of initiative of young people is very low. There are individual pioneers, enterprising young people, and they are the engine of everything.

Based on the foregoing, a simple and self-evident conclusion suggests itself:

• There are few initiative youth, but they exist;
• It is these young people who can make a huge difference in the country, even with a little support for their endeavors.
• And these are the people we need to support.

And we want to create an initiative to support such talented youth. Consider this as a call to action for any partner organizations.

What do we want to do? Simply put, this is:

Create a project that will give small funds to youth, student initiatives on climate change, land degradation or biodiversity conservation. Those. in fact, to repeat, but in a larger scope and scope, our initiative within the Youth Against Climate Change project. Those. some NGO will submit a project to us, which will describe the conditions of the competition. We will find co-funding from partner donor organizations. Projects from young people will be submitted to the competition. These projects will be discussed by an open committee and awarded for the implementation of these initiatives.

With such a project, we can give hope and train young people in the implementation of their ideas. And even if a small percentage of such initiatives are implemented, there is a chance that these ideas will be more widely adopted into something bigger.

So, we are ready for your suggestions. All questions and comments can be sent to the Program's email address alexey . Volkov @ undp . org or call +998 93 3810082.