Young people gathered at a ChildFund Alliance hosted event to highlight the importance of youth and community-led climate solutions in driving Africa’s green transition. Listening and acting on their ideas is critical to building a greener, more resilient Africa that leaves no one behind.
Although Ethiopia was nearing the end of its rainy season, last week between the 8th and 10th of September, the sun shone brightly over the city of Addis Ababa. It illuminated the gathering at the Addis International Convention Centre, where global leaders, civil society, children and young people, indigenous representatives, and countless others assembled for the 2nd Africa Climate Summit (ACS2).
The summit was designed to position Africa as a leader in shaping solutions to the climate crisis. Yet one demographic, embodying the creativity, innovation, and youthful spirit of the continent, was strikingly absent from the official programme: children. Their absence was a reminder of a paradox we often see- decisions about their future made in rooms where they are not seated.
Still, children from across Africa refused to be sidelined. In parallel to ACS2, they convened their own Africa Children’s Climate Summit (ACCS), where they consolidated their peers’ voices from national consultations into a powerful Children’s Climate Declaration.
In it, they demanded nothing less than their rightful place: at least 30% representation in decision-making. They asked for policies to be translated into child-friendly and local languages. They called for climate-resilient infrastructure at homes and schools, reliable access to clean and safe water, green job opportunities, and financing mechanisms simple enough for them to access. Their demands resonated strongly with the central focus of ACS2- driving Africa’s green transition and unlocking climate finance for a just future.
This declaration is more than symbolic. It provides negotiators, civil society, and governments with concrete proposals that will influence Africa’s collective position as we journey toward COP30 in Belém, Brazil. There, the global community will be challenged not only by the voices of states and institutions, but by the uncompromising clarity of the youngest generation whose futures are on the line.
Throughout the three-day summit, children and young people engaged actively in media briefings and side events, including one co-hosted by ChildFund Alliance members: Barnfonden, Children Believe, ChildFund Deutschland, ChildFund International and local partners from Kenya and Ethiopia. In these spaces, their voices carried both urgency and resilience. They spoke of lived realities: enduring severe droughts, witnessing biodiversity loss, and navigating fragile livelihoods. But they also shared hope- co-creating local solutions, influencing policy processes, and shaping climate finance flows toward communities most in need. For once, children and young people were not invisible; they were seen, they were heard, and they were respected as agents of change.
And just as Ethiopia welcomed its New Year, coinciding with the end of the ACS2- with the blossoming of the Adey Abeba flower- a vibrant yellow bloom that symbolizes new beginnings and renewed hope- so too did ACS2 carry the symbolism of fresh possibility. The flower’s brief yet radiant life reminds us that hope must not only be cherished but acted upon swiftly. Likewise, Africa’s transition to a green and just future must be urgent, inclusive, and led by its children and young people.
ACS2 was not just another summit. It was a laying of the foundation, a call to action, a collective step on the road to Belém. May the voices of children- as bright, resilient, and hopeful as the Adey Abeba flower- not only be heard but acted upon.
Read their Call to Action