Youth Environment Assembly UNEA 2022

Eligibilities

In order to be eligible:

• The applicant must be under the age of 35 at the time of application
• If selected,

• And above the age of 18, the applicant must be available to travel and stay from 18th February – 5th March 2022
• And is below the age of 18, the applicant + one chaperone of the applicant must be  available to travel and stay from 18th February – 5th March 2022

• Be fully vaccinated through WHO-approved vaccines until 30th January 2022, as per the requirements for access to the UN compound in Kenya and entry to Kenya. This means:

• both doses of vaccines administered before 30th January 2022 for Pfizer / Moderna / Sinopharm / Sinovac / AstraZeneca / Covishield / Novavax / Covaxin
• OR one dose of vaccine administered before 30th January 2022 for Janssen (Johnson & Johnson)

Please note that the current COVID-19 situation means that entry requirements may be subject to change at short notice. The applicant should also confirm that they meet vaccination requirements for any transit required during their travel and return from Nairobi. A further COVID 19 protocol guide will be made available to all selected delegates.

Finally, they understand that vaccine requirements for minors (those the age of 18) may vary, and we will take that into account as appropriate.

Note regarding Yellow Fever vaccination

It is mandatory by Kenyan authorities to provide a yellow fever vaccination certificate for travelers older than 1 year or who stay more than 12 hours in the country. It is recommended that delegates selected for funding get yellow fever vaccination 10 days before commencing the trip. However, it is also possible to get the yellow fever vaccine upon arrival at the Nairobi airport for the cost of Kenyan Shilling (KSH) 3500. Costs for yellow fever vaccination will be reimbursed as well.

Selection Criteria

This segment of the document outlines certain proposed criteria for selecting the youth funded for participation in the YEA and UNEA Sessions in 2021.

They wish to invite youth globally to apply for the indicated funding. They welcome and value the contributions that individuals who identify as members of marginalized communities bring to the environmental movement, and encourage Indigenous people, people of colour, women, people identifying as LGBTQI, members of ethnic minorities, immigrants, young environmental/human rights defenders, and people with disabilities to apply. They recognize that this list is neither exhaustive nor representative of the intersectionality present within each individual.

The selection process conducted would be guided by the processes and procedures of the CY Major Group, especially the constituency selection guidelines. For carrying out the selection process and selecting the youths, the following criteria are proposed:

1. Age: As per the information conveyed by UNEP, currently the minimum age to be accredited to attend UNEA sessions without a chaperone is 18. For those participating under 18, they would need to be accompanied with a chaperone in case they are selected for funded participation. For the upper age limit, the selection team will consider participants who are under 35 years of age on the last day of the conference. Only the people within the indicated age-bracket (i.e. under the age of 35) shall be considered.
2. Gender: One of the primary goals of these funded spots would be to maintain a gender balance among the recipients, with a view of enhancing female participation (in line with the principles of the CY Major Group). This criterion will be used for the overall picture of the funded spots, meaning that a minimum of 50 percent of the funded spots are allocated to women or non-binary.
3. Country/land of origin / geographic balance: The selection committee will work to ensure that equitable geographical balance is maintained across all UN regions, with special focus to enhance the participation of youths from the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and the global south, in line with the constituency selection guidelines.
4. Applicant’s background story/work and its relation to environmental processes: Applicants would be asked to share about their work in past related to environmental and related domains including, but not limited to: their individual/group/organisational projects, their experiences, their work in local, national or regional movements, and any other kind of work and how the work relates to the themes of UNEA and YEA. Again, this list of work described is not exhaustive, but just a general idea. Applicants should also list/describe any previous scholarships or other funded participation opportunities they have received such as to other UN conferences, or related scholarships. (this will not be used as an exclusion criteria but is intended to have a broader overview of their work).
5. Applicant’s reasons (Motivation / Statement of Purpose) for coming to Nairobi: The applicants would be asked to describe: what their motivation is for coming to Nairobi for participation at UNEA and YEA, why they are willing to come, what role they envision for themselves and what perspectives they would bring in.
6. Previous experiences with UNEP/UN processes and youth constituency or plans for engagement in the same: An equitable balance would be maintained to select young people that have previous experiences with the process of UNEP and UN system at large and youth constituency (Children and Youth Major Group of UNEP) and to also cater for young people who are motivated about tackling environmental challenges (and are doing actions, as outlined in criteria number 4) – but are unable to reach the UN processes and make their voices heard – to be empowered (through finance and capacity building) to participate in YEA and UNEA. Applicants would be invited to share their previous experiences or plans for engagement in the same.
7. Plans post UNEA and YEA: While the participation in Nairobi is intended to be one of the milestones towards inclusion of youth voices in the multilateral system, the continuity of engagement is also important. Applicants would be asked to describe how they envision sharing the knowledge and experiences gained through their participation once back to their home country – such as any new activities that they would initiate or any follow-up work they can envision themselves doing; this can also include follow-up activities within  the youth constituency.

Selection Team

An initial selection team of 9 youth have been constituted from the Steering Committee and membership of the Children and Youth Major Group, including representatives from the Stockholm+50 Youth Task Force.  To join the selection team, you should not be an applicant to the funded spots and must be under 35 years of age. Please fill your details in the expression of interest form here to join the selection team. Due to the high amount of application expected, the selection team will entail at least 13 people (and more are welcome).