Impact Makers: Michael Kakande

Mobilizing African voices for climate justice. By Climate Champions | November 6, 2024

NAME

Michael Kakande

TITLE

Founder & Chairperson, Resilient40

LOCATION

Kampala, Uganda

ABOUT

Michael Kakande is the founder and chairperson of Resilient40, a pan-African network dedicated to climate justice and mobilizing African youth and communities for climate action. Through various initiatives, including the African Citizen’s Climate Caravan, Michael has worked to ensure that the voices of African communities are heard in the global climate conversation. His work spans grassroots organizing, influencing policy at international forums like COP, and advocating for climate finance and energy transitions that prioritize African needs.

In 2022, Michael led the Continental Drumbeat Caravan to COP27, a massive mobilization effort that gathered over 1,000 organizations from 28 countries, including NGOs, farmers’ groups, influencers, and religious leaders, to advocate for climate justice and agroecological transformation. The Caravan amplified the voices of communities affected by climate change and successfully engaged African leaders in meaningful discussions around climate finance, energy, and food systems.

MOTIVATIONS

“Resilient40, founded in 2019, emerged in response to the lack of representation and the misrepresentation of African youth and their everyday realities in decision-making processes. Since its inception, the network has worked to enable active youth participation in decision-making, from grassroots levels to regional and international arenas. Given Africa’s position as one of the world’s youngest continents, there was a clear need for a youth network that could champion youth priorities and convey their perspectives to those in power.

Currently, Resilient40 serves as the youth cluster lead under the non-state actors steering committee, a platform promoting a pro-African agenda within key climate spaces across the continent. Launched at COP27 in Egypt, the network now operates 846 climate cafes across 38 African countries, facilitating active youth participation and inclusion in stakeholder engagements both within Africa and globally. Through its three pillars – Policy, Dialogue, and Action – Resilient40 aims to bridge the gap between policy-making and actionable steps across Africa, helping to build climate-resilient communities and ensuring that no one is left behind.”

IMPACT

Since the launch of Resilient40 and the Citizen’s Climate Caravan, significant impacts have been made:

• In 2022, the African Food & Climate Justice Caravan gathered over 1,000 organizations from 28 countries to push for agroecological transformation and climate justice. The 2023 Citizen’s Climate Caravan expanded this momentum, mobilizing thousands of Africans across 22 countries to advocate for an end to fossil fuels and a fair energy transition. The Caravan’s regional and international actions have sparked dialogue among African leaders, youth, and communities about the urgent need for equitable climate solutions.
• The Caravan helped elevate African voices at COP27 and COP28, engaging in bilateral discussions, side events, and strategic networking to influence global policy. At COP28, a side event at the Africa Pavilion organized in collaboration with UNECA brought Caravan leaders together with African Union officials to present key recommendations gathered during national caravans.
• The International Climate Justice Masterclass in Togo equipped African civil society youth leaders from 12 countries with advocacy tools ahead of COP28, ensuring that they could actively participate in international climate discussions. The Caravan movement has strengthened community-based resilience efforts at local, national, and regional scales.
• Building on these successes, Resilient40 and partners like Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement (JVE) are organizing the 2024 Africa Citizen’s Climate Caravan, under the theme “Catalyzing Adequate, Sustainable, and Fair Climate Finance for a Just Energy and Environmental Transition in Africa through Citizen’s Mobilization and Policy Influence”. This initiative is poised to be one of the largest citizen mobilizations ever, rallying Africans to demand equitable climate finance and sustainable energy solutions.

CHALLENGES

• One of the key challenges has been the lack of adequate funding to scale up the mobilization efforts. While the Caravan has been successful in bringing together diverse voices, the limited financial resources have restricted the ability to carry out more impactful activities across the continent.
• Due to resource shortages, not all youth representatives have been able to participate in high-level engagements and discussions at key climate events. Ensuring that the voices of all communities are captured and represented remains a challenge that the movement is actively working to address.

GOALS

“Africa, bearing the brunt of the climate crisis, faces immense challenges as communities struggle with inadequate support for adaptation and mitigation,” says Michael. “Through the African Climate Justice Caravans, Resilient40 aims to expose and condemn the failure to deliver fair climate finance. The debt crisis intensifies Africa’s vulnerability, creating hardships and enabling exploitation by profit-driven interests. Climate-induced migration, hunger, cultural loss from forced evictions for fossil projects, health impacts, biodiversity loss, and resource-driven conflicts are devastating already strained communities. For these reasons, the caravans have become crucial advocacy platforms.

“In the lead-up to COP30, we’re rallying an international climate justice caravan uniting young people from Africa, Europe, and South America,” he continues. “This coalition will amplify youth voices across continents, demanding urgent climate action from leaders who have long prioritized profit and geopolitical gain over justice. Through this movement, we aim to drive global change, pushing for an equitable system that values action and equity in response to the climate crisis.

“In our journey towards an equitable energy transition, Resilient40 is also launching the 600Million Campaign,” Michael explains, “highlighting Africa’s energy deficit, with 75% of the world’s population lacking electricity access here. With Africa’s population expected to grow from 1.4 billion to 2.5 billion by 2050, bridging this energy gap is critical for sustainable development and resilience across the continent.”

MICHAEL’S ADVICE

“As a leader, mobilizing communities inclusively, involving all key stakeholders and vulnerable groups, is challenging but always worth it when focused on a shared goal. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is to believe in the power of unity. Tapping into this collective strength can inspire our communities to take action and amplify their voices to those in power. Despite the obstacles, building confidence and fostering teamwork within close-knit teams is essential.

With mother earth as our common ground, you’ll find like-minded people ready to join this sometimes-lonely journey, to brainstorm and leverage tools like social media. Storytelling, in particular, has a powerful role in highlighting the impacts of climate change on communities across Africa and in advocating for climate finance as a path to climate justice. Through our mobilizations, we refuse to adapt to extinction; instead, we aim to build thriving, healthy, climate-conscious societies for generations to come.”

HOW YOU CAN HELP 

Michael Kakande’s work through Resilient40 and the African Citizen’s Climate Caravan is driving critical conversations around climate justice across Africa. Here’s how Michael says you can show support:

1. Support our caravans through funding and other in-kind donations as there’s more we need to do to build resilience and get to more climate struck communities
2. Support youth innovations, actions and solutions at the grassroots for scalability
3. Vote climate conscious leaders to power
4. Invite us to your policy lobbying rooms, meetings and workshops to bring these frontline voices to those policy lobbying and making processes for inclusivity
5. Support us to Plant a fruit tree(s) within our vulnerable frontline communities across Africa
6. Do something to create change and awareness on climate change within your family, friends, workplace and community. It starts and ends with you.

CONTACT

Website

Click here to sign African climate justice caravans’ 1 million signature petition.

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