1 April 2021
The research team have produced a new briefing paper, published by the British Academy as part of the lead up to the COP26 meeting in November 2021. In this paper we explore young people’s vulnerabilities to climate change, knowledge gaps, and youth responses. We conclude with some brief policy recommendations. See: Barford, A., Proefke, R., Mugeere, A., Stocking, B. 2021. COP26 Briefing on Young People and Climate Change. https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/projects/knowledge-frontiers-cop26-briefings/
30 March 2021
Dr. Barford gives an online lecture to students at Howard Community College, USA, sharing insights from this project. The talk is entitled ‘Climate change and the role of young people’.
25 March 2021
Benard Isiko and Rachel Proefke discussed our research today on Smart FM radio. The Jinja-based radio station reaches 55 districts in Uganda. They discussed climate change, and how climate change has impacted the lives of young people in the Busoga sub-region, as well as more broadly in Uganda and around the world. They also discussed what is being done in Uganda to mitigate climate change, what is being done elsewhere, and of course, what more needs to be done.
19 March 2021
The School of Technology, University of Cambridge, have awarded seed funding to produce a report from our workshop on 12-14 July 2021. The report will lay the groundwork for future research, supporting collaborations and identifying new directions for research.
16 March 2021
Team members Rachel Proefke and Anna Barford, alongside Rachel Coombe, had a new article published today on youth livelihoods. The paper makes the following points:
- Insufficient decent work for young people in lower income countries is a pressing global challenge.
- Unemployed young people tend to make positive social contributions.
- While young people’s aspirations for work are tailored to their context they are nevertheless ambitious.
- The persistent lack of demand for young people’s labour needs to be tackled.
- Overall, young people tend to contribute to their communities despite limited chances of finding decent work.
See: Barford, A.; Coombe, R.; Proefke, R.. 2021. Against the odds: Young people’s high aspirations and societal contributions amid a decent work shortage. Geoforum, 121, 162-172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.02.011
6 March 2021
Based on her role in this research project, Anna Barford was added to the COP26 Consortium of Universities’ Directory of Experts.
5 March 2021
Restless Development submitted an application to run a side event at the COP26 in November, to present findings from our research in Uganda.
1 March 2021
Today we warmly welcome Mollen Nyiraneza, who is joining our project as a Research Assistant. Mollen is working closely with Anthony Mugeere, and will be based at Makerere University.
15 February 2021
Rebecca Doggwilerhas joined the research team, working as the Research Administrator, based at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. Welcome Becca!
10 February 2021
Dr. Barford contributed a keynote talk to the Cambridge Zero Research Symposia 2021 on Health and Society. The talk was entitled: ‘Peak youth, climate change, and the role of young people in adapting their futures’ at the Cambridge Zero Research Symposia 2021. The recording of the symposia is available here: https://www.zero.cam.ac.uk/cambridge-zero-research-symposia-2021
8 February 2021
We are delighted that Charles Mankhwazi has joined the research team as the Research Manager, based at Restless Development.
10 December 2020
Restless Development hosts a session of the Uganda Youth National Working Group, focused on our research topic, under the title: What’s in Store for Our Future? The Impact of Climate Change on Youth Work and Aspirations. See: http://bit.ly/384GY4D
5 November 2020
Anna Barford has published a related article about discourses which challenge international inequality: Barford, A., 2020. Challenging inequality in Kenya, Mexico and the UK. Third World Quarterly, p.1-20. doi:10.1080/01436597.2020.1826299.
24 June 2020
Youth livelihoods and climate change presentation by Anthony Mugeere, Rachel Proefke, and Anna Barford, at the Cambridge Youth Symposium, Decent Work and Youth Livelihoods group https://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/decentwork/, University of Cambridge.
28 May 2020
Members of the research team have just published a new article about youth livelihoods: Barford, A., Coombe, R. and Proefke, R., 2020. Youth experiences of the decent work deficit. Geography, 105, 60-68. https://restlessdevelopment.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/GEOGRAPHY_vol105_part2_BARFORD-ET-AL.pdf
15 April 2020
We are delighted to have been awarded this British Academy grant. Since our project start date of 20 March, 2020 we have been putting in place our contractual arrangements, running initial meetings, and discussing how we will work around the challenges thrown up by the COVID19 pandemic. With Uganda and the UK in lockdown, we have all been grateful to nevertheless push ahead with the early stages of the project and stay in good contact with one another as some members of the wider team meet each other for the first time.
