Session 5
Reasons to be Hopeful
Session Overview
This two hour session will feature short presentations and small group discussions about multiple projects from across the world that are already concluded and/or achieving great things.
Come along to share, exchange, be inspired and celebrate one another.
Session Hosts
Marisa Gonzales Nordstrom
Marisa worked as a facilitator in the field of conflict transformation and equity, inclusion, and diversity while also leading a youth empowerment program for environmental educators. She has been an environmental educator in the Marin Headlands National Park for 15 years and a bilingual performer.
Himali Dave
Himali is a firm believer in the power of MEL to serve as a community, capacity and movement building tool. She has worked with grassroots organisations across Asia, Africa and Latin America to design, evaluate and develop more impactful strategies across child protection, youth rights and community development programmes over the past 8 years.
Session Speakers
Margaret Impraim – YCC (Youth Climate Council)
The wins of the Ghanaian youth as a unified movement – the case of the Youth Climate Council Ghana
Margaret has been working on Climate Justice and Just transition within the youth climate movement in sub-Saharan Africa for the past three years. Operating at a very grassroots level and providing voluntary support to multiple youth-led initiatives, she has accumulated practical experiences to the biases faced by youth due to climate vulnerability. Currently, she works as the Capacity Building and Education Officer in the Youth Climate Council Ghana where she is contributing to the meaningful inclusion of the youth in national and international climate decision-making processes.
Lina Salas and Daniela Castilla – Movilizatorio: Put the pedal to the metal (Colombia)
Cycling agenda for green cities: from co-creation to advocacy
Lina is a journalist with studies in Urban Management and Development. Currently leader of strategy in Movilizatorio, focused mainly on the environmental line. Representative of the Métele Pedal initiative.
Daniela is a psychologist, focused on management of social and environmental projects. Representative of the Métele Pedal initiative as a bet for citizen articulation and environmental incidence with grassroots cycling organizations.
Andre Biazoti – Poli
Recycling organic wastes in the municipal agenda: how to build public policies from a bottom-up perspective
André is from São Paulo, Brasil, and an activist for agroecology and urban agriculture. He is an environmental manager with a masters in urban agriculture from the University of São Paulo (USP) and has been a municipal councilor at the Municipal Council for Sustainable Rural Development in São Paulo since 2016. He participates as a volunteer in grassroots urban agriculture initiatives providing support to community gardens and urban farmers in building capacity for advocacy and participation in public policies. He is a member at São Paulo ‘s Agroecological Network and a technical assistant at Instituto Pólis, coordinating the São Paulo Composta, Cultiva Campaign along with Elisabeth Grimberg, Victor Argentino and Clauber Leite.