As a 14-year-old hailing from Hub, Pakistan, I have always been sensitive to the impacts of human actions on environment. My passion to conserve the environment led me to actions such holding talks in my school and other schools in my area on the impact of our action on the environment. I also introduced “no plastic’ campaign and a policy in my school where the use of plastic declined considerably in my school.
It was in 2023 that I learnt about Policy Research Challenge (PRC) on climate adaptation, announced by UNICEF Pakistan. As a young activist, I applied and won the challenge. The research phase of the challenge culminated into a roundtable with the policy makers, where I learned the intricacies of climate change issue.
The journey didn’t end here but as the youngest participants of PRC, I was later selected through a competitive process for the regional youth advocacy champion (YAG) training to be held in Nepal. Furthermore, I also got an opportunity to attend UNICEF South Asia's Regional Climate Advocacy Workshop which happened at the adjacent time. Both these two engagements were pivotal moments in my changemaking journey. It empowered me to be a dedicated advocate for climate action and youth empowerment. This comprehensive training equipped me with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to advocate for climate action and youth empowerment.
The YAG training and the climate advocacy workshop helped me understand the linkage between climate change, human rights, and young people's empowerment. They made me realize the importance of informed advocacy and how important it was to raise voices and ensure inclusion of the marginalized youth in the decision-making processes. I felt empowered to act for climate change and advocate for youth people's rights within my community.
After the training, I implemented youth advocacy trainings in my community, reaching 40 young people through climate activism and youth empowerment. These young people have now become my allies in pushing for climate action, and together we have managed to gather more support for this important cause. At present, 25 of them are employed by me in an organization we established, working towards building a sustainable future.
YAG became a pathway for me to tap into other opportunities which helped me not only learn but, as an adolescent hailing from a remote area and affected by the impacts of climate change, I was able to share my story and struggle of my peers. Climate workshop in Nepal, COP29 in Baku, and the Breath Pak Conference in Islamabad gave me opportunities to interact with global leaders and activists.
Later due to my advocacy and being an active voice on the issue, I was awarded the prestigious title of “UNICEF’s youth advocacy for climate Action”. As a young advocate for climate action, I am dedicated to carrying this endeavor forward, mentoring and empowering younger generations to turn into agents of change.
In the future, I envision increasing our organization's presence in more communities and schools, ongoing mentoring and empowerment of the youth that I trained, and leveraging my networks and information to inform policy decisions that promote climate action and youth empowerment. My goal is to work together with other climate activists and organizations to scale up our impact and establish a sustainable future for future generations.
My experience with the YAG has been a life-changing one and the networks I built, the titles I won and the learning I gained has enabled me to become a fierce defender of climate action and youth empowerment. By sharing this story I hope to encourage others to act as we don't have time.
