WHO ARE WE?
In 2017, a partnership between the Biennial of the Americas and the Nature Conservancy launched the Youth Congress for Sustainable Americas (YCSA) as a means to connect young leaders working towards sustainable goals across the Americas, stimulating and fomenting Climate Action Initiatives.
Our mission is dedicated to uniting young leaders from all countries across the Americas, fostering collaboration and solidarity in our collective pursuit of sustainability. We come together as a diverse and inclusive community, transcending borders, to address the urgent climate crisis and promote a just and sustainable transition. This commitment to diversity extends to our executive committee and the recruitment of new members, ensuring that our organization reflects the rich tapestry of voices and perspectives within our region.
In envisioning a future for the Americas that is ecologically thriving, socially just, and economically equitable, the YCSA strives to become a catalyst for transformation. Our vision is grounded in collaboration, innovation, and respect for indigenous wisdom, aiming to inspire a paradigm shift towards sustainability within the next decade.
Today, the YCSA has more than 63 young environmental leaders from countries all over America (North, Central, and South) and the Caribbean, growing more resilient each day. The YCSA represents a broad-based citizenry composed of young leaders, community activists, and professionals committed to forging new forms of cooperation and leadership for a sustainable future.
As an organization, we directly impact SDGs 4, 9, 11, 13, and 17. Our delegates, along with our campaigns, meetings, scholarships, and programs, including the Youth Accelerator Grant (YAG), extend our influence to other SDGs. Together, we're driving positive change across multiple dimensions of sustainable development.
What do we do?
We develop and share ideas to restore environmental impacts.
We give seed funding to entrepreneurs or scholarships for professionals who want to continue their education.
We create opportunities and open spaces of inclusion and representation for youth and indigenous communities.
We contribute with ideas and solutions for a more resilient public and private sector.
We network with board members, governors, and sustainability professionals from different countries of the Americas and the Caribbean.
Here are some of our metrics:
Which are our programs?
Youth Accelerator Grant (YAG): Empowering delegates with seed capital to turn their sustainable ideas into impactful projects.
Scholarships: Providing opportunities for delegates to access education and training, fostering personal and professional growth.
Campaigns & events: Offering platforms for delegates to raise awareness, build networks, and advocate for important causes on a global scale.
Cities Summit Sponsorship: Facilitating participation in high-level discussions and exchanges, enabling delegates to contribute to urban sustainability solutions.
Leadership Training/Workshops: Equipping delegates with essential skills, knowledge, and tools to become effective leaders and change-makers in their communities and beyond.
YOUTH ACCELERATOR GRANT
In 2020, the Biennial of the Americas launched the Youth Accelerator Grant (YAG) to provide direct support to YCSA members, offering seed capital for sustainable programs. Through a rigorous competitive process, projects are submitted to our Sustainable Initiative Kickstarter and meticulously evaluated at the local level, focusing on their potential impact on the community.
Outstanding YCSA members receive small, project-based grants through an internal review process, empowering these sustainability leaders to make a tangible difference in communities across the Americas. Building on this momentum, in 2021, funding was allocated to support 3 delegate initiatives, and in 2022, an impressive 4 delegate initiatives with significant impact were successfully funded.
yag IMPACT REPORTS 2021 & 2022
EVENTS AND CAMPAIGNS
The YCSA has actively participated in joint campaigns with TNC, such as the 2019 campaign #elvalordelanaturaleza (https://www.caracoltvcorporativo.com/novedades/el-valor-de-la-naturaleza ), where delegates from 7 countries including Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, and Canada came together. Additionally, the YCSA has organized other events to foster dialogue, such as the Escazú Agreement, and to share experiences among different delegates. These engagements reflect our commitment to collaboration and the exchange of knowledge in our pursuit of a more sustainable future for the Americas.
Synergy between delegates
Through the process of connecting delegates, examples exist where delegates have embarked on transnational projects, such as the case of Sié Waka, a social enterprise between Mexico and Colombia. Sié Waka is based on a model of citizen co-creation of water quality sensor modules for monitoring and better community decision-making, with a focus on creating channels of accountability with the competent authority and the appropriation of water resources. This initiative demonstrates the synergy between delegates in creating new projects aimed at addressing pressing environmental and social challenges across borders. You can learn more about Sié Waka at www.siewaka.com.
Open Call for New Delegates
As young people of the Americas we believe in the unification of our hemisphere, regardless of artificial boundaries and past conflicts. We will thrive on the differences that have divided us, as a nation and people.
The Youth Congress for Sustainable Americas is a mechanism that creates consensus and direct action regarding these irrefutable facts. We seek to transform the Americas, into an example of collective action, in order to solve the present global emergency.
Together we will:
Create a network that becomes the muscle to drive change in our continent.
Connect initiatives and individuals across borders and within countries to accelerate work and change.
Share our expertise and knowledge to design radical and bold solutions.
Use the available science and knowledge to avoid paralysis by analysis.
Visibilize, amplify, replicate and scale up valuable initiatives with transformational potential.
Encourage one another to experiment, support both success and failures, as we take on these unimaginably ambitious transformations.
Undertake collective action with impact across the Americas to engage our fellow citizens.
We might disagree on specific tactics, but we will remain unified in our purpose to build a society that more justly conducts the magnificent ecology we have inherited. We will shape the present as our future legacy.
The power of our community is key in order to reach our goals. We will continue to invite young professionals to be part of the YCSA as a way of understanding their work and guiding them to the right committee in charge of evaluating their proposal.
Join us.
YCSA OVER THE YEARS
Current & Past supporters
