Strengthening Urban Youth Climate and Resilience Programming in South Asia
Implemented by MRC in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Italian Red Cross, this project was part of a broader regional initiative to strengthen urban youth climate and resilience programming across South Asia.
Project Impact
As climate change intensifies disaster risks in the Maldives, it focused on youth-led initiatives to tackle the country's most pressing climate challenges. MRC supported young people to lead practical climate action, from adaptation training and ecosystem restoration to public awareness on extreme heat, equipping a new generation of changemakers to protect their own communities.
3350
People Reached
3
Target Islands - Kulhudhuffushi, Male' and Addu City
52
Youth Trained in IFRC's Y-Adapt Training
2200
People reached through outreach & advocacy on Heat & Climate Action
400
School Students Reached using Y-Adapt
What the project carried out
The project put young people at the centre of climate action, equipping them with the skills and tools to lead, while reaching their communities through outreach and awareness on climate adaptation and the growing risks of extreme heat. Its main areas of work are set out below.
Y-Adapt training
Through the Y-Adapt programme, a game-based curriculum of interactive modules, MRC engaged young people in climate literacy, disaster preparedness, and local adaptation planning, equipping them to design and lead climate resilience initiatives of their own. Across three trainings, 52 young changemakers took part. MRC also contributed to the regional Y-Adapt training, which brought young people from across South Asia together to adapt the approach to both rural and urban settings and to plan how to take it back to their own countries.
Publication of Educational Book for Children
MRC published "The Girl Who Grew a Beach," a children's storybook designed to inspire climate action and a sense of environmental stewardship in young readers. Through reading sessions and donations to schools and community libraries, the book reached children across the country, and was showcased by the IFRC at the International Youth Conference in Seoul as an innovative way to engage young audiences on climate.
Heat action awareness
MRC developed a series of knowledge products on its health impacts and how to guard against them. To carry the message further, bucket hats with key heat-safety messaging were produced and shared, a practical, everyday way to help people stay safe in the heat.
Youth-led adaptation in action
Beyond training, young people put their skills to work, restoring coastal vegetation to reduce flooding and erosion and creating knowledge products to advocate for climate resilience and adaptation, turning learning into visible local action.
Across training, storytelling, awareness, and hands-on action, this project placed climate adaptation in the hands of those who will live with its outcomes the longest. By equipping young changemakers to understand the risks and act on them, MRC is helping build a Maldives that adapts together, led by a generation ready to take it on.
