In 2023, “UNICEF Youth Foresight Fellow” Mamadou Doucouré brought together 20 young Malians in Mopti to imagine their future in the context of climate change. The workshop demonstrated the importance of futures-oriented “capacity building” for coping with climate-related uncertainties and emotions. It resulted in images of the future in which climate change and extreme climate events further exacerbates challenges for education, health (particularly that of girls) and child development.
Climate Futures in Mali
Country(ies)
Mali
Organisation(s)
Mamadou Doucouré, UNICEF Innocenti, UNICEF Mali
Year(s)
2023
Climate Futures in Mali: Is the night for learning?
A doctoral student in Biotechnology, Mamadou Doucouré was selected by UNICEF Innocenti as one of the 2023 “Youth Foresight Fellows”. After several weeks of training with foresight tools and methods, he ran a series of foresight workshops in Mopti, a city in the center of Doucouré’s home country, Mali. The topic: “How do Malian adolescents and young adults see the future of climate change?”
Photos courtesy of Mamadou Doucouré
How
With the help of UNICEF’s country office in Mali, Mamadou brought together a group of some 20 participants. Some were already “UNICEF U-Reporters”, with a keen eye on their country’s ecological and social challenges. Other participants came from or through local youth groups.
The group met three times. Half the time was dedicated to “capacity building”, equipping the participants with foresight tools and methods and applying them to the issue at hand: horizon scanning, the Futures Triangle, Images of the Future (scenarios) and the Futures Wheel (to develop systems thinking)…
Photos courtesy of Mamadou Doucouré
Photos courtesy of Mamadou Doucouré
Photos courtesy of Mamadou Doucouré
The second half was dedicated to exploring the futures of climate change in Mali by 2050 while looking at the intersections with education, migration, security, and child rights.
The U-Reporters were already aware of and working on climate change. However, the capacity building phase made a big difference. It reduced the gap between the U-Reporters and other participants, and made those who already held strong opinions on the topic more open to discussion. It allowed participants to connect systemic factors and global futures to their personal futures.
What
UNICEF Innocenti – Youth Foresight Research
One of the most striking insights coming from the group was that education would happen in ‘night mode’: “With some schools already closing earlier in the day so children can seek relief from the heat, a future in which night mode learning is the norm is becoming more and more likely”, writes Mamadou. “This could have consequences not only for children’s and young people’s right to education [the scenario foresees lower grades for boys and girls alike] but also for their right to play. The Convention on the Rights of the Child emphasizes that ‘every child has the right to rest, relax, play and to take part in cultural and creative activities.’ But when would children have the time to enjoy such things? Most will be unable to rest and play during the day as they seek to avoid the heat that continues to grow unbearable.” Night mode also means new security issues for children, especially girls.
Another issue arose from the workshops: “Heat stress has been found to result in irregular periods and heavier bleeding. As such, youth explained that while it is already difficult for many girls to attend school when they are menstruating – receiving little to no support since menstruation is still a taboo subject in many communities – they will struggle even more with increasingly hotter days.”
The participants concluded by advocating for more climate-relevant education, educational buildings better adapted to heat (including cooling), and support to menstrual health.
Wow!
Again, part of the panel was heavily biased towards conscious, engaged youths. However, two opposite sets of emotions could be felt within the group. Some were feeling the weight of eco-anxiety, while others felt the opposite: particularly “youth agro-entrepreneurs”, who felt that technology (in the form of off-grid renewable energy sources or cheap pumps) would help even faraway villages fill basic needs such as access to water and irrigation.
Photos courtesy of Mamadou Doucouré