by Amanullah Porag, South Asia Mobilisations Coordinator, 350.org
Imagine a bunch of young people from all over the country, each of them having a different perspective to one common issue, to one common crisis. Each of them is equipped with different skill sets and solutions to that crisis.
Now imagine this bunch at a common platform, at a common place where they are sharing their perspectives, sharing their solutions, and more importantly, working together to craft a common solution. That is the Green New Deal Camp 2024 for you.
Hosted by Seecto Bangladesh and Green New Deal Hub Kushtia, supported by 350.org Bangladesh and the Global Green Grants Fund, The Green New deal brought a whole new dimension to the solution based climate activism in Bangladesh through 3 days of workshops, peer to peer learning and practicing collaboration from 15th July to 18th July at Sreemangal.
With 16 extraordinary and highly potential youth from 16 different parts of Bangladesh and each part facing its own crisis related to climate change, the camp focused on aspects never given any attention before. The camp had representatives from the indigenous community, coastal community, the char community, rural lands, Urban community and other major communities of the country.
From thematic learning to practical learnings, the GND Camp 2024 had it all. Throughout the 3 days of exciting sessions, activities and planning a way forward, the GND Camp covered thematic topics such as Green New Deal, Bangladesh’s Energy Economics, NDCs, Just transition, Risk Analysis etc. The Camp also covered practical topics such as Stakeholder Analysis, Understanding Power Dynamics, Fundraising, Digital Organising and basic Media training.
From thematic learning to practical learnings, the GND Camp 2024 had it all. Throughout the 3 days of exciting sessions, activities and planning a way forward, the GND Camp covered thematic topics such as Green New Deal, Bangladesh’s Energy Economics, NDCs, Just transition, Risk Analysis etc.
The Camp also covered practical topics such as Stakeholder Analysis, Understanding Power Dynamics, Fundraising, Digital Organising and basic Media training.
The participants also did a field visit at a local tea estate to understand the power dynamics in the tea worker community and also the challenges faced by workers regarding climate change. But it wasn’t just all work and no fun. The Camp also had several fun activities such as a movie night, a cultural night, meditation in the mornings, roleplay group activities etc.
The camp ended with two positive notes,a call to action and a roadmap of a collective future for the Green New Deal movement in Bangladesh.
The call to action included an urgent demand of scaling up the Green New Deal movement throughout the country and pushing local authority and the national government to adopt a Green New Deal for Bangladesh and also include Green New Deal in Bangladesh’s NDC 3.0 .
The collective roadmap includes working together, complementing and amplifying each other’s works towards climate justice.
After closely observing the entire camp from planning to execution, I must say I feel really inspired and radically positive. The Green New Deal Camp has given me hope that no matter how much of a crisis we are in, no matter how many challenges we face on a daily basis, we will rise above everything, together, stronger.
