GCSAYN Road to ACS2

Global Climate-Smart Agriculture Youth Network (GCSAYN) in partnership with IAAS Africa,
GCSAYN Centers of Excellence, and ACS2 Youth Engagement Taskforce
for The Second African Climate Summit (ACS2) Africa Climate Summit 2025 | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Theme: GCSAYN ROAD to ACS2 (GCSAYNROAD2ACS2)

Background:
The inaugural Africa Climate Summit (ACS1) held in September 2023 resulted in the Nairobi Declaration, a powerful commitment from African leaders to act on climate, with specific targets on finance, adaptation, and green growth. However, youth engagement was only mentioned under inclusivity, not as a central mechanism for implementation. Ahead of the second Africa climate summit (ACS2) in Addis Ababa (8th-10th September, 2025), there is an opportunity to reposition youth as co-deliverers of these commitments. GCSAYN has launched the Road2ACS2, a youth-driven initiative to mobilize, coordinate, and influence ACS2 from the grassroots to the high table. Also, GCSAYN will send a delegation following two Centers of Excellence (CoE) based in Ethiopia to join effort in-person while the entire team will engage virtually prior to September 2025.

The government of FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA has congratulated GCSAYN for putting in great efforts put in to ensuring the ACS2 mainstreams youth, women, PWD, Refugees and Indigenous people. They have given us the full right to move forward with our plan attached within the approved concept note.