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Climate x Health
public engagement
leadership program

Supporting global changemakers to bridge the gap between health and climate change.

Congratulations Changemakers!

A heartfelt congratulations to the 2022-2023 cohort of Climate and Health Global Changemakers for successfully completing the inaugural Climate and Health Public Engagement Leadership Program 

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About

About the program

This was a leadership program designed for Changemakers who recognise that the climate crisis is a health crisis

The impacts of climate change have a vast array of ramifications for human health. These effects are felt unequally in different parts of the world, with economically vulnerable regions in low and middle-income countries being more likely to be severely affected.

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Over the past year, the public engagement leadership program has empowered Changemakers who recognise that the climate crisis is a health crisis and are working to avert catastrophic climate breakdown in a way that allows human health to flourish. The program was designed and intended to bridge the gap between the two sectors and build momentum toward a healthier world through systemic solutions. 

 

The program offered tools to expand the Changemaker's understanding of the climate and health intersection and effectively increase the impact of their solutions through systemic pathways. The curriculum challenged Changemakers to design the endgame of their work and understand the needs that public engagement could fill, such as effectively reaching the vulnerable and most impacted by climate change within their communities and building a movement to initiate and sustain change.

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PE Transformation program

leadership

climate
change & health

The Climate x Health Changemakers

The Changemakers are individuals working to mitigate or adapt to the health effects of climate change in their communities

Out of 72 applicants, a total of 18 Changemakers were selected to join the two inaugural program cohorts based on various diversity lenses to represent a global South Climate x Health narrative. 

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The Changemakers in the program come from various professional backgrounds with multiple years of experience working within various intersections of climate change and health. They work on a wide range of issues and engage in research as well as advocacy initiatives around the health impacts of poor air quality, improved food, and water security for better health outcomes, education on the health consequences of extreme weather events, and reducing the spread of infectious diseases due to climate change, among many other topic areas.

 

Through the program, these Changemakers have expanded their understanding and application of leadership and identified the next steps for leveraging the solutions that have already demonstrated significant promise.

“I used to think that leadership was about guiding people and telling them what to do, but now, I think about a leadership role as one that inspires people to do their best work.”

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As part of my reflection, I want to use my role as a Changemaker to bring together health and climate activists in my network and elevate the voices of the community in the climate and health conversations.”

Meet The 2022-2023 Changemaker Cohort

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Our diverse cohort of Changemakers come from:

15

Nationalities

From across Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean

07

Professions

Who are multidesciplinary researchers, intrapreneurs , advocates, academics, policymakers, educators, and entrepreneurs

The Program Learning Journey

A program journey designed to deepen an understanding of the Climate x Health landscape

The program empowered each Changemaker to advance in their public engagement journey by simultaneously following two parallel yet complementary paths: the core program journey and one’s individual path. This approach enabled the Changemakers to cultivate their leadership style and enhance their public engagement in their communities by establishing a common vocabulary, applying adaptive leadership and systems thinking, and testing public engagement strategies.

 

Change-makers were able to connect the learnings from the core program journey to their own individual journey through 1:1 coaching, facilitated and peer connection sessions.

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Catalysing

Change

Catalysing change is to grow the movement of public engagement at the intersection of climate change and health

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Building
PE Toolkit

Building a toolkit to enable diverse, inclusive and equitable public engagement in their work

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Establishing

Readiness

Establishing readiness by situating the PE transformation journey at the intersection of climate change and health

The program curriculum included 5 distinct topics that collectively fulfilled the program objectives:

Climate Change, Health and Public Engagement topics

1. Intersectionality of Climate Change and Health

Understanding how climate change influences health outcomes and why it might be necessary for climate and health practitioners to find opportunities for collaboration

2. Systems Thinking for Mobilising Stakeholders Towards Climate Mitigation and Adaptation

Learning about stakeholders' values in their ecosystem and manage their losses to mobilise them towards climate action

3. Public Engagement Driven Scale of Impact

Grounding public engagement in growing the impact of work and developing PE toolkit of mechanisms such as advocacy, storytelling, etc.

Leadership topics

4. Adaptive Leadership for Effective Change Management

Learning how to moilise oeople to tackle tough challenges to sustain the movement

5. Equity and Inclusion in Contextualising Climate Interventions

Diagnosing power dynamics and their influence on the inequirtable impact on communities and bring a lens of equity and inclusion into action

The program curriculum was designed and facilitated by a diverse group of cross-industry experts who were brought in to mentor and guide the Changemakers

Changemakers were strategically paired with coaches aligning with their needs, sectoral experience, and program vision. The program established flexible coaching guidelines, prioritizing changemaker-driven support for their evolving transformation. Optional responsive hours provided additional assistance, connecting changemakers with experts and mentors from both the coaching team and the extensive Dalberg network, ensuring access to specialized advice beyond their designated coaches.

An End-of-Program Convening

We celebrated the end of the program by organizing an in-person convening of Changemakers in Nairobi, Kenya

November 2023 marked the close of the PEL program. To celebrate, the Changemakers, Dalberg, Wellcome Trust representatives, and expert guests gathered in Nairobi for a program of interactive sessions that aimed to increase the actionability of learnings and deepen insights on key climate and health topics. This was also an opportunity for the changemakers and program team to connect in person for the first time, creating a safe space for the Changemakers to share, bond and jointly envision a way forward to sustain their journey as a community of Climate and Health pioneers.

Each day of the Convening created space for collaboration, growth and bonding by anchoring the agenda on 3 thematic areas

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Peer Collaboration​

A series of interconnected sessions guided small groups in developing a shared concept/initiative and applying program topics to bolster the foundation for future collaboration.

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Individual Growth

Standalone sessions that allowed Changemakers to strengthen their work, such as applying program learnings, reflecting on their leadership, and deepening their understanding of their unique contexts.

Strengthening Relationships

Structured and informal spaces were designed to foster team bonding to lay the groundwork for lasting connections and future collaborations.

Watch the highlights from the convening

Growing The Network In 2024

Taking forward the learnings from the program and the Convening, we are co-creating an online network to facilitate ongoing collaborations and practice building among Changemakers.

The Convening played a pivotal role in strengthening the connections among Changemakers. To maintain and grow their growing networks, an online network will be developed to provide key resources and spaces to facilitate ongoing engagement across regions and disciplines and thereby lead to the creation of an enduring community of practice.

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A digital platform has the potential to unite Changemakers and various stakeholders to accelerate immediate actions at the intersection of climate and health. A one-year pilot prototype, co-created with the alumni network, is set to be launched in early 2024, with the goal of magnifying Changemaker impact within the larger ecosystem and expanding on the other initiatives of the Wellcome Trust.

Contact

If you would like to learn more about the program or partner with us in our journey to bridge the gap between the Climate and Health sectors, please reach out to us.

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Email us at:
ravi.chhatpar@dalberg.com
laura.amaya@dalberg.com

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