The Whole of 2022 COY17 Experience (Part 2): Applying & Attending the Conference!

COP27 and COY17 series is back, and today, we are gonna summarize all that happened during COY17, and build a clear picture and inspiration for all of us, especially our brothers and sisters who really couldn’t make it to Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt where everything happened! We already explored what COY17 and COP27 are, didn’t we? Well, the link of the article is down below:

READ: What is COY17? What is COP27?

Conference of the Youth number 17 (or COY17) took place in Egypt in a city called Sharm El-Sheikh. The conference was organized and led by YOUNGO, the official Youth Constituency at UNFCCC. Thousands of youth attended the conferences from all corners of the world, and topics and sessions at the conference covered almost everything and delivered on the four themes of YOUNGO!

NB: Do you wanna share your COY17 experience? Do so here, it’s easy & brief!

However, so many of our fellow youth didn’t make it to the conference due to lack of funding support for their flights, accomodation, food, and everything else! These are some of the serious challenges that youth leaders need to address in the coming youth conferences. At the same time, I think I have a better and result-based approach to address these issues. I cover these and more at https://miklahlife.com/sacrepreneur during our sustainable entrepreneurship trainings!

Additonally, I hope my writings will be of help and inspiration to us all, especially those who couldn’t make it, and re-kindle a spirit of resilience!

How it begins: Applying for COY17!

Truly, my coming to COY17 and participating in COP27 was a miracle! Why? Because, just like most youth, I didn’t know about both events. I was specifically green about how to get involved! Isn’t it interesting? Here is the surprising part of my ignorance:

While I have been teaching sustainability for the last 5 years, helping hundreds of youth learn about SDGs, start SDGs-oriented businesses, and incorporate sustainability in business models of existing startups, and a trained environment leader through 10 billion strong and ISO environment standard certifications, I practically didn’t know how to get into COY17 or COP27! Hallelujah!

Additionally, I have known about existence of COP, Paris agreement, famous climate activists like Leah Namugerwa, Vanessa Nakate, and Greta Thunberg for some good years. And yet it never occured to me that COP conferences were very important, and neither did I know there existed ways to really participate. It is possible I was lethargic. But it could as well be a serious and deeper systematic issue, whereby youth who are already participating in these opportunities have closed themselves in a certain room, and don’t wanna open up to their fellow youth.

Of course, nobody should be blamed for closing the room; in the end, it is our own responsibility to identify and grab opportunities even when they intend to bypass us! But this argument only holds if indeed we are all at the same level, all naturally gifted to put up the fight. Otherwise, supporting others who aren’t able to aggressively grab opportunities is at times a real responsibility, one we can’t just shrug off!

Additionally, while activists (not necessarily the ones mentioned above) may be famous, it may be possible that they actually have no structural processes and addresses that they can easily extend to others, even though, given their closed loops, they are able to know when these events are happening and how exactly to get into them. Yeah, where systems are weak, success is personal, based on who knows who! We will come back to these issues! Importantly, now that I am here, I will be part of the solution.

For now, how did I really apply and get in?

Again, I really don’t know! I am kidding! Well, a year ago, we at Miklah decided to start a special funding program for our sustainable entrepreneurs, Miklah Funding Strategy. Under this program, we simply identify any funding opportunities for sustainable businesses, organize them and share among our entrepreneurs, and then practically train & guide them on applications. Under this program, the general belief is ‘apply for anything that looks good for you businesses and it has come your way’.

So, one day, in one of the many WhatsApp groups that I am in, I came across a link that asked for applications to attend COY17 in Egypt and, being a climate and environment enthusiast, I applied! After sending in my application, I forgot about it, didn’t ever think about it! I forgot that I even applied.

Fortunately, one day like this, I got an email from official organizers of COY17; I had been accepted on partial funding, implying my accomodation would be provided for if I managed to fund my visa and air ticket! Wow! CONGRATULATIONS!

The struggle to attend COY17: Visa, Air Ticket, all things!

Now, I got more interested. But still, the most exciting thing was going to Egypt, not the real sessions, for I trusted that my local work mattered more! Of course, connections mattered too.

Anyway, luckily enough, there had been a consistent WhatsApp invitation regarding some sort of conference of young people for climate in Uganda. It seems it was a week or month of the rush for the climate conference, and related proceedings and opportunities were overflowing from the closed loop of climate activists into the public! I was specifically lucky to land on such WhatsApp postings!

Personally, I rarely get interested in some sorts of ‘climate activism’. However, when I heard that this was a conference, and not a protest, I vowed to attend! Besides, having been invited to ‘visit Egypt on partial funding’ inspired me to go wherever I could link up with other climate-oriented youth and together pursue ways of funding ourselves for COY17!

In other words, my major goal of attending LCOY 2022 (Local Conference of the Youth) wasn’t about anything else, but connecting with others, and learning how to really make it to Egypt! Indeed, during the conference, I approached some guys that we had earlier met in many of SDGs-related confernces at the Office of Prime Minister, and asked them about the possibilities of getting funded for COY17.

The gentleman I approached, Brian Kakembo (more about him here), guided me to find the YOUNGO focal person for Uganda for 2022, Richard Erasto Kakembo, and inspire, encourage, and push him to organize us and support us in lobbying for support from government, embassies, and ministries. Brian gave me the phone contact of Richard. I called Richard, told him about my meeting with Brian so as to establish connection, lamented about the super-exciting opportunity of going to Egypt, and even suggested the possible ideas I had regarding securing support.

I then only asked for his official endorsement and support of such developments so that many of us could make it! Richard already knew it all; he simply tasked me to group up all those who are in need of this support, which I did in just minutes. Richard then instantly drove from wherever he was, and came to meet us, exactly at LCOY that evening!

From our first meeting that evening, I started feeling my dream of attending COY17 becoming closer and closer. While the next days of our struggle were characterized by disagreements, leadership crashes, anger, and usual team dynamics, we achieved a lot together.

For example, using his office as Youth leader in the Anglican Church Office and indeed as YOUNGO focal person, Richard single-handedly took us to the Ministry of Water and Environment and initiated a process for us to get accredited for COP27, something even bigger than all we had hoped for!

With Uganda Government‘s UNFCCC accreditation, about 5 of us were able to secure EGYPT visas in time and at no cost! Additionally, and importantly, we were now COP27 delegates, something beautiful and more powerful than just COY17!

Importantly, while COY17 leaders had sent us a Visa Support Letter, embassies trashed it! It is like they didn’t know about COY and, evidently, didn’t want to know! UNFCCC accreditation came in handy! In my view, this is the most important thing that I landed on through Richard’s efforts and connections. For this, I am grateful.

Well, while the Government granted us the UNFCCC accreditation, there was no funding or support for our flights or anything. All our efforts to secure support from organizations, European embassies in Uganda, and the Government didn’t yield anything! Anyway, maybe we didn’t try harder, after all our accreditation had come late, and we had no time to work out anything! We were losing the fight! Indeed, most of us, for example, our friend Charity from Mbale didn’t make it!

While I had saved some money to make up for my flight in case everything failed, it didn’t look enough, for flight tickets soon soared to thousands of dollars, and it wasn’t really possible for most of us. Besides, why would some go the heights of investing about 3000USD or more in COY or COP? Yeah, where it is possible and brilliant, there is a catch. And I will explore the catch in my upcoming articles!

Anyway, slowly by slowly, it seems we were losing out! I was not going to Egypt! But then another miracle happened!

Securing Air Ticket with Arab Youth Center, Going to Egypt in Style!

Earlier during the struggles for accreditation through Uganda Government, I had come across an interesting link in our LCOY WhatsApp group. The link was from Arab Youth Center and required youth to submit in business pitches for environment friendly projects in the sector of agriculture. As a by-the-way, and based on the principle I earlier highlihted, ‘apply for anything that looks beneficial to your business’, I had submitted in a pitch about ShareLand, one of our sustainable initiatives at Miklah Life.

Shortly (maybe 2-4 hours) after submitting the application, an email had come in my inbox congratulating me upon winning the spot for Youth Pitches organized by Arab Youth Center. I didn’t believe this! I have applied for many opportunities, and I know that it takes time, and much more hard work (or chance) to just be selected in a second!

I became suspicious! I knew it was a scam! Thanks to the many detective movie series I have watched, I am very conscious of coordinated movements and communications! The email had a lot of good things, TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!; airticket to and fro Egypt would be provided irrespective of where you were coming from, free accomodation in a 5-star restaurant, and, of course, winning the award would mean the award and the money! What!

I started exploring the reality of it all.

First, I dag through the internet to establish if Arab youth Center was real. Well, based on the facts I got, it was! And it is actually a strong organization based in UAE! But then I knew bad people could use Arab Youth Center’s name! The next step was to establish if Arab Youth Center knew about the pitches! I visited Arab Youth Center website, emailed them, and even made a direct phone call using the official number on their website; none responded!

Next, I wanted to establish if YOUNGO (COY17) knew about the pitching event. In those days, YOUNGO (or COY17) management was really terrible at replying emails. I think they also know this. Anyway, they were too busy; I mean, thousands of youth must have been bombarding them with messages here and there! Their feedback was close to zero, maybe to some few known ones, for example, focal persons, I don’t know!

So, all I resorted to do was check their agenda and see if ‘Youth Pitches’ is right there within the official agenda. Problem is, there was no agenda! YOUNGO failed to release COY17 agenda on time! I think they released it just a day before the conference or therearound! Again, I think it is because they also had short time to do anything; it was too much!

NB: For now, you can trace the youth pitches day on 4th/11/2022 at 3pm in Main Hall. It was real; just couldn’t access such information in time! Oh it was real!

In the Ugandan LCOY WhatsApp Group, I traced back the person who shared the link about the pitches, and called him. He told me he doesn’t know anything about the pitches. He just shared the link from other WhatsApp groups. I then searched for Arab Youth Center’s Pitches so as to trace the history of previous pitches, for this one was said to be the fifth! Well, i didn’t find any information to do with all the four previous pitches, though there were traces of that of 2019 just on the pitches’ separate link, not the official Arab Youth Center website.

NB: The link is a subdomain of Arab Youth Center, but I knew that technologically it is possible to steal off someone’s major domain and use it for subdomain! Everything is possible, isn’t it?

That angle failed.

Apparently, in all possible ways, Arab Youth Center and organizers of the pitches event remained real. Communications and feedback were on time and full of kindness. We even had a video conference with the pitches organizers and the participating 6 entrepreneurs, but all of this wasn’t enough to convince me! I believed it, but couldn’t share its possibility with others, for few would really accept such a blend or mix of luck!

Next, I tried to search about all the names that would be attached onto the emails from Arab Youth Center; they were real, and they existed in the real official capacities of Arab Youth Center. Major emails came from Haya Al Aseer, and she was right there on AYC’s team on the main website. Hallelujah! This gave me all the hope!

Haya is one of the most amazing persons I met during COY17, and so I will share another photo of hers!

Getting Air Ticket to Egypt and Back!

The last blow was when I got my air ticket sent in by Arab Youth Center. The Air Ticket had incorporated my requests to travel on 31st October and return on 18th November 2022. How could Arab Youth Center and her staff be this kind, timely, responsive, flexible, and very real, out of nowhere? Well, here is what I did! I called one of the EgyptAir staff and asked to comfirm my booking, and he said, yeah, you are in the system! Oh my God! All along, it was real!

Good thing is, my wife is perfect when it comes to preparing me for journeys. She had prepared all my 2-week clothes, ironed them, organized them in their travel case, and just relaxed. When the air ticket came in, all I had to do was carry my bag and go to the airport. The flight was at 4am in the morning, and by 2am, we (I, my wife, and the two young men who drove the car that night) were in the car, on the way to Entebbe International Airport.

At the AIRPORT, everything had been prepared for me. My bag was branded, VIP COP27 delegate. Yeah, we hugged good-bye, and I stralled to the waiting area.

When time came, ladies and gentlemen, I boarded EgyptAir to Cairo, and then to Sharm El-Sheikh.

We arrived in the afternoon, and we had time to fix our lives around. Later in the evening, YOUNGO organizers took us in; we were to have our stay at one of the best restaurants around, TOLIP INN HOTEL, the same hotel that was officially hosting COY17.

That was the beginning of one of my best experiences! Best not because I had no challenges, but because I wasn’t ready for anything, and yet it all worked out fine! Just grace! We slept off that 31st October, added ourselves a free 1st November, and officially started the conference on 2nd November 2022. The conference ended on the evening of 4th Nov. 2022, checked out of TOLIP INN at 12MD on 5th November, to begin our other experience with COP27, which was officially kicking in on 6th November to 18th November 2022.

In my next article, I share what happened during the 3 days of COY17, the people I met, the sessions I attended, the business pitching and the winning, and everything therein to tell before moving us to COP27 stories.

NB: While my registering and attending COY17 happened unexpectedly and in a miraculous way, I would want other youth to experience this much more predictably.

To achieve this, I would want to timely share COY and COP information with others so that every youth who is passionate about sustainability, environment, and climate change and is actualy having his hands dirty working it out gets equal opportunity of applying in time, and trying all possible options for getting involved, including funding and accreditation opportunties.

If you wanna be part of this movement that democratises COY and COP opportunties or wanna actually never miss anything, join MIklah’s Sacred Entrepreneurship Program. Thank you.