Call for Online Moderator: Community of Practice on Challenges and Opportunities for African Youth in Forestry (West, Central and North Africa)

Reference number: 2025003
Job status: In-progress
Job category: Consultancy
Duty station:
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CIFOR-ICRAF
The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) envision a more equitable world where trees in all landscapes, from drylands to the humid tropics, enhance the environment and well-being for all. CIFOR and ICRAF are non-profit science institutions that build and apply evidence to today’s most pressing challenges, including energy insecurity and the climate and biodiversity crises. Over a combined total of 65 years, we have built vast knowledge on forests and trees outside of forests in agricultural landscapes (agroforestry). Using a multidisciplinary approach, we seek to improve lives and to protect and restore ecosystems. Our work focuses on innovative research, partnering for impact, and engaging with stakeholders on policies and practices to benefit people and the planet. Founded in 1993 and 1978, CIFOR and ICRAF are members of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food secure future dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources. CIFOR-ICRAF is looking for a

Call for Online Moderator: Community of Practice on Challenges and Opportunities for African Youth in Forestry (West, Central and North Africa)

Overview AfricanYouth4Forests\" represents a dynamic intersection between Africa's verdant forests and its youth. It seeks to empower young Africans (aged 18–30) to transform their environmental aspirations into actionable realities. Marrying ancestral wisdom with contemporary tools, the project focuses on scientific knowledge, and empowerment, fostering a generation that is rooted in its heritage yet forward-thinking in its approach to sustainable forestry. Forests are Africa's green canvases, covering one-third of the continent, guarding against climate change, sheltering rich biodiversity, and anchoring countless livelihoods. Yet, their whispers grow fainter with each fallen tree, each patch cleared, and each fire that rages. Even so, a vibrant force emerges Africa's youth population, the guardians of both the past and the future. This group is four times larger than its European peers [1] and can drive innovation and sustainability on the continent. Equipped with passion, digital savviness, and respect for nature, the youth are charting a path where their understanding of the earth's value, paired with a contemporary perspective, positions them as agents of change. While vulnerable due to deforestation and climate change, their potential needs to be captured to prevent misuse of human capital and mounting frustration. This is why the AfricanYouth4Forests (AY4F) project aims to cultivate a space where young people (aged 18–30) can embrace scientific knowledge about Africa’s forests to understand their own role in shaping the future governance of forests, share their concerns with experts and society, and seize opportunities from an evolving bioeconomy. The project is jointly implemented by the African Forest Forum (AFF), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), through SLU-Global and the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI). It contributes to the African Agenda 2063 and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030). Engaging youth in sustainable forestry Young people bring new ideas and far-reaching ambition that can help conserve African forests, sustain efforts on reforestation, and slow down the alarming rate of deforestation and land degradation. When empowered, they can build climate resilience and adaptive capacity in their communities even though they are among the most vulnerable populations which will be overly affected by climate change. Effectively engaging continent’s youth is also crucial because they are embracing the power of disruptive technology to connect across borders and implement nature-based solutions from global to community levels. Despite this latent potential, they are — and feel — under-represented. Besides the enormous challenges that they face, their needs, and aspirations are not as frequently heard when global sustainability topics are debated. Neither are their perspectives and dependency on forests studied compared to peers in high-income countries.

Duties and responsibilities

1.1 RATIONALE

For its plan of work for 2025, AFF is recruiting one regional expert to moderate an online Community of Practice (CoP) on “Challenges and Opportunities for African Youth in Forestry” for the West, Central and North African regions. The CoPs will provide an opportunity for young people-led associations, youth entrepreneurs, leaders from different educational backgrounds, and other interested youth, together with forest scientists to advance knowledge sharing about best practices for sustainable forestry.

The CoP will be hosted on a virtual web-based platform and will involve both webinar series and Chat interactions. The online moderator is expected to encourage / engage and guide interested stakeholders to attend the webinar series and the web-based discussions and share their knowledge, experiences and best practices on innovative solutions to forest-related challenges for African youth. At the end of each session, the moderator will synthesize views, lessons and recommendations to be posted on the CoP’s Howspace, easily accessible to all community members.

1.2 PURPOSE OF THE CONSULTANCY

The purpose of the Consultancy is for a regional forestry expert to moderate an online Community of Practice that aims to reflect on innovative solutions to forest-related challenges for African youth. The event will also provide a platform for sharing and validation of findings from a research study conducted in West, Central and South African regions on the barriers against meaningful contribution of youth to sustainable forest use and opportunities for the youth to formulate their visions of forest conservation and management.

1.3 SPECIFIC TASKS

The key tasks of this assignment are as follows:

i) In collaboration with project partners, develop a concept note and elaborate a programme for the CoP, including topics for the online discussion forum;

ii) Promote the CoP, identify a wide range of stakeholders and start engaging them on the “Howspace” platform at least one week before the webinar sessions;

iii) Work with project partners to tailor discussion topics in line with the thematic area of the CoP as well as the project outcomes.

iv) Identify and engage a broad range of stakeholders including relevant networks, individuals, and institutions with specific expertise and experiences on African youth involvement in forestry, then invite them to participate to enrich the online discussion;

v) Identify guest speakers to develop daily presentations on the selected topics that will guide the online discussion;

vi) Actively guide the discussion to ensure it remains focused on the agenda, address all discussion questions and at the end of each session, draft and post a daily summary note.

vii) Daily tasks of the CoP’s moderator, to be done during the 2-hour webinar and Chat sessions starting from the 17 February – 4 March 2025 include:

a. Welcome participants to the virtual discussion;

b. Introduce the topic, prepare, and deliver presentations and/or facilitate their delivery by identified guest speakers and drive discussions to address any open/pending issues.

c. Provide encouragement/energizer to drive the discussion when no contributions have been posted, by posing/fielding questions, contacting members directly through the platform, posting complementary content such as documents, websites, and text.

VIII) Propose and discuss with the CoP members plausible approaches and a strategy to sustain interactions on the platform after the two-weeks’ Community of Practice.