Africa Youth Month 2025 : Youth Across Africa Turn Play Into Climate Action Through the Let’s Play Climate Games Festival
Y-MTAANI: A Kenya YMCA Community Outreach Program
23/10/2025
This November, the Africa Alliance of YMCAs (AAYMCA) mobilised young people across the continent for a bold and creative celebration of Africa Youth Month—through an innovative, youth-led movement using games to spark conversations, learning, and action on climate change.
Under the continental theme “Let’s Play for the Planet”, young people from Zambia, Ghana, Madagascar, Kenya, and Zimbabwe transformed play into a powerful tool for climate education and advocacy. Through board games, card games, and locally designed prototypes, YMCA National Movements proved that climate awareness can be fun, interactive, and youth-driven.
This report captures the highlights and impact of the regional campaign.
They simplify complex climate issues Encourage teamwork and problem-solving- Create safe spaces for dialogue Connect youth with policymakers
- Inspire real-world climate action
- Throughout November, National Movements ran sessions, festivals, workshops, and gamified learning experiences—each unique, localised, and infused with youthful creativity.
COUNTRY HIGHLIGHTS
ZAMBIA YMCA : National Climate Games Festival & Symposium
Zambia YMCA hosted one of the most comprehensive national-level engagements of the campaign through the Climate Games Festival and Symposium a full-day youth engagement platform bringing together:
- The Ministry of Green Economy and Environment
- Young people from across the country
- Climate advocates
- Community partners and YMCA leaders
- Under the theme “Climate Games: Empowering Youth Through Play and Climate Action,” the festival blended deep dialogue with hands-on game sessions. Young people engaged key duty bearers on local climate challenges while using Climate Games as an entry point for solution-building and policy engagement.
This landmark event placed youth at the centre of national climate action—showing how play can open space for intergenerational conversation and meaningful advocacy.
Click on these links below to view the highlights for the activites that happpened:
HIGHLIGHT I, HIGHLIGHT II, HIGHLIGHT III
GHANA YMCA : Western Regional YMCA Leading the Charge
Ghana YMCA’s Western Region delivered a month-long engagement that combined preparation, training, and high-energy game days.
Preparatory Sessions — Building Youth Capacity
Youth volunteers, led by Green Ambassador Peace Gbewonyo, held training sessions using the Bin Quest Climate Game , a game that strengthens decision-making and environmental literacy.
These sessions prepared young leaders to facilitate games and lead community conversations.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PREPARATIONS HIGHLIGHTS
Youth Centre Activation — Learning Through Play
The Takoradi Youth Centre was transformed into a vibrant hub of strategy, teamwork, and climate learning. Youth came together to test games, refine skills, and get ready for the official Climate Games weekend.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PRE-EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
Games Day — Leadership, Creativity & Big Wins
More than 40 young people participated in the official Ghana Climate Games Day.A key highlight was the participation of Mr. Bernard Obeng Sarpong, Assistant Director of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly. Impressed by the educational value of Climate Games, he committed to:
- Explore opportunities to present the games at the Assembly
- Support scaling the model across the metropolis
This is a significant advocacy win for youth-led climate innovation in Ghana.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE GAMES DAY HIGHLIGHTS
MADAGASCAR YMCA : Youth Creativity Through Game Design
YMCA Madagascar celebrated Africa Youth Month with a colourful and engaging session centred on environment-themed board games, including one designed by the youths themselves.
The homemade board game focused on environmental conservation, waste management, and eco-responsible behaviour—demonstrating how young people can create simple yet impactful climate learning tools.
The event strengthened youth bonds, encouraged creativity, and built awareness around local climate issues in a fun, participatory way.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE HIGHLIGHTS FROM MADAGASCAR YOUTHS
KENYA YMCA : National Climate Games Festival & Symposium
Kenya YMCA’s Naivasha Branch delivered one of the most innovative activations by launching JIHAMI, a climate-themed chess game designed to teach concepts of climate adaptation and resilience.
- Over 250 youth participated in the Climate Games Festival
- Led by Frida Salim with support from Bilha Asunda, Paul Opanga, and Christine Ntoiti
- Collaboration with key stakeholders including the Ministry of Health and African Wildlife Foundation
- All game materials printed on FSC-certified paper, setting a sustainability precedent
- JIHAMI stood out as a powerful educational tool — merging strategy, environmental knowledge, and fun.
Click on these links below to view the highlights from the festival:
Festival Highlight,
FSC Feature
ZIMBABWE YMCA : Gweru Branch Engages Duty Bearers
Zimbabwe YMCA hosted a vibrant Let’s Play Festival that brought together:
- Gweru Mayor Martin Chivhoko
- Ministry representatives
- Game design mentees
- Young climate advocates and YMCA leaders
- Youth facilitated Climate Games for duty bearers—showcasing how interactive learning can improve understanding of climate issues and inspire policy dialogue.
Young participants shared ideas, solutions, and reflections, reaffirming the power of youth-driven climate advocacy.
Click on these links below to view the highlights from Zimbabwe:
HIGHLIGHT I, HIGHLIGHT II, HIGHLIGHT III
Across all participating countries, the Let’s Play Climate Games campaign demonstrated that:
- Climate action can be fun, youth-friendly, and engaging
- Games create safe spaces for youth-leader dialogue
- Youth are ready to innovate, design, and lead
- National Movements can run the model successfully with minimal resources
- Gamification is a powerful approach for climate education
- The campaign also strengthened partnerships — notably with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) — which helped elevate sustainability through materials and advocacy.
The Africa Alliance of YMCAs will continue to support National Movements to:
Scale Climate Games to more branches and schools- Train youth game designers
- Document and share Climate Game prototypes
- Engage policymakers using game-based advocacy
- Build a continental hub for climate learning through play
Youth have shown that when given creative tools, they don’t just learn — they lead.
Africa Youth Month 2025 proved that play is not just entertainment, it is a transformative force for youth leadership, community mobilisation, and climate resilience.
Through the Let’s Play Climate Games Festival, young people across the continent turned imagination into action, dialogue into solutions, and games into a movement for a greener, more sustainable Africa.
