Havana, Nov 5 (Prensa Latina) The inclusion of young people in Cuba’s ecological transition program has become a key element of the Sustainable Municipalities Program. This was highlighted during a forum held from the 2nd to the 4th of this month at the Hotel Nacional.

Dariel del Leon Garcia, the program’s technical director and a member of the Center for Local and Community Development—part of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and the Environment—explained to Prensa Latina that the initiative aims to equip young people with the tools to take a more prominent role in their local areas, whether through production, services, the application of technology, or governance.

Leyanis Conde, a teacher from the municipality of Manicaragua in Villa Clara province, is one of the young participants advocating for projects such as the creation of a “solinera” (a solar-powered energy hub). This initiative generates clean energy while addressing a specific need of the local population—a core objective of the program.

Ricardo Antonio Germán, a young educator and holder of a master’s degree in agroecology and sustainable agriculture, presented his community transition workshop—an initiative currently being implemented in the municipality of Guanabacoa, in the Cuban capital.

Through his project, “El Patio del Agrónomo” (The Agronomist’s Courtyard), local residents learn to manage their own spaces, while small-scale farmers are taught the fundamentals of agroecology, enabling them to expand their productive land according to the space they have available.

The Program for the Ecological Transition toward Sustainable Municipalities is funded by the European Union, with the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) working in partnership with the UNDP and national counterparts—the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (through the Center for Local and Community Development).

Roberto Giuliotto, international coordinator for AICS, remarked to *Prensa Latina* that for the program to be truly sustainable, it must involve young people. He noted that the youth represent the future of these municipalities; therefore, the approach to working with them must be improved to create specific opportunities within the program’s framework, enabling them to also participate in the municipal development strategy.

The event was attended by Roberto Pérez, Deputy Minister of the MEP, who encouraged the young participants to apply the experiences gained at the Forum within their respective sectors. He urged them to involve more people in these projects and to contribute to territorial development at a time when municipalities have been granted greater autonomy.

mem/wmr/khg

The post Youth integrated into Cuba’s ecological transition program first appeared on Prensa Latina.

From Prensa Latina via This RSS Feed.