Laurel Kivuyo started out as a young girl from a Maasai Community in Tanzania who got tired of watching the planet burn. She saw firsthand how climate change wasn’t an abstract future problem, it was showing up at her community’s doorstep, threatening the land, livestock, and lucky for all of us, she decided to do something about it.

Laurel studied environmental health sciences at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences. Fuelled by purpose, she founded Climate Hub Tanzania in 2021; a youth and women-led organization advancing climate justice and resilience at the grassroots level. She has since mentored over 100 young women in green entrepreneurship and climate leadership, many of whom have gone on to build their own eco-friendly businesses.

But Laurelwasn’t content to stay local. She took her voice global, and the world listened. She moderated sessions at Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Egypt and Conference of the Parties COP28 in Dubai, sat at tables with the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Environment Programme UNEP, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the African Union.

She led Tanzania’s youth delegation and literally had a conversation with Tanzania’s president on behalf of young people. She was invited to chair a summit in Geneva at the Global Forum on Migration and Development. She’s been featured by BBC, CNN, and DW. She served as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Climate Youth Envoy, representing 16 countries across Southern Africa.

She is Tanzania’s National Youth Environment Ambassador, chairs the Presidential Youth Platform on Climate Change “Green Samia,” and holds the title of She Changes Climate Ambassador. Her work has taken her to over 16 destinations worldwide and she recently graduated with distinction from the University of Oxford, where she was appointed as Head of Education and Training Programmes at the Africa Oxford Initiative.

Over the years, she has earned multiple awards from Tanzania’s Vice President’s Office, secured a $25,000 Loss and Damage grant to support communities devastated by El Niño floods in Hanang District, and built partnerships with major international organisations including the French Embassy, the United Nations Environment Programme, and Harvard’s Africa Health Conference, all before she has barely scratched the surface of what she is capable of.

Laurel Kivuyo is proof that when you decide the world needs changing, you don’t wait for someone else to do it. You build the hub, train the girls, take the mic, and make the world listen.

SOURCES

Intervenant – Laurel KIVUYO