Green Urban Development (GUD), an inspiring initiative with a focus on a life cycle approach to sustainable urban development, is striving to enhance capacity among multi-stakeholders especially the burgeoning population of the country\u2019s youth towards green infrastructure management.
\nActors from various segments of lives life including government institutions, policymakers, students, media, private sector and civil society working on urban environmental and climate-related issues are brought together under the platform of GUD in a co-creation space to discuss and work together on issues pertaining to urban development with a focus on water, waste and green entrepreneurship.
\n\u201cLaunched with collaboration between Institute of Urbanization (IoU), School of Leadership Foundation and US Embassy, the programme is working to enhance knowledge of young people through action research and incubation of green ideas to business cases, leading to green entrepreneurship,\u201d apprised Ayesha Majid, Program Coordinator IoU.
\nTalking to APP, Ayesha said while realizing alarming levels of environmental degradation according to a report published by the International Trade Administration, Pakistan\u2019s waste crisis looms large, with approximately 48.5 million tons of solid waste generated annually, its time to take action by people from all walks of life.
\nIn this regard, initiatives with a focus on empowering youth with knowledge and skills of green infrastructure management will help a lot in containing issues causing environmental degradation, she added.
\nShe informed that Green Urban Development has been established in public sector varsities under the government-led Green Youth Movement Clubs to train university students on green skills in two years and produce action research with technical and financial support to startups on ecological innovation in areas of water, waste and green infrastructure.
\nThe project will consist of three phases with a duration of three months with the first one as a study phase including classroom-style capacity building sessions, exposure visits to institutions and sites which display practical and innovative green projects on water conservation, waste management and green infrastructure.
\nIn the second phase, a call will be announced for GUDS participants to submit proposals for piloting action research within a chosen community. Based on the set evaluation criteria, the selection panel will shortlist proposals for the Action Research Phase.
\nIn the third phase, the most practical and effective project from the Action Research Phase will be given a grant to further work on the research and convert the idea into business and also establish market linkages.
\nApart from youngsters, actors from various government institutions, policymakers, media, private sector and civil society working on urban environmental and climate-related issues will also be brought together in a co-creation space to discuss and work together on issues pertaining to urban development with a focus on water, waste and green infrastructure management, she continued.
\nThe initiative of GUD is a stepping stone towards a brighter future, providing young people with the tools and impetus to spearhead tangible changes that enhance the environment\u2019s cleanliness and waste management, she remarked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Green Urban Development (GUD), an inspiring initiative with a focus on a life cycle approach to sustainable urban development, is striving to enhance capacity among multi-stakeholders especially the burgeoning population of the country\u2019s youth towards green infrastructure management. Actors from various segments of lives life including government institutions, policymakers, students, media, private sector and civil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-352622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-peshawar"},"yoast_head":"\n