Kamalé is a name that draws on the legacy of the artist Antoine Michel, whose song ‘Sharabià’ made the name of Lampedusa resonate throughout the Mediterranean. In Arabic and African languages, Kamalé evokes perfection and completeness: the harmony that is possible between human beings and nature, between who we are and who we can become. This is why the Lampedusan community chose this name for a festival, conceived as the ideal meeting place for those wishing to share positivity and humanity. The same spirit guided the SUBLIME project, which transformed Kamalé into an invitation to young people to safeguard that harmony, giving rise to the KAMALÉ – KlimAte Mindful Actions Led by Engaged Youth Leaders call for proposals.
The aim of the call for proposals was to support youth-led climate initiatives in the ten border towns and islands participating in the SUBLIME SDGs project. During the first year, a total of ten calls for proposals were published, which generated significant engagement amongst youth organisations and informal groups involved in community-level climate action, with 29 proposals received and 21 selected for financial support, demonstrating both the relevance of the Kamalé approach and the growing capacity of young leaders to design and implement local climate actions in line with Sustainable Development Goal 13.
The selected initiatives benefited from dedicated mentoring provided by the project’s local partners. This support structure ensured that each youth-led initiative could begin its implementation in full alignment with the project’s overall framework and the methodological guidelines necessary to strengthen local ownership and impact, whilst at the same time recognising the value of creative independence and a generational and gender-sensitive perspective.
These projects, and their creators, then took part in the International Training Programme for Youth Leaders in Lampedusa, where participants presented their work, shared the experiences they had gained and further strengthened their ability to act as champions of youth-led climate justice within their own communities. They were able to rely throughout on the support of the project’s technical partners and the Sublime team. At the end of the project’s second year, all the funded projects were completed. And now is the time to look back, to revisit those faces, those smiles, those completed projects and all the connections that were forged between these young people.
It would be unfair to highlight just a few of the ideas brought to life by these groups of young people – you can find them all via the link to the ACTIONS section in Sublime’s web doc – but it is only right to acknowledge the enthusiasm, energy and commitment of those who created these projects.
From Austria to Bulgaria, from Italy to Malta, from Hungary to Greece, from Poland to Romania, from Slovenia to Cyprus, tens of thousands of people have seen fire brigades incorporate the SDGs into their response techniques, or music festivals working to become sustainable; and then there’s a mobile app promoting sustainable transport and recycling, or a theatre production dedicated to climate change, alongside young people who have committed to exploring their urban environment, identifying challenges relating to accessibility, public spaces and climate resilience, and proposing community-led solutions – including through activities such as agriculture, which also means jobs. Finally, there are urban gardening initiatives, awareness-raising campaigns and community actions, all inspired by young people who, for once, have seen their voices turn into concrete proposals rather than being limited to protest. We see many of these as ‘stories of change’ because of the impact they have had and, above all, the impact they will have on the future of us all.
