People Powered is highlighting a crucial opportunity for African government leaders, policymakers, and civil society advocates who are serious about implementing climate solutions that are fair, equitable, and locally owned: the Climate Democracy Accelerator (CDA) from People Powered.
This is a six-month intensive program that provides training, mentorship, and significant implementation grants to help you design and launch projects that put citizens, especially marginalized and climate-vulnerable communities, directly in the driver’s seat of climate policy.
If you are frustrated with top-down climate mandates, this accelerator is your chance to build a bottom-up democratic solution that truly works for your community.
The Opportunity: Funding, Training, and Impact
The Climate Democracy Accelerator is not just a training course; it’s a commitment to implementation.
| Program Feature | Benefit for African Leaders |
| Direct Grant Funding | A $10,000 USD implementation grant (for the Civil Society partner) upon completion of the training. Top action plans receive an additional $15,000 award. |
| Expert Support | Six months of intensive training (March–August 2026), ongoing mentorship, and access to a peer network. |
| Clear Focus Areas | Projects must tackle climate challenges through Renewable Energy or Regenerative Agriculture—two sectors critical to Africa's sustainable growth. |
| Proven Impact | Past participants, including those in Zimbabwe, have successfully used this framework to recover from climate devastation, launch regenerative agriculture, and influence new national policies. |
Who Is the Ideal African Applicant?
The CDA is highly competitive and is looking for motivated teams that already have a foot in both government and community activism.
The Mandatory Partnership:
If you are a Government Official or Policymaker: You must apply in partnership with a Civil Society Organization (CSO) or NGO. This ensures the policy has community support.
If you are a Civil Society Leader or Advocate: You must apply in partnership with a Government Institution. This ensures your project has a pathway to policy implementation and scale.
Priority Countries: While applications are welcome globally, the program specifically prioritizes applicants from countries that are crucial to the global South narrative, including: South Africa, Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Mexico.
The Call: Build a Just Transition from the Ground Up
The "Just Transition" is the core principle of this accelerator. It challenges you to design a project that:
Engages Marginalized Voices: Directly includes climate-vulnerable populations, women, youth, ethnic minorities, and rural communities who are often hardest hit by climate change but excluded from the planning.
Solves Real Problems: Creates tangible solutions, whether that's designing a community-owned solar mini-grid or creating a participatory process for distributing climate adaptation funds for regenerative farming.
Your proposal must detail how your project will support a future where the benefits of climate action are distributed equitably, a fundamental challenge across Africa.
Key Deadlines
Application Deadline: December 8, 2025, 5:00 pm UTC
Program Start: March 2026
If you are ready to stop talking about climate policy and start building climate democracy in Africa, this is your opportunity.
Apply Now and Design Your Climate Action Plan here