From June 18 to 20, Cape Town hosted the 2025 Youth Energy Summit (YES!), bringing together young innovators, policy thinkers, entrepreneurs, and climate advocates from across the continent. Among them were young changemakers selected as Fellows for Global Citizen’s Scaling Up Renewables in Africa (SURA) campaign — each one playing an active role in reshaping Africa’s energy narrative.
Through interactive workshops grounded in real-life experience, the Global Citizen Fellows didn’t just speak about change — they helped others build the skills to make it happen in their own communities.
Sharing Stories That Shape Strategy
The first SURA workshop, “From Local Voices to Global Platforms: Leveraging Storytelling for Climate & Energy Justice,” opened with a challenge: How can young people use their personal experiences to influence change?
Rather than begin with statistics, the Fellows invited participants to reflect on their own realities — from studying by candlelight to launching community-based solar projects. With the Fellows’ guidance, these stories were reframed as tools for advocacy, movement-building, and visibility on both local and global stages.
“Storytelling is a powerful catalyst for advancing renewable energy action,” said Lungile Magagula, a 2025 Global Citizen Fellow from South Africa. “By connecting the lived experiences of individuals who face challenges in accessing electricity with the broader goals of renewable energy, storytelling creates a compelling narrative that drives awareness, empathy, and mobilization.”
By the end of the session, participants had crafted personal energy narratives that could be used in grant proposals, campaign speeches, or community conversations — a first for many of them.
Young people from across the continent came together to share bold ideas for expanding renewable energy in Africa at the Youth Energy Summit. Image: Paul Reichle and Carrie Wong for Global Citizen
The Global Citizen Fellows were on hand to engage with participants and spotlight the SURA campaign’s mission. Image: Paul Reichle and Carrie Wong for Global Citizen
Global Citizen Fellows Hope Dlamini (left) and Lungile Magagula from South Africa shared their insights and vision for a greener future. Image: Paul Reichle and Carrie Wong for Global Citizen
Global Citizen Fellows Hope Dlamini and Lungile Magagula joined Global Citizen’s Director of Africa Youth Development, Lipalesa Morake (left), to amplify youth voices in the energy transition. Image: Paul Reichle and Carrie Wong for Global Citizen
Global Citizen Fellow Hope Dlamini took the stage to present innovative ideas for scaling up renewable energy in Africa. Image: Paul Reichle and Carrie Wong for Global Citizen
Building Solutions From the Ground Up
The second workshop, “Africa’s Energy Future: How Youth Can Champion Renewable Solutions in Their Communities,” focused on action. It began with an accessible introduction to the current landscape of energy in Africa — who has access, what renewable options are viable, and where gaps remain.
This was followed by an “innovation sprint” that challenged participants to design renewable energy solutions tailored to their own communities. The emphasis wasn’t on large-scale infrastructure, but on realistic, locally relevant ideas that could meet real needs.
Solutions ranged from cooperative solar hubs to off-grid refrigeration systems for small-scale farmers.
“Youth-led, community-driven energy solutions are essential,” Magagula said. “Young people bring fresh, innovative perspectives that can transform how we approach renewable energy, particularly when their solutions are localized and tailored to the specific needs of their communities. They introduce new ways of thinking and approaches that have previously been overlooked.”
For many, it was the first time they had connected their knowledge of renewable energy with a design-thinking process aimed at solving a specific local challenge. It was also an opportunity to learn directly from peers doing similar work in other countries.
Why Urgent Action Is Needed Now
Africa is at a pivotal moment. While global investment in energy continues to rise, only 3% of it reaches Africa — a continent where over 600 million people still live without access to electricity. These numbers are more than policy points; they’re daily realities that affect education, health care, jobs, and overall quality of life.
SURA was launched to confront this imbalance head-on. By investing in youth leadership, community innovation, and strategic advocacy, the campaign seeks to help triple renewable energy capacity across Africa by 2030 and connect 50 million people to electricity by 2029.
The work of the Global Citizen Fellows at YES! is a direct extension of that goal — building capacity, strengthening networks, and showing what a people-first energy transition looks like in practice.
“Youth play a vital role in achieving our climate and energy targets,” Magagula emphasized. “As changemakers, they bring fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to the table. More importantly, they are directly experiencing the impacts of climate change and energy access challenges in their communities. This lived experience gives them a deep understanding of both the urgency and the opportunities for action. By localizing solutions to meet the specific needs of their communities, young people are uniquely positioned to align energy targets with meaningful, community-driven impact.”
Looking Ahead
What stood out during the Summit wasn’t just the energy of the participants — it was the clarity of purpose. The Global Citizen Fellows brought structure, insight, and humility to their sessions. They weren’t teaching from theory. They were sharing tools that had worked — or failed — in the field, and learning just as much as they were offering.
The conversations that started in Cape Town won’t end there. The participants will be going back to other regions in Africa and beyond — with new ideas, clearer strategies, and connections that will grow over time.
“What I hope summit participants take back to their communities is a sense of urgency and the belief that they can act now,” said Magagula. “They have the power to initiate change immediately and their ideas are not only valuable but necessary to help close the energy gaps in our societies.”
YES! made space for young people to lead, listen, and learn — not in the abstract, but in concrete, community-focused ways. It confirmed what many already knew: Africa’s energy future isn’t waiting to be built. It’s already in progress — powered by the people who understand its urgency the most.