This Programme is Climate Innovation. The Pioneers Programme is directed to professionals with background in fields relevant to climate change. The main aim is to drive climate innovation by giving these professionals an opportunity to work on climate change-related challenges.
The programme matches the participating professionals (pioneers) with host organisation that own a climate change-related problem. The Pioneer is then funded to work at the host organisation for 4-6 weeks trying to solve the challenge. As preparatory work, the Pioneers participate on a short workshop on innovation and climate change and follow an online learning module on Systems Innovation.
The success of the programme varies for each participant. If the participant is open and willing to work in a challenging environment, it can be very rewarding. It has at times resulted to job offers from the host organisations. It is not, however, that well adjusted to young professionals, as it often requires participants with more experience.
The programme has let to long-term employment for a number of unemployed youth. More specifically, for the first two years of the programme, out of the 6 young unemployed people who participated, 3 have found employment in the green jobs sector, while 3 young people (already in either education or employment) have ventured into green entrepreneurship after the programme.
Find out more on: www.pioneers.climate-kic.org