Project | CYDE Foundation

What we mean by a project

A CYDE project is a piece of work with a goal, a timeline, a person in charge and a way to tell whether it worked. It can be a workshop series for young people, a pilot with a partner, or a field study that supports a policy brief. We do not take on work that cannot meet this description, however attractive it sounds. Our youth climate projects will be small, documented and developed with young people.

How we choose projects

From idea to results

Every project goes through the same stages. We define the objective and identify the needs of the people we want to reach. We bring in partners, experts and participants. We run the activities and follow up with the people involved. We publish what happened in plain language. At the end we collect feedback and decide what to change before the next round.

What projects look like in each pillar

These are the kinds of projects we are preparing, not a list of completed work.

Under our climate pillar, we are interested in local adaptation initiatives and climate education. Under the youth pillar, our first priority is the youth programme. Under the digital pillar, we plan to explore data and digital tools for environmental monitoring. Under the energy pillar, we are looking at efficiency guides and financing models for solar power.

How we measure results

Each activity has indicators set in advance, such as the number of participants who finish a training, the share who report using a new skill, or the number of organisations that use a guide. We review results every month, and we report them on this site and in our annual activity report.

Funding

We are a new association and we are building our track record before we seek large grants. Funders tend to support teams that can show they deliver with modest means, so we start small and document everything. Our transparency commitments apply to every project we fund.

Propose a project

If you have an idea, send us a short note through the contact page. Tell us the problem, the people you want to reach, the partners involved and what success would look like.

The project card

Each project is described on a one page card with the same fields: the problem, the goal, the people we want to reach, the activities, the partners, the person responsible, the timeline, the budget and funding, the indicators and the risks. The card is written before work starts and updated as the project advances, so anyone can see what was planned and what happened.

Risks and how we manage them

Projects fail for ordinary reasons: a partner is late, participants do not come, a cost turns out higher than expected. We list the main risks on the project card and decide in advance what to do about them. When something goes wrong, we say so in our reports and explain what we changed.

Communication during a project

We keep participants and partners informed at each stage. We publish short updates on our website and social channels, and we write a summary at the end. We do not claim results that we cannot support with evidence.

Roles and partners

Every project has one person who answers for it. Partners have written roles. When a project involves young people, we make sure they have a way to give their opinion and that we act on what they say.

Learning from what did not work

A project that fell short of its goal still has value if we learn from it. We write down what we expected, what happened and what we would do differently, and we use it to improve the next project. Over time this record is part of our credibility.