Global Integrated Flood and Drought Management Competition for Youth-Led projects
Intensifying extreme weather events are disrupting lives, threatening food and water security, and magnifying vulnerabilities in communities worldwide. Floods and droughts, in particular, are becoming more frequent and severe, placing additional pressure on already fragile systems and exposing gaps in disaster preparedness and resilience.
Young people are among those most affected, as climate impacts threaten their health, safety, education, and long-term opportunities. Yet, young people can drive solutions with their knowledge, skills, and innovative ideas. Despite this, their participation in climate action and decision-making remains limited, even though their engagement is essential.
The Global Integrated Flood and Drought Management Competition for Youth-Led Projects supports innovative, youth-driven ideas that address the challenges posed by floods and droughts and advance Early Warnings for All (EW4All).
The competition aims to:
- Empower young people to design and lead practical solutions for disaster risk reduction, preparedness, and response.
- Strengthen community resilience through projects rooted in local needs.
- Encourage youth engagement and show the impacts youth can make in building flood and drought resilience.
The competition is carried out under the banners of the Associated Programme on Flood Management (APFM) and the Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) - joint programmes of WMO and the Global Water Partnership (GWP).
Competition for Youth-Led Projects 2026-2027: Submissions are now open
Following the success of the previous editions, the Competition for Youth-Led Projects 2026-27 aims to finance two initiatives that enhance resilience in communities that are vulnerable to floods and droughts.
Two prizes consisting of 3000 CHF each will be awarded to selected projects that are in line with the objectives of the competition. Awarded project leaders will implement their initiatives over 9 months, with guidance and support from experts on floods and drought.
The proposed projects must:
- Be youth-led (students/young professionals aged 18 – 35) and demonstrate the active participation and engagement of youth of all ages below 35 in the proposed project activities.
- Be practical, results-oriented, have clearly identified objectives, timeline, and scope.
- Demonstrate a concrete contribution to enhancing resilience to floods and drought with tangible outputs.
- Be implemented within a maximum of 9 months.
- Be scalable and sustainable in time.
- Include a feasible innovative element (e.g., combining Indigenous and scientific approaches, a new community engagement model, low-cost adaptation methods, strong women's engagement, etc.)
How to submit your proposal:
Before submitting your proposal, please read the submission guidelines carefully.
Proposals can be submitted in English or Spanish. To submit your proposal, please complete the following submission form:
A proposal can only be submitted once, in one language. Proposals submitted multiple times will not be considered. Only proposals submitted through the submission forms will be taken into account.
Deadline for Submission: 31st August 2026
Meet the project leaders of the 2025 Competition
