We are accepting grant applications from organisations and individuals in the Asia-Pacific who require funding for projects/programs that are in line with our vision.
Please fill out this form and we will get in touch with you.
The types of projects we support:
- Trains youth leaders to empower them locally, and supports their projects
- Works in partnership with small Asia-Pacific organisations
- Raises awareness of climate change issues and promotes measures to mitigate emissions
- Empowers and supports vulnerable communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change
- Supports activities for zero carbon emissions
The majority of our activities are supporting small NGO-run projects within Asia-Pacific. Most of these are youth-focused (and often youth-run) initiatives that will help guide interested young people to become long-term environmental leaders with impactful lives. Others are based on general community education of environmental issues.
More recently, JCJ has aided climate refugees directly. While this is not a long-term youth-led project, it fits JCJ’s goal of ‘Climate Justice’.
A few of our past sponsored projects have aimed at facilitating connections between Australia and the Asia-Pacific the exchange of resources and information related to climate change.
Full history of projects supported:
2023 Maritime Leadership Camp
| Supported by JCJ, the 3-day camp ran from 11-13 August at Lowita Beach, Pinrang, South Sulawesi in Indonesia and gathered 30 young people. This year they also held several zoom training sessions before and after the camp. 2023’s theme was #BeatPlasticPollution. Participants learned about the marine ecosystem in Indonesia, cleaned up 200kg of rubbish at Lowita Beach, turned it into 22 eco-bricks, and planted mangroves. |
2022 Maritime Leadership Camp
Following the success of the previous year’s camp, JCJ sponsored the Floating School’s Maritime Leadership Camp 2022 in South Sulawesi. 25 college students from seven coastal communities joined the five facilitators on a weekend filled with great environmental learning and discussions. They managed to plant 200 mangroves, hold a plastic audit, an eco bricks workshop, and an environmental movie night. The group reconvened this May with a turtle release that went very well. The Floating School continues to engage with and support the camp attendees.
2022 Metta Gardens
JCJ provided support to our sister organisation ECO-V to set up and run another Metta Garden in one of the largest schools of Sri Lanka. Metta Gardens aim to remake the connection between nature and the younger generation who now mostly live within urban areas, as well as to improve the local biodiversity and provide a solution to the Sri Lankan food crisis. With the large number of school attendees, parents, and local community this garden can reach, the message of the Metta Gardens will have a wide impact.
2021 Maritime Leadership Camp
JCJ partnered for the first time with The Floating School to run their second annual ‘Maritime Leadership Camp’; a 3-day training program for youth on remote Indonesian islands which introduced them to maritime issues and increased their leadership skills in taking action on those issues. After attending the camp, the students completed eight environmental projects that The Floating School monitored and supported.
2021 Carteret Islanders Continued Support
JCJ continues to support Tulele Peisa, the organisation helping relocate Carteret Islanders from their climate-change-threatened atolls, to the larger island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. This was emergency funding of a chartered boat to provide plants, seedlings, and food to the remaining 2,700 people who still inhabit the island. The previous project JCJ supported on the Island in 2019 – raised garden beds to produce food – was all but wiped out by immense king tides in February 2021, a devastating and tangible consequence of climate change. Moved by the Islanders’ predicament, the JCJ committee used their personal savings to fund most of the charter, with the remainder of the contribution coming out of JCJ’s project fund.
2020 Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY) Continued Support
KAMY is a grassroots, youth-led, climate organisation based in Kuala Lumpur, which is advocating representative climate action by empowering Mayalsian vulnerable groups and communities. JCJ’s financial support in 2020 allowed KAMY to pay for their website domain, zoom account, and infographics site access. These provided wider outreach in their country during the sharp increase in online activity that accompanied the pandemic. KAMY took part in, and ran, many online rallies, discussion panels, campaigns and community engagement programs. One in particular, also funded by JCJ, was the Indigenous and Climate Art Project, which used video to share the complex traditional knowledge held by the indigenous group KAMY are working with, and to show how climate change is affecting their way of life. The videos, which can be viewed here, promote cultural awareness in more urban Malaysian areas, and stress the importance of supporting indigenous groups in their struggles.
2020 – 2021 Sri Lankan Nurseries
ECO-V’s (our partner organisation in Sri Lanka) Yathra programs’ focus is “Creating Green Youth Leaders”, who will be change-makers in action against climate change. The two projects below are led by trained Yathrees, showing the ripple effect of this program.
Newton’s Nursery
Newton (2011 Yathra trainee) was busy during COVID maintaining a native plant nursery supported by JCJ. 140 plants were given away in November to be cultivated in the fields of northern Sri Lanka. In January 2021, Newton conducted a full-day workshop for 25 young people. The workshop raised awareness about healthy food, natural living and sustainable waste management. He gave plants from his nursery to each attendee to care for, and the rest were maintained collectively by the group.
Gayani’s Nursery
During COVID, Gayani’s (2018 Yathra trainee) work with garden training sessions from ECO-V dried up. At this time there was a growing demand for indoor air purifying plants. JCJ gave Gayani funds to start and maintain a nursery successfully for 6 months. In 2021 she began selling the plants online.
2020 Jaffna on Pedal
Nava, an ECO-V 2018 Yathra trainee, started running a weekend cycling project to get young people involved in nature in the highly biodiverse Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka’s north. Nava’s dream is to make Jaffna a cycling destination by 2030. We were happy to support this initiative by providing some initial money to purchase food for the attendees.
2019 Support for Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY)
KAMY is a new grassroots youth-led climate organisation started in 2019, based in Kuala Lumpur. KAMY advocates representative climate action by empowering vulnerable groups and communities in Malaysia. Their activities include capacity building workshops, climate protests, and community and indigenous advocacy. JCJ began a relationship with them by donating to help build their website: https://en.klimaactionmalaysia.org/. This donation helped them kickstart their organisation and connect with target communities around Malaysia. It has been a valuable and versatile tool to grow their organisation through donations, subscriptions, and publicity.
2019 Carteret Islanders Ongoing Support
JCJ continued to support Tulele Peisa, the organisation helping relocate Carteret Islanders from their climate change threatened atolls to the larger island Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. With this round of support, the Tulele Peisa purchased cocoa seedlings, ran workshops on cocoa farming, climate change adaptation, and financial literacy. They also constructed raised garden beds on the atolls to prevent saltwater intrusion ruining crops for the people still living there.
2018 Carteret Islanders Ongoing Support
JCJ partnered with concert pianist Elyane Laussade to raise funds to aid the Carteret Islanders. They needed help building a new life in Bougainville, as their homelands of small atolls are threatened by rising sea levels. The money helped power their administration building and fuel their tractor to distribute cocoa seedlings to their farmers. Cocoa farming allows the islanders to make a living on their new land.
2018 Vanni Yathra
JCJ partnered again with our Sri Lankan partner organisation ECO-V to support their seventh yathra (journey). Like the previous yathras, the projects focus on creating young green leaders to combat the effects of climate change and to promote environmental awareness. The Vanni yathra was the first journey under the leadership of a yathra alumnus, Newton. JCJ managed to fundraise the costs for all 30 bicycles required for the 30 diverse youth to take the 10 day training journey. The key issues addressed during this yathra were food safety, clean water, climate change, healthy living and reducing our carbon footprints. Northern communities, still recovering from the effects of thirty years of war, had little background knowledge of these subjects. JCJ also supported the creation of a short documentary about the 2018 yathra, which you can watch here.
2017 Climate Justice in Bangladesh and West Bengal documentary
JCJ donated to a documentary on the topic of climate justice in Bangladesh and West Bengal. Film-makers Samantha Hunter and Sarah Dodamead demonstrated the effects of climate change, and the hardships imposed upon the lives of the local people. It aimed to raise awareness of the responsibility that the global North has for the current plight of the global South.
2016/17 Youth Climate-Adaptation Photo-voice Workshops
JCJ supported a ‘Climate Photo-Voice’ project. This used visual storytelling to document, share, and showcase grassroots responses to climate impacts across urban communities in Bangladesh, China and Australia. Photo-voice workshops are an ideal mechanism to drive awareness and behaviour change. Over two years, Australian photographer Micheal Chew partnered with the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) to run workshops in Dhaka, Bangladesh with around 100 youth aged 15-30. In 2019 and 2020, successful exhibitions were held in Dhaka and Melbourne, Australia to showcase the results.
2016 Carteret Islanders support
JCJ supported the relocation of the Carteret Islanders, through contacts at Friends of the Earth. The Carteret Islanders are some of the world’s first refugees from rising seas and coastal erosion, as the atolls have a maximum elevation of 1.5m above sea level. There are approximately 2700 people living on the islands that are undertaking a voluntary relocation program, moving to the larger island of Bougainville, PNG. JCJ’s support was used to purchase cocoa seedlings to start a means to earn income on their Bougainville plot of land.
2015 The BGreen Project Conference
JCJ supported The BGreen Project conference in Bangladesh in January 2015 after the success of the conference in 2014. We were delighted that Kanchana Weerakoon, then JCJ Vice President and ECO-V President, could attend from Sri Lanka to give a presentation. Similar to the 2014 conference, it brought experts, professionals, climate-concerned citizens, and youth together to address current environmental issues at hand in their communities, brainstorm and propose solutions.
2015 Support for Friends of Bangladesh Krishok Federation
2015 Sri Lanka 100% Renewables Trip
In September 2015, JCJ sent technical expert Stephen Bygrave, CEO of Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE), to Sri Lanka to link with environmentalists, experts, NGOs, government and industry leaders, with the aim of empowering them to bring about 100% renewable energy. BZE’s extensive research in Australia has demonstrated how the country can reach 100% renewables. In Sri Lanka, Stephen outlined this research to demonstrate the practical feasibility of a no-coal pathway for Sri Lanka. He met with government ministers, the Chamber of Commerce, environment groups, and spoke at a large conference, reaching an audience of over 300 people. The trip received a lot of media attention which helped to put 100% renewables on the Sri Lankan agenda. More information can be found here.
2014 Daylesford Trip, Australian Journey
In September 2014, JCJ partnered with Students4Sustainability, led by Cath Stephenson, to take a group of students to the Daylesford area in Victoria. The trip aimed to share information about community-driven initiatives with sustainability students, particularly those with international roots, enabling them to pass it on to their home countries. The group visited Hepburn Wind, Australia’s first community owned wind farm, a free range farm that sells directly to customers, as well as two local environmental experts. This was conducted as a pilot program for future journeys in Australia.
2014 Bangladesh Youth Action Conference Dhaka – BGreen
JCJ helped fund a part of the BGreen conference in Bangladesh. Over 150 environmental experts, professionals, climate-concerned citizens, and 100 urban youth united to address current environmental issues at hand in their communities, brainstorm and propose solutions. The conference included speakers, educational activities, exercises, and generating action plans. The conference was a resounding success, receiving intense media attention, kick-starting several environmental projects, and successfully building community partnerships among organisations in Bangladesh and beyond.
2014 Project support for ECO-V
JCJ continued supporting our partner organisation ECO-V by funding a new vital position in the organisation. This position, International Coordinator, was responsible for organising the successful 2015 Kolamba Yathra, and coordinating the JCJ-funded 2015 Sri Lanka 100% renewables trip with Stephen Bygrave. The Kolamba Yathra, ‘An Interfaith Journey for Sustainability’ was a one-day program with at least a hundred youth of diverse religious and spiritual backgrounds walking around the city of Colombo – the commercial capital of Sri Lanka – to create awareness of climate change. You can read more about the trip with Stephen Bygrave here. The international coordinator also provided support, resources and guidance for the 2013 Papeedi yathrees and their community projects.
2013 Bangladesh Climate Justice Project
This project was run by JCJ via our volunteer Pat Kirkby in Bangladesh. It aimed to empower and inspire the local grass-roots community to respond to the challenges of climate change. Pat worked tirelessly in Dhaka to provide free training activities on climate change, sustainability and environmental leadership for youth, NGOs, professionals and grass-roots communities. Amongst these activities were a JCJ ‘Climate Solutions Conference’, numerous youth environmental leadership workshops, and Bangladesh’s biggest ever Earth Hour event, which brought together hundreds of bike riders and concerned climate activists. These events generated mass media attention and overwhelming local support. JCJ also selected 3 aspiring youth climate activists to visit climatically vulnerable areas of rural Bangladesh, where the team worked with local grass-roots organisations to develop initiatives that are driving long-lasting change in these climatically-devastated poor rural villages.
2013 Paapedi Bike Journey
The second ECO-V run yathra, Papeedi Bike Journey, aimed to empower 25 young Sri Lankans as social and environmental actors. JCJ funded the 25 bicycles required for the yathrees to travel together for 12 days in an eco-friendly manner. They were taught to engage with the public, how to educate people based on both science and ethics, and how to lead by example. They learnt how to use interactive street theatre, formal presentations, conversation and storytelling. ECO-V taught them how to do water quality testing, air quality testing, and the importance of organic, wholesome and sustainable living. At the end of the yathra the youth pledged to protect and care for Mother Nature using their new-found skills and knowledge.
2013 Vietnam Teacher Training: Environmental Education
In 2013, JCJ supported teacher-training workshops on climate change and environmental education. Teacher training manuals were produced and widely distributed across the Mekong, and flyers were put up throughout local schools and universities. Daniel Bladh, an environmental professional from Sweden who JCJ met through our Mekong Climate Action Project, was the key driver in leading these initiatives. JCJ also sponsored an exhibition of sculptures made from plastic waste, aiming to raise awareness for environmental conservation.
2012 Mekong Climate Action Project
The Mekong Climate Action Project aimed to raise awareness and promote adaptation/ mitigation responses to climate change, as well as to encourage transitions to sustainable lifestyles in Long Xuyen, Vietnam. The project was a collaboration between a leading climate change expert from a Vietnamese university and JCJ volunteers. A large conference, workshops, campaigns, and meetings were held around climate action with over 200 people in attendance. Two academic papers were produced after this project and widely disseminated. This project was at the forefront of climate action in the Mekong at the time and received a high level of media attention. JCJ helped plan and provide logistical support, and Pat Kirkby, the project leader, self-funded the project.
2011 Yathra Follow Up Project
This was a small follow up project from the 2011 Kelani Nadee Yathra in Sri Lanka. Pat Kirkby, a volunteer during the yathra earlier in the year, visited many of the yathrees in their hometowns to help implement their community projects. He helped continue the connections from the yathra and empower the yathrees on their journeys as environmental leaders. Pat also spent some time working with ECO-V, who runs the yathra program. JCJ contributed to his trip expenses.
2011 Kelani Nadee (River) Journey
JCJ’s first project was ECO-V’s Kelani River Journey. ECO-V, our Sri-Lankan partner organisation, began the journey program with the aim of inspiring young people to become the future eco-Leaders of Sri Lanka. At the time, climate issues, climate mitigation and adaptation measures were not discussed on a grassroots level, and there was little awareness or sensitivity in the younger generations. The journey took twelve days, and involved 20 young Sri Lankas who were trained in sustainability, climate change, leadership and green living. The Kelani Journey overall was very successful due to the high media attention it received, which in turn created a national momentum towards eco-friendly mentality, sustainable development, and climate action. The attendees returned to their local communities to initiate their own projects with ECO-V’s support (18/20 implemented at least one awareness program in their local community), and many have stayed in touch with ECO-V, some even instigating their own journeys.