About Us

Climate Action Network Zimbabwe (CAN Zimbabwe) is a non-governmental and not for profit organization established in 2021. CAN Zimbabwe’s affiliated to Southern Africa Region CAN (SARCAN), CAN Africa (CANA) and Climate Action Network (CAN) International. Climate Action Network (CAN) is a powerful global network of more than 1,500 civil society organizations in over 130 countries driving collective and sustainable action to fight the climate crisis and to achieve social and racial justice. CAN convenes and coordinates civil society at the UN climate talks and other international fora.

During CAN general Assembly in January 2020 in Arusha Tanzania, members of CAN based in Zimbabwe were asked to establish CAN Zimbabwe hinged on a vision of developing a well-coordinated networking structure that would be able to reach a wider community in the country and offer a platform for voices unheard. Establishment of CAN Zimbabwe has been a critical step towards empowering Zimbabweans to become aware of climate change sciences and related impacts to their environment. Importantly, the establishment of CAN Zimbabwe was hinged on a vision of developing a networking structure that would be able to reach a wider community in the country and offer a platform for voices unheard.

The overall objective is to connect, inform, mobilize, influence, advocate and empower the Zimbabwean community to collectively raise the national voice in the international climate change debate and take smarter actions to reduce dangerous activities that lead to harmful impacts triggered by climate change. The idea being to strengthen the ability of organizations concerned with climate change in Zimbabwe to address this issue effectively. This would be through providing support for lobbying and advocacy activities, training, education and awareness, exchange of information, pooling of resources and expanding the network. CAN Zimbabwe leverages on the diverse strengths of the network members and build alliances with like-minded networks for transformational change on national level. CAN Zimbabwe will incubate and support the development of new climate initiatives to advocate action in Zimbabwe or sectors.

 Today, the organization works with more than 120 Civil Society Organizations across the country. The long-term goal of the organization is to empower more communities to take appropriate actions and to adapt to situations under the changing climate through knowledge generation and sharing as well as raising awareness and setting up model projects, which demonstrate how climate change challenges can be addressed across levels and scales to meet the national development goals.

The approach we choose for the realization of our activity implementation does not only consider a national perspective on climate change debates, rather covers a broader spectrum from the local, national to the international horizon. This is a result of the experience gained through working with local authorities which has demonstrated relevance in strengthening as well as broadening its operations to enable CAN Zimbabwe to achieve more on its current and future interventions.

The expansion of this approach works in line with the organizations’ emphasis to work more practically on the ground through the implementation of model projects.  This will be supported by increased emphasis on conducting research and policy analysis which will enable CAN Zimbabwe to fulfill its long-term vision of becoming the leading climate change ‘think and do tank’. This will enable CAN Zimbabwe to meet the growing need from civil society organizations, local government and the general public for more up to date, country specific climate change information, advice and initiatives.

We dream about ensuring and realizing socio-economically powerful and climate-resilient communities which take actions to mitigate climate change impacts whilst using natural resources wisely.

We strive for a fossil-free world that allows every human being, irrespective of gender and social-economic background, to live a carefree life.

We believe that decentralization, capacity enhancement, and knowledge transfer can contribute to resilient livelihoods that are threatened by climate change.

We believe that through the power of every individual, we can transform societies into tolerant and equal entities that care for the health of our planet and make it sustainable.

• CAN Zimbabwe’s mission is to support and empower civil society organizations to influence the design and development of an effective global and local strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure its implementation at international, national and local levels in the promotion of equity and sustainable development.
• Ensuring and realizing socio-economic, environmental and climate resilient communities which take actions to mitigate climate change impacts whilst using natural resources wisely.
• To protect the atmosphere while allowing for sustainable and equitable development in Zimbabwe.

We dream about ensuring and realizing socio-economically powerful and climate-resilient communities which take actions to mitigate climate change impacts whilst using natural resources wisely.

We strive for a fossil-free world that allows every human being, irrespective of gender and social-economic background, to live a carefree life.

We believe that decentralization, capacity enhancement, and knowledge transfer can contribute to resilient livelihoods that are threatened by climate change.

We believe that through the power of every individual, we can transform societies into tolerant and equal entities that care for the health of our planet and make it sustainable.

• To prevent dangerous climate change impacts through awareness and capacity building of governments and citizens in Zimbabwe.
• To protect the global climate from dangerous human interference.
• To be the conscience of the world concerning issues of climate change.
• To prioritize sustainable development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
• To inspire government, business, community, and individual action to climate change effect.
• To develop an objective understanding of climate change and its causes, and share this information with all people, especially all members.
• To organize, support, inspire and co-ordinate its members to take effective action on climate change, either as one global voice, or in the regions where members operate.