Hilda Flavia Nakabuye at ICOM Prague 2022 (image Twitter @IcomOfficiel)
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Call for more youth involvement in museum’s sustainability efforts

Image:Hilda Flavia Nakabuye at ICOM Prague 2022 (Twitter @IcomOfficiel)

Ugandan activist Hilda Flavia Nakabuye made the call to museums and organisations around the world during a keynote speech at ICOM Prague 2022

A call has been made for greater youth involvement in museums’ efforts to address climate change.

Hilda Flavia Nakabuye, a Ugandan activist, made the call during the International Council of Museum’s ICOM Prague 2022 event.

In a keynote speech titled “Sustainability: Museums and Resilience”, Nakabuye said greater involvement of youth in museums would help to address climate issues, as would their greater involvement in the governance of ICOM.

 

Nakabuye said there was a need for cultural institutions to include young people, a move which would address the needs of younger generations and help to bridge stronger communicate through new trends.

During the keynote, the 25-year-old said: “Museums are not just buildings, they are the roots to preserve our cultural heritage, and this place needs to be shared with the young generation in ways that are understandable to them.

“Youth should be actively involved in ICOM activities and decision-making processes, youth must be included if we want to achieve sustainability”. The keynote was reportedly met with a standing ovation.

Nakabuye founded Uganda’s Fridays for Future movement, a youth-led global student climate strike movement first made popular by Greta Thunberg. One of her environmental concerns is saving Lake Victoria, which connects Uganda to neighboring countries.

The Fridays for Future movement in Uganda is now Africa’s largest youth movement with over 50,000 young people spread across 52 schools and five universities, as well as members of the general public across Uganda, Sierra Leone, Angola, Gabon, Nigeria and Kenya.