Today we are pleased to announce the launch of a new action which represents two firsts: Our first action in Latin America, and our first action related to climate change.

For the next year, EUDiF will support Red Global MX UK (RGMX-UK), the British chapter of a Mexican diaspora network, to develop a toolkit for citizen education on climate change and circular economy. Diaspora academics in the RGMX-UK network will co-draft the toolkit with civil society organisations in Mexico In preparing the toolkit in this collaborative way, RGMX-UK will develop and test a structured way of generating and transferring knowledge between the diaspora and Mexico, a system they hope to reproduce on many other topics in the future.

Mexico’s global responsibility and resource

This action follows SDG 13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning. The goal places education at the heart of reacting to one of the world’s highest priority emergencies: climate change. Mexico has a global responsibility on its shoulders as one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, but it requires more informed action to care for its natural resources. Education in the area of the climate crisis is a high priority issue in Mexico and has been taken seriously. For example, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is taught at all levels of the Mexican school system. The ESD course was built by the government working hand in hand with civil society. Through this action, a very important development actor joins Mexico’s efforts: its diaspora.

Mexican academics abroad are keen to play their part in the fight against climate change from their countries of residence. Their experience and knowledge is an invaluable resource for Mexico’s environmental ambitions. So where to begin and how to make the most of the enormous human capital in a sustainable way for all involved?

Academia in action

Through the organisation of co-creation events, EUDiF will assist RGMX-UK in structuring technical knowledge transfer between Mexico and Europe with diaspora academics as catalysts. The aim is to create a system that can be replicated, according to the strategic needs of Mexico and the diaspora’s knowledge. The EUDiF action will support the pilot on SDG13.3, climate change and circular economy education:

Specifically, the action will do the following:

• Map Mexican academia working on climate change and green economy
• Strengthen RGMX-UK’s network at the global level and promote its work
• Co-design a toolkit for citizen education on climate change and  circular economy
• Generate guidance on how to replicate and scale up academic diaspora knowledge transfer in other development sectors

Who is involved

The Mexican Talent Network (“Red de Talentos Mexicanos”, later renamed “Red Global MX”) was created with the support of the Mexican government in 2005. The network brings together highly qualified diaspora members around the world interested in promoting the development of Mexico and in particular through the insertion of Mexico in the knowledge economy. The Mexican Talent Network is organised through chapters by country and region, which operate independently and autonomously define their strategic focus. Additionally, the network is also structured in nodes (“nodos”), which are CSOs and academic institutions based in Mexico that interact and engage with the different chapters around the world. The nodes are in charge of bringing the projects of the members of the network to the local level. They are a bridge between highly qualified Mexicans abroad and state actors (universities, local governments, companies, and civil society) to promote innovation, entrepreneurship, science and technology. As of today, the Mexican Talent Network includes more than 70 chapters in 30 countries (17 European countries), and 17 nodes in Mexico.

RGMX-UK, the main beneficiary of the action, is the UK chapter of the Mexican Talent Network, and was created in 2010 by members of the Mexican diaspora living in the UK and with close links to academia. The main objectives of the organisation has been to inspire and facilitate the creation of networks, partnerships and empowerment processes among their members and other stakeholders, to amplify the contribution of highly qualified diaspora professionals to Mexico’s development from abroad, fostering knowledge transfer, entrepreneurship and strengthening the Mexican diaspora community.

For more details on the action and an overview of the activities, have a look at our step-by-step methodology:

Cover photo by Jezael Melgoza on Unsplash