How young Nordic climate organizations mobilize, recruit and retain new activists

The climate crisis is accelerating and young people are on the front line. From the first school strike in 2018 until today, young people have been demanding climate action. Young people are part of communities where they strengthen their voice and ability to collaborate across borders. For more young people to join communities and demand climate action, there is a need to strengthen the organization and mobilization of movements. While questions like “how do we engage more people” or “how do we get those who walk in the door to stay” are key, they must compete with extremely pressing questions like: “How do we stop the production of oil and gas?”. The organizational element of climate communities is therefore often under-prioritized.

With support from the Nordic Council of Ministers, We Do Democracy is running a project from June 2025 to spring 2026 to increase the mobilization, recruitment and retention skills of five Nordic climate organizations. This project will ask the very organizational questions that are so often under-prioritized. Partners on the project are The Green Youth Movement (DK), Apprentices for Sustainability (DK), Extinction Rebellion Norway (Youth) (NO), Extinction Rebellion Finland (FI) and Nordic Climate Justice Coalition.

In the first phase of the project, we will explore how climate organizations best create new activists based on interviews, case studies, research and best practices. This knowledge will be transferred to participating organizations through workshops and a report to explore their current practices for mobilization and recruitment. Finally, the main focus of the project is the co-creation of new processes, principles and tools that strengthen mobilization, recruitment and retention at the participating organizations.

This page will be updated with results.