Latin American Youth Climate Scholarship

What Latin American Youth Climate Scholarship does

LAYCS (Latin American Youth Climate Scholarship / La Beca Latinoamericana para J\u00f3venes sobre el Clima) is a fellowship program operated under the Dutch NGO Stichting Youth for Sustainable Travel (founded 2019, KvK 73667234, RSIN 859621376) and headquartered at Van Helt Stocadestraat 20H, Amsterdam. Founded operationally in 2023, the program recruits young Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) representatives from across Latin America via open written applications and interviews, then provides virtual training, conference participation support, and post-conference community grants. Its core mission is to counteract financial, linguistic, and procedural barriers that limit Global South youth representation in UNFCCC climate negotiations, framing participation from an anti-racist perspective.

The program operates through four sequential phases: Selection (applications and interviews), Virtual Training (four foundational sessions plus 10 pre-COP sessions covering Loss and Damage, Global Goal on Adaptation, and Global Stocktake, with expert thematic input and four professional interpreters), Conference Participation (scholars attend UNFCCC COPs and intersessional SB meetings such as SB62 in Bonn), and Community Work (small grants for scholars to disseminate learnings back to home communities). The team comprises three coordinators (Alicia Amancio in Brazil, Viviam Villafa\u00f1a in Colombia, Clara von Glasow in Germany), with Clara von Glasow and Viviam Villafa\u00f1a recognized by Forbes Colombia and Forbes M\u00e9xico respectively in 2023.

LAYCS is funded through grants and donations administered via its fiscal sponsor Stichting Youth for Sustainable Travel; specific funder identities are not disclosed. The program has run four annual cohorts (2023-2026), with cohort sizes growing from 12 to 14 scholars, drawing from 13+ Latin American countries including Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Dominican Republic. By 2023 the program had received 5,700 applications, indicating strong inbound demand relative to capacity.

Name

Latin American Youth Climate Scholarship

Legal name

Stichting Youth for Sustainable Travel

Website

https://laycs.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

LAYCS is a Dutch-NGO-administered fellowship program that selects Latin American BIPOC youth annually for funded participation in UNFCCC climate conferences, providing training, interpretation, and community grants across 13+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Amsterdam

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Foundation Funding / Grant-Based Model: LAYCS operates as a scholarship program funded primarily through grants and donations. The legal entity Stichting Youth for Sustainable Travel (a Dutch NGO) provides administrative support and acts as the fiscal sponsor. The program provides fellowship positions to selected BIPOC youth from Latin America, covering participation costs for international climate conferences.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

LAYCS is a fellowship program for Latin American BIPOC youth that selects participants through written applications and interviews, delivers virtual training on climate policy topics (Loss and Damage, Global Goal on Adaptation, Global Stocktake), funds participation in UNFCCC conferences (COP and intersessional meetings) with professional interpretation support, and provides grants for community-level dissemination of learnings after the conference. The program is administered by the Dutch NGO Stichting Youth for Sustainable Travel and is offered at no cost to selected scholars.

Product overview

LAYCS (Latin American Youth Climate Scholarship) is a fellowship program designed to enable meaningful, inclusive, and continuous participation of BIPOC youth from Latin America in international climate spaces. The program operates through four phases: Selection, Virtual Training, Conference Participation, and Community Work. It is administered by Stichting Youth for Sustainable Travel, a Dutch NGO.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• LAYCS Fellowship Program Annual fellowship program that selects Latin American BIPOC youth representatives through written applications and interviews, provides virtual training on climate policy topics (Loss and Damage, Global Goal on Adaptation, Global Stocktake), funds participation in UNFCCC conferences (COP and intersessional meetings), and provides grants for community-level follow-up work. Delivered at no cost to selected scholars.
• LAYCS Fellowship 2026 Briefings Position papers and briefings on Adaptation and Just Transition prepared for SB64, available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Produced by LAYCS scholars as part of the fellowship program.

Quantifiable outcome

• 5,700 applications received by 2023 from across Latin America
• +1 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Stichting Youth for Sustainable TravelcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Dutch NGO Stichting Youth for Sustainable Travel serves as the legal entity and fiscal sponsor for LAYCS. It provides administrative, social, and legal support to the scholarship program. Founded January 11, 2019, RSIN 859621376, KvK 73667234.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• 350.org: Large global grassroots climate organization. Not a direct competitor but a broad incumbent operating in the same climate-justice space with significantly more scale and capacity; useful reference point for funder perception and capacity-building standards.
• Fridays for Future: Global youth climate strike movement with strong Latin American chapters. Broad incumbent in the youth climate movement; relevant for understanding youth climate participation patterns that LAYCS serves.

Others

• YOUNGO: Official children and youth constituency of the UNFCCC. LAYCS alumni and coordinators (e.g., Clara von Glasow as former Global Focal Point) participate in YOUNGO; it functions as the institutional channel through which LAYCS scholars engage with UNFCCC.
• Global Greengrants Fund: Environmental grantmaker that channels small grants to community-based climate and conservation projects globally, with strong Latin American portfolio. Comparable in mission (funding Global South environmental participation) though operating through grants rather than scholarships.

Direct peers

• Generation Climate: US youth-led coalition advocating for climate action in federal policy, with strong UNFCCC lobbying components. Direct comparable: youth climate lobbying and capacity building at international climate spaces, although Generation Climate focuses on US racial-equity frames rather than Latin America.
• Earth Uprising: Youth-led climate education and advocacy organization with training programs for young climate leaders. Direct comparable: similar youth-climate-leadership training and conference support model, with comparable scale.
• Climate Cardinals: Youth-led global organization providing climate-related translation and education access. Direct comparable: both are youth-focused climate capacity-building nonprofits operating internationally with volunteer/staff models similar in scale to LAYCS.
• SustainUS: US-based youth-led nonprofit training and sending young people to UN climate negotiations. Direct comparable: identical model (youth scholarship + training + UNFCCC participation), with SustainUS focusing on US delegates versus LAYCS's Latin American BIPOC focus.
• Climate Tracker: Global youth climate journalism and policy training nonprofit with regional hubs including Latin America. Direct comparable: trains young people on climate policy and supports their participation in UNFCCC and related processes, overlapping LAYCS's capacity-building mission.

Regional players

• African Youth Climate Assembly: Continental platform coordinating African youth participation in climate negotiations. Closest regional analog to LAYCS but for Africa; useful as a structural comparable for how regional youth coalitions engage UNFCCC.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/latin-american-youth-climate-scholarships

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Latin American Youth Climate Scholarship