Creating opportunities for young coffee farmers in Honduras using climate services Findings from on-line training in Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) Diana Giraldo, Gabriela Jiménez, Diego Obando, Graham Clarkson, Peter Dorward JULY 2021 Key messages n Young leaders in their communities successfully acted as facilitators of PICSA implementation in a scalable process, working in a network with the relevant coffee stakeholders in a collaborative learning process. n Young people can act as generators of change in their communities through digital inclusion which enables them to share local information to support coffee farmers’ decision-making. n The online PICSA training of young people in rural communities has considerable potential but requires additional facilitator skills and new approaches. It can also complement face-to- face activities and training. n IHCAFE is interested in using PICSA as a climate service and as a system to support their coffee extension services. This info note summarises the findings from the online PICSA training carried out from June 15 to 16 - 2020, 45 young people from coffee-growing families as agents of change within their communities, followed by the field implementation with coffee farmers from July - August 2020. The training was part of the CONECTA+ project led by the Secretary of Natural Resources and Environment - MiAmbiente+ and implemented with coffee growers by the Honduran Coffee Institute (IHCAFE) with the support of the Technological University of Honduras (UTH), who endorses teaching processes to university level. PICSA was developed by the University of Reading within the framework of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and with initial support from Nuffield Africa. PICSA supports farmers in making their own plans and decisions, tailored to each farmer’s own ‘context’ in their production systems, through a series of group and individual activities using participatory tools as described in Dorward et al. (2015). Context – PICSA, Coffee and Climate Typically, PICSA starts with face-to-face training of intermediaries (i.e., the extension service, NGO staff or farmers’ associations) who are already working directly with farmers (Clarkson et al., 2019; Staub & Clarkson, 2021). However, the constraints imposed by COVID-19 required, in many circumstances, a transition from face-to- face to online training beyond these "intermediaries" who also had restrictions carrying out their work in the field. Young people (who are part of coffee families where parents still play a large role in coffee farming) are already actively using online platforms and apps for education and entertainment. These young farmers can not only influence their family farms but can share ideas and approaches with others. They may also be more likely to stay actively involved in coffee farming if they can find new ways of doing things, including engaging digitally. During 2020 when COVID-19 prevented face-to-face training, young people became a bridge between farmers and intermediaries in facilitating PICSA implementation in the field. The trained young people worked with farmers through a series of PICSA activities using participatory tools. Activities included facilitating a) each farmer to consider their own context and resources, b) analysing historical climate information to explore local climatology, climate change and their implications, c) exploring the