Youth Leaders for Sustainability

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289639

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Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS AWARDS: existing completed examples

Project title

Youth Leaders for Sustainability

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Description

The Youth Leaders for Sustainability was a creative 12-months project bringing together 200 young active citizens across the EU to share learning and build networks, through cascaded training on specific methodology which culminated to climate action-led initiatives. Through challenge funds for young people we supported 29 environmental and social action projects proposed and implemented by youth in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland/Northern Ireland and Poland. 

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Please provide a summary of your project

The Youth Leaders for Sustainability (full title: Active Citizens Youth Leadership for COP26) was a 12-months creative project bringing together young active citizens across the EU to share learning, engage in advocacy and build networks. In addition, through the Challenge Funds for Young People, the Active Citizens wider Programme supported environmental/social action projects in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Ireland/Northern Ireland which focused on the COP26 priority areas; namely 1.Adaptation and resilience -preparing for the impact of climate change and 2.Nature -safeguarding ecosystems and protecting natural habitats.

The Youth Leaders for Sustainability project rolled out from January to December 2021 and was based on the British Council’s Active Citizens methodology; a social leadership training programme which was tailored to focus on climate change priorities. It highlighted the links between sustainability and intercultural awareness, stressed the principle of inclusion at all phases; from training to action and offered a quality of experience to participants who became part of a youth network working towards the same goals. In the period between February to April 2021, 175 young people were trained in the Active Citizens methodology across the six countries, including Ireland/Northern Ireland in an all-island approach. Following the training, during May to September 2021 young people proposed their ideas of climate action projects,29 of which were seed-funded and implemented across territories in cooperation with more than 100 institutions ranging from CSOs to Municipalities. In October 2021, young people participated in an online international networking event for sharing of good practice and by December 2021 young people's projects had managed to directly engage 5,500 people through workshops, presentations, campaigns and action-led initiatives in the communities, and to reach out to an audience of 66,000 people in social media.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with 5 key words

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability (including circularity) and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

The Youth Leaders for Sustainability aimed to involve young people in a process of learning and action-led initiatives around critical topics of sustainability: resilience and natural environment. The objective was to make links between their local communities and the global challenges deriving from climate change. Young people were encouraged to reflect on their lifestyle, the community needs and the vision of a larger scale impact. The social/climate action project ideas were generated by young people, backed up by mentors in the design phase and were implemented often with the support of the wider community- neighbourhood, municipalities, environmental CSOs etc.

Their ideas varied to a range of initiatives covering food waste, sustainable consumption, restoration/creation of the surrounding environment, plastic-free production, protection of endangered species through

Non formal education workshops for children and youth

Awareness raising Campaigns

Organisation of local festivals/exhibitions

Transformations of the surrounding environment

Policy dialogue and public discussions

Indicatively, a reference to action projects:

Green Footprint, Bulgaria: Environmental workshops to students and parents covering practical advice & tips for making their everyday habits more sustainable.

Zero Food Waste, Cyprus: A local festival in Nicosia covering cooking workshops with raw materials from fruit and vegetable markets intended to be disposed of.

Firebrand, Greece: Awareness campaign and active involvement of citizens in the collection of flammable materials of forest floors to prevent wildfire eruptions.

Dot of a change, Croatia: Preservation of the endangered species of ladybugs and local community awareness on the importance of biodiversity; instructions to public on how to create ‘ladybugs hotels’

YoungEKO, Poland: Workshops for young graphic designers for informed environmental data/ Exhibition

Circular gastronomy, Ireland: Food waste cultural event

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

Through the Active Citizens learning journey participants were called to reflect on their personal behaviours and lifestyle, to learn from and meaningfully interact with their peers and to co-design solutions to contemporary community challenges; this included aesthetics, both in the means and the outcomes for their neighbourhoods and surrounding urban context. Moreover, arts-based approaches were particularly effective for dialogue and action around the complex issue of climate change. The arts were used as a powerful tool to explore sensitive issues in communities and create a safer space to take risks. These approaches supported much needed innovation and creativity in social action.

This project’s learning journey offered a quality of experience for participants through personal empowerment and connection with their peers allowing in small steps, for vision to become a concrete action plan embellished with young people’s innovative ideas.

The case of the Rainwater garden in Włocławek, Poland: Young people had the idea for the construction of a rain garden in a container of one of the courtyards in the centre of Włocławek. A quote from their experience: 'The majority of the community here are people with addiction problems, unemployment and low levels of education. Downtown is characterized by dense, neglected buildings and it is a heavily urbanized area, with largely paved areas. This project was a response to the progressive formation of heat islands in cities. Thanks to the creation of the rain garden, we have strengthened ties and neighbourly relations. The rain garden is a best practice and one of the city's first facilities for sustainable rainwater management. Now, the once deserted backyard rain garden has become a beautiful spot and the centre of the local yard life.'

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion (equal opportunities, public participation, citizen engagement, co-design, universal design, accessibility, affordability, etc.) and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

The project’s overarching vision was ‘Societies whose citizens and institutions contribute and benefit from a more inclusive, open and prosperous world’. To that end, the project was exploring concepts from the individual to the community and reaching out to the wider society through a cascading methodology that reinforced intercultural awareness. Networks, communities and eco-systems that are connected across diversity are more able to adapt and respond in a changing world. Guided by this conviction, the project strengthened the confidence and ability of individuals and communities to build relationships across diversity.

The objective of the project was to include young people of all backgrounds and enable them to become changemakers in their communities. Inclusion was a core value of the project:

-It was implemented in six EU countries and into multiple areas within the countries, including young people with migrant background.

-It supported diverse initiatives of young people coming from different fields; students, researchers; trainers; activists; artists; journalists.

-It provided opportunities for connections and sharing; young people were invited to the consultation process for finalising the toolkit.

-It involved communities of young people coming from post-conflict background i.e. bringing together youth from Ireland and Northern Ireland in an all-island approach.

-Social/climate action projects were rolled out in cooperation with the local community and through partnerships with local actors.

-In cooperation with partners, we made sure that young people’s needs were met with regards to accessibility and affordability (e.g. taking part in training, mentoring etc).

Quote from Climate Craic, an action project undertaken by youth in Ireland/Northern Ireland: ‘One of the most powerful takeaways from the festival was the message of hope and connection (…) We need to come together to make change, which is something we feel the festival really achieved'

Please explain how these three dimensions have been combined in your project.
Please highlight how this approach can be exemplary

Sustainability (Online training/mentorship, learning journey, social/climate action projects responding to global challenges),

Inclusion (Involvement of young people from diverse backgrounds, multi-stakeholder engagement, bringing together communities, cooperating and consulting) and

Aesthetics (quality review, arts-based approaches, quality of experience for participants) are cross-cutting issues which have been guiding the project in its multi-tiered approach (methodology, learning journey, cascading) and multi-stakeholder engagement (local partners, youth, networks and institutional partners).

Through the project we’ve worked with individuals, communities and eco-systems in learning, sharing, creating and supporting action-driven initiatives promoting in parallel understanding of and between individuals and communities. Racial injustice, gender inequality, discrimination and many other social injustices all intersect with the environmental movement. All these dimensions have been considered throughout the project as they are part of what makes society function in the way it does. And in response to these dimensions, the project has aimed to combine the three principles ‘sustainability, inclusion and aesthetics’ as a pillar for inspiring change through youth empowerment and social innovation for climate action.

Moreover, what makes the project exemplary is

• the cascading methodology and multipliers’ approach
• the bridging of reflection/theory and action/practice
• the flexibility in tailoring approaches according to the groups of young people and the context in order to be relatable to local communities.

Please give information on the results/impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for

The project had a three-fold approach:

-Learning & Cascading. Trainers get accustomed to the methodology and they then cascade it to young people

-Supporting action through mentorship and seed funding

-Ensuring legacy through the created networks and partnerships

These three key elements have been crucial for implementation in the six countries. Young people in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Greece, Ireland/NI and Poland went through a learning journey that resulted to concrete action projects enabling them to connect with their community, to explore moving from knowledge to reflection, from exercising skills to influencing behaviours and from envisioning to designing. This journey has opened them up to the society, their potential and the critical role they have in making this a better world for themselves and for future generations; by being part of a supporting network whose compasses are sustainability and inclusion.

A number of 175 young people were trained across these six countries (including Ireland/Northern Ireland in an all-island approach).

29 small scale social/climate action projects were seed funded and implemented across EU territories in cooperation with more than 100 institutions ranging from CSO's to Municipalities.

Young people's projects managed to engage directly 5,500 people through workshops, presentations, campaigns and action-led initiatives in the communities and to reach out to an audience of 66,000 people in social media.

Finally, the Active Citizens Climate Change toolkit was consolidated through consultation including young people/partners.

Please explain how citizens and civil society were involved in the in the design and/or implementation of the project.
Please also explain the benefits that derived from their involvement.

The whole project concept is based on engaging civil society and citizens in the design and implementation as it relies on the multiplying effects and mutual learning deriving from people; facilitators, youth and partners.

British Council reached out to environmental and youth CSOs on national levels, to engage as partners to the project who in turn, identified a group of facilitators that underwent international training on the Active Citizens methodology. A methodology which is values-driven, entails concrete steps from the individual to the community and stimulates critical action. Facilitators then cascaded the learning journey to participants in each community that had been identified by project partners (CSOs) through their networks or through open calls to youth. Participants in the project were young people interested in promoting climate-themed goals around nature and resilience. They were mainly young activists with diverse backgrounds (artists, entrepreneurs, trainers, scientists) connected to a local partner organisation as volunteers or as grassroots changemakers. After taking part in national training in their own country, these young people were supported by project partners and mentored by facilitators to develop social/climate action projects around issues that mattered to them and that helped foster community cohesion. These small scale social/climate action projects varied from non-formal education workshops for children and adults, to awareness raising campaigns on specific climate themed topics, zero food waste festivals and urban revitalisation through the creation and/or revival of community gardens.

Involving civil society and citizens, was a critical factor for ensuring engagement and sustainability of project impact. The co-design and cooperative element gave a sense of ownership and provided with the minimum guarantee that the outcomes would last and would in turn benefit the community.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the project addressed by providing local solutions

The project worked across countries through partnerships with local organisations; environmental and/or youth CSOs reinforcing institutional cooperation for the implementation of social/climate action projects conceived and led by youth. The project approach aligns with SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals, enhancing multi-stakeholder partnerships and voluntary commitments as well as working on building capacity for organisations and youth. Through this approach the project managed to upscale its impact both geographically and in terms of sustainability.

The diverse social/climate action projects which were implemented as a result across territories focused on the COP26 priority areas; namely

(1) Adaptation and resilience. ‘Helping people, economies and the environment adapt and prepare for the impacts of climate change.’

(2) Nature. ‘Safeguarding ecosystems, protecting natural habitats and keeping carbon out of the atmosphere.’

Although small scale, project ideas provided local solutions to global challenges such as

• Waste management and circular production (The other side of the plate, Circular Gastronomy, Zero food waste)
• Protection of endangered species (Dot of a change)
• Restoration/preservation of natural habitats (Shared Gardens, City’s Blooming Bulb, Rainwater garden Włocławek, A seed of hope, Greener Mesaoria, The tree of a child, Firebrand, Save Green Areas and our beaches)
• Lack of awareness and realisation of the impacts of climate change (Green Footprint, My Green Way, HumanWave, Green35, Climate Creativity, You still don’t think you should care, Climate Cabaret, #FreePlasticUni, Mobilise the island COP26, Climate action on film, YoungEKO, PO Revolution, Talking Climate Workshops, Ecological heart of the city, Social Action for Social change, Active Circle, Running fluent, Uncomfortably comfortable, No junk mail!)

Please highlight the innovative character of the project as compared to mainstream practices in the field of the project.

The project was guided by values-based principles, backed up by specific methodology and learning and implemented by combining a set of approaches. These approaches were:

Understand the landscape

Understanding the landscape of climate change work helped to identify potential partners and to adapt the project to national and local contexts. This involved looking at national policy and international agreements, consulting with key stakeholders and mapping the different actors.

A multi-stakeholder approach

Working with partners across sectors and with different parts of the community has been a strengthening factor of our climate programme. We mobilised communities to help design, shape and implement effective responses to local issues.

Working with decision-makers

Impact can be amplified by engaging with institutions early on and throughout the programme. The project provided opportunities for advocacy and to feed into policy work, but also to influence how decision-makers understand climate change and those who are most affected.

Diversity amongst participants

A diverse group of participants enriched the learning, outcomes and the social/climate action projects. Revealing and exploring different perspectives together, and engaging in positive dialogue, was central to the outcomes.

Sharing success and learning

There is huge potential for mutual learning to strengthen climate work and that was a strong point for the project, involving youth, partners and stakeholders in every country as well as providing opportunities for linkages between them.

Creating safe and open spaces

The project ensured a safe and open space for dialogue and to explore the issues, including facilitator training and support and the methods used by facilitators.

All the above, have been intrinsically working altogether and along with the engagement of young people, highlight the innovative character of the project.

Please explain to the potential of transferring the projects’ results or learnings to other interested parties and contexts.
Please provide clear documentation, communication of methodology and principles in this context.

The Youth Leaders for Sustainability project had a core learning journey that was based on the Active Citizens Climate Change Toolkit guided by the values of sustainability and inclusion through a strengthened methodology focusing on the quality of experience for participants. It was a process that enabled people to explore things from different perspectives, to develop peoples’ understanding and to practice skills and behaviours by reflecting on their experiences in real life settings. The stages shifted from the individual to the community and eventually to the wider ecosystem through social and/or climate action; the steps of the learning process were as follows:

1. Me: Nature, identities and cultures

 Exploring self-confidence & awareness, connection with Nature and of valuing diversity.

2. Me & you: Climate & dialogue

Learning and sharing in practice, engaging with different perspectives on climate change and understanding how dialogue can be a tool for addressing climate change issues.

3. We together: Climate change, communities & ecosystems

Understanding the characteristics, opportunities and issues within a community as well as the wider eco-system and their interdependence. By understanding systems and power and by promoting climate justice, we can generate improved trust and increased cohesion in and between communities.

4. Social action and Climate action

Enhancing skills for project planning and delivery, proposing approaches to collective action and design climate sensitive project planning.

This model could be upscaled and transferred to other cultural, climate and social projects. To that end, we have attached the Active Citizens Climate change toolkit offering concrete methodology as well as a range of insights, activities and case studies from across the world. This toolkit was produced in consultation with many trainers, CSOs representatives and activists and was finalised in November 2021.

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