Are you passionate about sustainability and would like to make the city where you live greener and rich in nature? Discover the EUROplant project, an initiative funded by Eurodesk Poland!

The participants helped make three cities in Poland greener, promoting the importance of sustainability as a collective action.

The EUROplant Project

The project took place in October 2022 in three cities in the southern of Poland (Piekary Śląskie, Częstochowa and Rybnik).

The initiative wanted to improve the quality of life in the cities, renewing green spaces and parks. The association organised some training sessions with the aim of promoting the values of sustainable living and the importance of reducing our environmental impact for the community.

During the project, three tree-planting actions were organised and involved participants of all ages. Older townspeople, children and officials of the city council and the youth city council took part in the action.

The Rethink Foundation

“The Rethink Foundation” collaborated during the organisation of the initiative.

The foundation has the goals of bringing communities together to collaborate and have a good impact on social and environmental projects.

The organisers provided clear guidance to participants on how to properly plant trees within the green areas of cities.

Subsequently the participants registered the trees in the municipal offices, to monitor and cure them in the future.

At the end of the project the participants were extremely satisfied with the positive effects of the initiative and they could enjoy the new green areas of the cities.

The aims of the project

The aims of the project were the following:

• developing gardening skills
• uniting and getting to know residents
• meeting local authorities with residents in a joint action
• expanding knowledge about vegetation in cities
• getting acquainted with the activities of Eurodesk offices
• promoting good civic attitudes
• creating a wooded space that would renew water and reduce the temperature in summer

The conditions of the project

The project had an extremely positive impact on the city and community.

Here is the testimony of Paulina, a participant in the project:

“For me, these towns – Piekary Śląskie, Rybnik and Częstochowa – are part of the industrial region, Silesia, where I come from. Although for several years I have been actively taking care of my immediate environment, the flower beds, lawns and small shrubs around the house, I would never have thought that it would have been so easy to take care of areas belonging to the city and use the space on the estate. I was afraid it would take a lot of time and require a lot of approvals and paperwork. Planting plants together not only helped me get through this, but also proved that the city authorities are willing to get involved in various projects. If there were more of such activities, not only the highly urbanised but also the industrial and heavily polluted areas would probably be redeveloped and greened faster thanks to social initiatives!”

Read more about the project here.

Read also

Improve your Communication Skills | Stagecraft for Youth Workers

Digital entrepreneurship and self-employment | Training Course

L'articolo The EUROplant Project | Greener and More Sustainable Cities proviene da Youth Networks.

But how to equip our learners toward a green transition? How to give them the necessary skills so that their contribution is actual and effective?

Green Transition: Online Panel

The European Commission has organised a Policy and Practice Forum high-level panel.

The panel is in the presence of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth and Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director-General for Education, UNESCO.

It will address the learning-action nexus around sustainability, asking how to concretely equip learners with the necessary skills for the green transition.

It will be followed by introducing the concrete co-design dialogues between community members and policy experts around community challenges at different stages of their development.

Additional Information

The Education for Climate Policy and Practice Forum will take place on May 5th online at 10:00 – 10:50 (CEST). The speaking language will be English.

Enrol to this event.

Read also

ALMA | Work Abroad Initiative Under the European Year of Youth 2022

Create and Evaluate International Mobility Projects | QualityMobility.app

L'articolo Green Transition | How To Equip Learners proviene da Youth Networks.

Erasmus+ Priorities

Among the objectives to pursue, here are the four main ones:

• Promoting inclusion and diversity;
• Making projects ‘greener’ and encouraging environmentally sustainable and responsible behaviour among participants and participating organisations;
• Supporting the digital transition through projects and activities that boost digital skills, foster digital literacy and develop understanding of the risks and opportunities of digital technology;
• Promoting the participation of young people in democratic processes and civic engagement.

Environmental Sustainability

A new research maps out Erasmus+ projects in education for environmental sustainability and highlights 15 case studies, summarising the findings from the Erasmus+ programme which showcase successful educational approaches towards learning for environmental sustainability. 

Education and training plays a crucial role in helping people understand and act on environmental sustainability. For this reason, the European Commission supports actions which work towards this goal. According to a new study, there have been thousands of Erasmus+ projects which focus on learning for environmental sustainability since 2014.

The Power of European Projects Toward Sustainability

Over European Projects, transnational teams come together to explore environmental challenges of common European and global concern, with a variety of innovative, interdisciplinary, hands-on methods: from simulation games, and science-technology-society education models, to GPS-based scavenger hunt apps.

Explore these successful cases, and get inspiration!

Read also

Report on the Outcomes of Erasmus+ Projects

Toolbox on Values, Sustainability and Social Impact of Social-Solidarity Economy

L'articolo Erasmus+ Projects for Environmental Sustainability proviene da Youth Networks.

The project beneficiaries of Erasmus+ can now benefit from a step-by-step guide accompanying them in their “communication journey”, from their planning phase until evaluation of their communication activities’ impact.

These guidelines aim to encourage programmes’ beneficiaries to share their stories and project results with their local communities, stakeholders and EU Institutions and give access to a wide range of tools and resources to maximise project’s promotion.

Communication Guidelines For Projects’ Beneficiaries

This guide aims to support beneficiaries of Erasmus+, European Solidarity Corps and Creative Europe programmes in their communication activities.

These communication guidelines consist of five sections organised in chronological steps. Each step is explained according to the “what, why, how” methodology, which aims to show all the details of the actions you will perform.

Never Start Without Planning

EU-funded projects may have a long-term cycle, made up of different stages and different partners involved. That’s why it is important to plan your communication activities and agree upon tasks accordingly.

Create Your Visual Identity

A visual identity includes all visual elements (i.e.: logo, font, images) that can be associated with your project. It reflects your communication strategy, the context of the Programme and underpins all your communication activities.

Write Your Project’s Stories From The Beginning

Document your journey and turn your destination into a compelling read! Let your target audience know what you are up to: from your project goals and partners’ roles to activities or outputs, your project stories can inspire the public, policymakers and organisations that are active in your field.

Share Your Project Results

Communication goes beyond the activity itself, like writing news about your project or a post on social media. Communication happens when you effectively reach your target audiences and manage to engage with them. To do so, it is essential to share your stories and results through the right channels. This step is a key moment of your #CommsJourney and show how your project can make a difference!

Don’t Forget Evaluation

Evaluating your communication activities and understanding how effective they are is the last step of successful strategic communication

Download the Guidelines for your EU Projects Communications.

Read also

Project Results: “Inner Bridge: From Self Awareness To Self Expression”

The Meaning of Solidarity in European Projects

L'articolo Communication Guidelines For Project Beneficiaries proviene da Youth Networks.

The conference takes place online on Facebook Live. The date is Wednesday 9th December 2020 at 3 pm (UTC+01 time) and lasts till 5 pm.

The initiative Introduction Day of “Step into solidarity” is part of the broader KA2-strategic partnership project “Living Solidarity Alliance”. The aim of the project is creating learning opportunities for youthworkers. Moreover it follows the purpose of designing together the intellectual outcomes in the form of researches, along with videos, podcast-series and guidebooks. The conference focuses especially on how to implement the Solidarity focus in the local Youthwork.

The schedule of the conference is:

1. Introduction:

• Getting to know each other
• Short Preview over the project and its main objective
• how to get involved

2. Map of Expertise:

• Presenting different dimensions of solidarity: youth policy, disability, refugees, rural areas
• share the different directions of possible solidarity actions
• meet in small groups the best practices and listing the areas of interest, finding common dimensions

3. Space for Developing Partnerships

• present and discuss different possibilities for NGOs/experts/individuals to contribute and join the project

4. Final discussion and Conclusions & next steps

Several organisations have already confirmed their participation. Among them Associazione Joint, that is hosting online the Annual General Meeting of the informal network right before the online conference.

To register go to the online form and for any question contact living.solidarity.alliance@gmail.com.

Read also
Annual General Meeting of the Informal Network – Associazione Joint

L'articolo Introduction Day of “Step Into Solidarity” – Online Conference proviene da Youth Networks.