Climate change and humanitarian aid are two of the most discussed issues in recent years and requires urgent solutions.

That is why it is extremely important to involve the new generations, because they will have to deal with the serious consequences caused by these phenomenons.

For this reason, on 15 November 2022, the commissioner Janez Lenarčič led a conference attended by 14 young participants from all over Europe.

There were 12 participants between 18 and 28 years old that were selected via their personal interest and global concern towards humanitarian affairs. They were joined by two representatives of the European Youth Forum.

The conference allowed to create a moment of discussion about the impact that climate change has on our lives.

Young people were able to express their views, proposing alternatives and solutions to this problem.

If you missed the event, read on and learn how to watch the conference video.

The aims of the dialogue

This event took place as part of the European Year of Youth, which aimed to engage young people in building a greener, more inclusive and digital future for Europe.

Throughout this conference, the participants engaged focused particularly on humanitarian aid on a global scale, matters related to Ukraine, and the adaptation to climate change to cater to the needs of the younger generation.

Their input and concerns were very useful, as they play a pivotal role in ensuring the ongoing delivery of EU aid, with special emphasis on providing consistent support to those in the greatest need.

The topics of the discussion

The outcome of the event can be summarised as follows:

1. Increase EU humanitarian aid funding to keep up with the consequences of crisis both on the European level and globally. Address food security at global level and the special needs of young people during crisis. Facilitate structural changes to tackle the root causes of crises. In international fora, advocate for an increased cooperation with Member States and other organisations. Tackle refugee needs at the EU level addressing situations in border regions.
2. Prioritize education in emergencies and boost youth participation in societies, with an increase in the allocation of humanitarian funds to education (above the current 10% objective). Recognise the significance of education for the development of countries affected by a crisis. Address the importance of teachers’ resilience in crises with more training, more budget and more healthcare in emergencies.
3. Prepare for the future with relevant solutions of climate change consequences. Learn to better tackle climate change effects with the use of science and innovative technologies. Strengthen prevention, preparedness and emergency response by including climate adaptation measures, compensations for countries at risk, stronger collaboration with EU national authorities.
4. Consider the creation of a permanent youth panel on humanitarian issues

The Video Resume

The event was very useful and allowed to draw some food for thought for future decisions on these issues.

If you want to learn what more about the event you can view the video resume on the official website.

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L'articolo Climate Change and Humanitarian Aid | The Policy Dialogue proviene da Youth Networks.

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.

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

Are you a youth worker and want to discover new techniques to make youth mobility greener and more environmentally sustainable?

Read on and discover how to participate in the Training course “Greening International Youth Mobilities” organised by the Biodiversa association.

The project will take place from 2 to 8 October 2023 at Valeri, Spain.

The project

This training course is for youth workers and youth project organisers that want to learn how to reduce their negative impact on the environment during projects and make youth mobility greener.

This project will be based on non-formal education methods, such as games, workshops and experiential activities.

The organisations will be combining peer-to-peer learning with training and guidance from experienced trainers and facilitators.

What to expect from the training course

The aims of this training are:

• To decrease the negative environmental impact of youth mobilities
• To promote techniques to have a positive impact on the environment through a youth mobility project
• To support participants in their inner journey of finding personal motivations and commitment to sustainable project implementation
• To provide experiential learning of different methodologies conducting to a deeper understanding of the importance of ecologically conscious projects

Requirements

The requirements to participate in the project are:

• To organise or want to start organising youth mobility projects

• To be over 18 years old at the time of the training course

• To be living in one of these countries: Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Senegal, or Spain

• To be fluent in English

To participate in the project the organisation has set a symbolic participation fee on a sliding scale from 50 to 150€.

Participants will be free to choose their contribution according to their own personal financial possibilities.

How to participate

To participate in this training course you must submit your application through the official portal of Salto-Youth before August 28.

For more information on the project and in case of doubt, you can contact directly with the organisers through the following email: asociacionbiodiversa@gmail.com

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Discover the Impact of ESC projects with this Training Course

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L'articolo How to make Youth Mobility Greener | New Training Course proviene da Youth Networks.

Are you a youth worker interested in deepening your knowledge about environmental education with young people?

Discover “Tribute to Earth“, a webinar series that aims to bring together youth workers from all over Europe to share the knowledge and methodologies of non-formal education about this topic.

The webinar

The association will transmit the webinar online and all the participants, at the end of July will receive the recordings of the sessions.

The project will be divided into three main moments, in three different days, from 19 to 21 July.

1. Webinar 1: “Awakening the wild”

Wednesday 19th July 2023, 3:30-5:00pm EEST

During the first day the participants will discuss to techniques to reconnect with nature and the methodologies with which young people can use it to strengthen their skills and improve their quality of life.

2. Webinar 2: ”Earth Poetry”

Thursday 20th July 2023, 3:30-5:00pm EEST

The second meeting will focus on techniques to promote and spread the importance of environmental protection among young people.

3. Webinar 3: “Gaia’s Dream”

Friday 21st July 2023, 3:30-5:00pm EEST

The third meeting will be the final day, during which participants can discuss what they learned during the webinar. This session will also focus on the concept of deep connection with nature and how this affects the daily life of each of us.

How to join

All those involved in youth work can participate. The webinar is free and to access it will be transmitted through “Zoom”.

To register for the meetings you must fill out the registration form on the official website, while for any doubt or request for information you can contact the association directly at the following email:

inspirationpathcyprus@gmail.com

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L'articolo “Tribute to Earth” | A Webinar about Young People and Environment 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!

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Report on the Outcomes of Erasmus+ Projects

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

The World Forum for Democracy is a unique platform for political decision-makers and activists to debate solutions to key challenges for democracies worldwide. By identifying and analysing experimental initiatives and practices, the Forum highlights and encourages democracy innovations at the grassroots and their transfer on a systemic level in order to strengthen the foundations of democratic societies. The Forum thus contributes to the evolution of democracy towards more participatory and inclusive structures and institutions. 

The 2020 World Forum for Democracy will debate the issues and generate new ideas for tackling the environmental crisis we face today. 

The theme of the 2020 edition of the World Forum for Democracy is “Can Democracy Save the Environment?”. Our societies have been tested by an extreme and unexpected global challenge in 2020, but while an essential battle is fought against the Covid-19 pandemic, humanity’s greatest existential threat looms ever larger. Environmental damage and climate change have not gone away. The poisoning of our land and pollution in our air and water is still killing plants, animals and humans alike. Rising temperatures and sea levels are on course to render lands uninhabitable and force people to leave their homes and seek new lives. The time to act is now! 

The core content of the Forum will consist of discussions about successful initiatives and actions, which have real-life initiatives as a starting point. General guiding principles will then be drawn to encourage and support future policy responses and field action. In this context, the Youth Department will invite 50-60 young people to participate and engage with decision-makers and opinion-formers in a reflection on the question of Democracy and Information.

Application

All candidates must apply in 2 parts:

1. An online application form 
2. A short 1 minute video should be posted on YouTube, with the link attached to the online application form.

 The applications be submitted on-line before 28 July 2020 CET 13:00 (1 p.m.)

For the application form and more information check HERE.

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Climate change is a fact. What can I do about it?

L'articolo CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS – World Forum for Democracy 2020 – Youth Delegation proviene da Youth Networks.

What can you find in the booklet? 

In the booklet “Mountains & Memories” you can find useful information about hiking, how to pack for a hike, how to make various knots, what kind of herbs to look for and may be used for tea, and how to prepare a blueberry jam. 

You can have a look at the booklet HERE.

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Create a more sustainable life with… PERMACULTURE!

L'articolo Adventure in NATURE is calling me! Prepare for it well by looking at Mountains & Memories – a booklet on exploring nature and a healthy lifestyle! proviene da Youth Networks.

The Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) Science & Technology Conference is going to be held in June 24-28 in Vienna, Austria. The civil society advocates from all over the world await it with their breaths captured. It’s hard to believe but it’s been just over 3 years since the CTBTO Youth Group has been established to support the CTBTO agenda from the future leaders’ perspective. Back then it seemed promising, though the global youth engagement experience that could extend even to the most high-level events on the agenda has been poor if it ever existed. The CTBTO had the unexplored path to step into to accomplish the objectives for which the Youth Group got formed.

The beginning

The way my own life has been rolling out nothing seemed to predict me joining the Youth Group, though it happened as such through the numerous surprises from my own destiny. Simply visiting Vienna back in April 2016 half of our student group got sent to see the OSCE session and another one got to tour the Vienna International Centre (VIC) where Ban Ki-Moon, the UN 8^th Secretary General, was supposed to be present. I personally dreamed of seeing the UN Secretary-General, the ambassador of all nations and of people, the figure so grand in my imagination. I was 17 years old back then and was hoping to achieve something important and very early. I woke up every day hoping to reach the stars that were shining for me.

The CTBTO

And once inside of the VIC we went to take our tour and then proceeded to the CTBTO Anniversary Ministerial Meeting. The hall was packed and we, the tiny students from some distinct Russian towns, have stood almost by the doors. In such cases I always find my way to get through and stand so that I can participate well. I knew I wasn’t there for standing and watching, I was there for acting. That was my first time I ever heard about CTBTO. Anxiously googling everything about the Organization I actively posed my questions live through Twitter. My activity got noticed by the moderators for sure. Finally, by the closing of the session the floor was open for questions. And there I knew – this was my one and only chance to address the UN Secretary-General directly. I had no idea about what I should ask him. Though I knew I had to ask something. And I started googling everything about Ban Ki-Moon and have discovered that he won an essay contest and visited the United States of America as an award back when he was a school student. I am also the winner of a similar U.S. Department of State Exchange Program and I have linked our biographies into a question: “How winning a high school essay contest lead you to become the UN Secretary-General?”. Everyone turned back to see the boy who asked such an extraordinary question. I heard people smiling and applauding. I felt as if the question was posed at a right time and at a right moment.

Joining the Youth Group

And that question led me to have been noticed by CTBTO and the offer to join the newly forming Youth Group followed right after. I accepted it still having little idea about the organization. I was 17 back when I joined it and I was still in High School. Over the years of my engagement with the Youth Group I have been pursuing every chance to get involved whether it be helping at a booth during the American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting in San-Francisco or participating at an unforgettable trip to one of the first Soviet nuclear test sites in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan – everything welcomed me to learn more and fall deeper in love with the good causes of CTBTO – secure the world we live in from the nuclear arms testing. Once and forever we are capable of achieving it as a whole. Recognizing the mutual concerns of all parties and respecting all views. The important and almost universally accepted idea is that CTBT has to enter into force. Though the missing signatures to the Treaty remind us of the differences in the approach to the issue. This makes the situation even more challenging, though it is also the opportunity to cooperate more.

The CTBTO 2019 Science and Technology Conference

The conference to be held during this week is the bell ringing for all the citizens of the planet Earth to come together to the city where diplomacy experienced its’ Renaissance. The city where nations recognized the power of negotiations stronger and more robust than the power of any weapons. This is the time to remember this and recognize that the comprehensive agreements are uneasy to reach, though once the determination is strong and the support is extensive – they are simply a signature away. The Youth Group members are actively engaging into the dialogue on the grounds of CTBTO to learn as much as they can from the current policymakers as if they were in line waiting for their time to come. Taking into account how strongly the role of the youth actors is transforming currently, I would offer the alternative plan: the youth is not the one to come tomorrow and to take on the unfinished work. The Youth is here and now to engage into resolving the challenges. And CTBTO is on the right track having the extraordinary Youth Group open to all inspired individuals offering them the means to learn and participate, impact the agenda and address the policymakers and the expert community to get together to work out the solutions for making CTBT become the codified universal law. The bells of 2019 Science and Technology Conference ring louder than ever before.

L'articolo Youth in power: the CTBTO Science & Tech conference proviene da Youth Networks.

The project

“Youth for Europe” is a long-term project funded by the EU Commission in the framework of the call European Youth Together (KA3 Erasmus+). It will involve more than 200 young people coming from Italy, Spain, Romania, Hungary, Germany and the United Kingdom. During six international Youth Exchanges, the youngsters will be asked to develop proposals to modify the current EU policies on three main topics (media, environment, youth and education). Through meetings with experts and several thematic workshops, the young participants could decide how to create and promote their proposals, which will be then collected on the online platform youthforeurope.eu and voted by the users at European level.

The young people who will have created the most voted proposals will take part in the Large Scale Youth Exchange (May 2020) to present their ideas to EU policy makers and institutions. Each group shall try to get the support for their proposals by members of EU Parliament, having the opportunity to meet them in person during the last meeting in Bruxelles.

The main goal

“Youth for Europe” offers the young participants the chance to play a central role in the European decision-making process and to get a deeper knowledge of the EU policies through intercultural learning, non-formal education and peer-to-peer activities.

The main objective of the project is to stimulate a bottom-up process. It will promote a more inclusive European society and establish dialogue and cooperation among young people, policy makers and organisations by fostering debates on EU policies at local, national and European level.

The partners

Here the organisations involved in the project: Associazione di Promozione Sociale Joint and Kora from Italy, DGT from Romania, Vilagjaro from Hungary, Jugend- & Kulturprojekt e.V. from Germany, Momentum World from the UK, Brujula Intercultural from Spain and, as advocacy expert, ECEPAA from Belgium.

Activities and events

• 25/11-02/12, Italy: kick off Meeting
• 6-14/02/19, Spain: seminar on Methodologies
• 11-21/03/19, Spain: 1^st  YE for EU Elections – topic: Media (application closing date: 11/01/2019)
• 9-19/04/19, Italy: 2^nd YE for EU Elections – topic: Youth and Education (application closing date: 8/02/2019)
• 9/05/19, all countries: local events on EU elections
• 10-17/06/19, Hungary: mid term evaluation
• 5-12/07/19, Romania: 1^st TC for Youth Leaders
• 7-17/09/19, Hungary: 1^st Topic related YE: Youth and Education
• 1-14/10/19, Romania: 2^nd Topic related YE: Environment
• 18-25/10/19, Germany: 2^nd TC for Youth Leaders
• 4-14/12/19, Spain: 3^rd Topic related YE : Environment
• 20-30/01/20, Italy: 4^th Topic related YE: Media and data protection
• 10-13/04/20, Italy: APV large scale YE
• 2-10/05/20, Italy: Large Scale YE
• 21-25/09/20, Belgium: final evaluation.

L'articolo Youth for Europe: the chance for youngsters to make an impact proviene da Youth Networks.