ERASMUS+ KA152

YOUNG PEOPLE FOR A GREEN FUTURE(YPGF)

Project reference number: 2022-1-MT01-KA152-YOU000063377

A project and commitment to sustainability

Project dates : 15-20 June, 2023

“YPGF: Young People for a Green Future” involved 40 participants from 7 different countries of 8 different organisations.

Host Organization: Proutist Universal Malta

Countries: 1. Lithuania, 2. Spain, 3. Bulgaria, 4. Slovakia, 5. Greece, 6. Italy, 7. Malta

View Booklet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10JAZETLKK75vpbWINhJzGE67LeOxp5WK/view?usp=share_link

The main objectives of the projects were:

-To educate teenagers about environmental impacts and climate change.
-To educate young participants about the origins and impacts of global warming.
-To develop useful behaviors and exchange best practices for becoming more environmentally aware in our everyday routines.
-To create innovative thinking and tactics for a plastic-free lifestyle.
-To educate youth on how to prevent purchasing environmentally harmful items.
-To instill in youth a sense of ownership for their everyday environment.
-To motivate participants to promote the ideals they gained via the youth exchange among their peers and to seek positive responses to environmental challenges in their towns and regions.
-To equip participants with non-formal educational tools regarding environmental interactive strategies.

Aim of Project YPGF

The project “YPGF: Young People for a Green Future” has the aim to promote environmental awareness on those issues related to climate change and single-use plastic, in order to find solutions for decreasing the footprint of the local communities of the partner organizations of the project. The local communities of the partner organizations are in fact facing both those problems in their local areas.

The project provided participants from the organizations with tools and competences to act in a more environmentally friendly way and to spread environmental awareness in their local communities, with a positive impact on the local areas from where the participants are from.
This catches the demands of the volunteers’ local areas and the local communities of the project’s participating partners, who face severe difficulties with garbage in their towns on a daily basis and try to seek a method to help the local community be more reliable in living a sustainable lifestyle.
Furthermore, creating innovative ideas for reducing trash and recycling effectively was an essential component of the project. Project encouraged the decrease of single-use plastic items, which are damaging to the environment.

Participants and Activities

There were 40 Youth Workers (4 youths and 1 group leader, 18 and above from each country) from 7 partner countries who wanted to get aware of What climate change is, and How it is possible to fight it by changing our daily habits to help the planet and reduce pollution in order to prevent further disasters that could have even more negative effects on our economy and on our lives.

View Booklet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10JAZETLKK75vpbWINhJzGE67LeOxp5WK/view?usp=share_link

Day 1

Icebreaking and team building events were organized so that the participants could get to know each other better and trust each other. Then, participants were given information about Erasmus+ and its Key Actions, the eight competencies of the Youthpass and the goals of the project. In the last session of the day, they designed a plant that identifies them for the entire project in order to link themselves with the goal of the youth exchange.

Day 2

On the second day, the participants were divided into groups mixed by gender and origin to create a logo and motto for a communication campaign for the new “Green” public transport. Later, there was outdoor visit and discussion activities with a bioethics company, for the field test of the concepts expressed in the theoretical activities. Participants interacted directly with the concepts of bioethical agriculture with low environmental impact, carrying out activities in person during the visit.

Day 3

On the third day, the entire group assisted by the local community collected garbage in some parts of the city as an awareness raising event and awakening of the local community, in order to establish sustainability over time. Afterwards, Participants went to a supermarket in the town to look for any labels on items which show that the product is eco-sustainable, at the end a report is created with the percentages of products that are sold respect the environment.

Day 4

On the fourth day, the whole group had a discussion, where alternative ways to use plastic in everyday life were identified. An Intercultural night was organised where participants got to know one’s place of origin via activities and film viewing, quiz games on cultural knowledge of others, traditional dances, and traditional local delicacies for the development of a more cohesive and cooperative group.

Day 5

On the fifth day, the whole group created board games with environmental protection as their main topic. İn the next session, Participants were divided into 3 macro groups, which took institutional and competitive decisions for the resolution of environmental problems; The Market Lobbies, The European Commission and the Heads of Government were represented.

Day 6

On the last day, participants independently created two macro discussion groups regarding the Friday for Future movement and discussed about the awareness of the communities on the environmental issues, after which they drew a shortlist of 10 points on why it is necessary for the new generations to learn from an early age the respect of environment.

Project dates : 15-20 June, 2023

Activities of project YPGF:

Clean with the community
Name games
Gamification session on sustainable future
Designing a plant
Bio-ethic: Company visit & agriculture
The right products(eco-sustainable)
Eyes on: Friday for future
Role play experience
Inventing a game: Environmental gamification

Impact of project YPGF

Participants gain a wealth of knowledge about how to raise awareness about environmental issues and climate change, and they also learned new ideas and strategies for a plastic-free lifestyle that they might use to enhance their lifestyle or to build a potential Erasmus+ project on the subject.
The youngsters that took part in the exchange learned how to use skills and non-formal methodologies to become more environmentally conscious in daily life, and this allowed them to connect positively with people from other countries and backgrounds in order to enhance cohesion into their communities and across Europe.
the organisations in the exchange project are able to impact more people, thus being able to sensitize the different communities to change their usual lifestyle towards one that is more respectful of the environment and ensure that they can live nature in a synergistic way.
During the implementation of the project, bodies and associations that work in the area and deal with environmental protection and sustainability were involved in our outdoor activities. This allowed close collaboration with existing realities and exchanging good practices and also acquiring new non-formal learning methodologies consolidated over time by these institutions.