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European strategic partnership for Sustainable Consumption and Awareness Raising
Start date: Sep 1, 2014, End date: Nov 30, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Complex, affects everybody & difficult to achieve are all words that are mentioned in conjunction with the term Sustainable Consumption (SC). The phrase is however often formally defined as the use of services & products which respond to basic needs while at the same time minimizing the use of natural resources. Many different professions work within the area, and VET is therefore constantly evolving. Environment, lifestyle & behaviour patterns are questions that everyone must take increased responsibility for. This problem looks the same whether in Borås or elsewhere in EU. Although environmental awareness is increasing, most people find it difficult to relate their consumption habits to large-scale problems such as climate change. To reverse current trends, consumers need to be well informed & know which habit changes will have the biggest impact. At the same time, the occupational groups who work in the field feel they lack the tools to work in the area. They also need to come closer & be more accessible to the public. ESCAR therefore strive to improve the VET within SC. The goal is to strengthen the skills of the affected professionals & give them tools that increase their professional development. In order to strengthen the VET, ESCAR will produce a Best Practice guide & draft a digital portal with good exemples on SC. The good examples will be collected from Local Stakeholder Panels (LSP) as well as Learning/Teaching/Training (L/T/T) activities. By producing a Best Practice guide & drafting the portal, the VET will be further developed. It will facilitate for practitioners to carry out their work in a better, more coordinated manner, receive knowledge on consumer behaviour, citizen participation & how VET could adapt & capitalize of this knowledge. The EU is encouraging more SC as part of different policies. As seen, this is not a local phenomena & all partners have the need to develop their work. However, they all have different backgrounds they could contribute with. The partnership is very suitable to carry out the project, since they represents both an NGO, municipalities & a science center carrying out VET. In Borås, many of the energy/climate/consumer advisers work on an individual basis. The accessibility & proximity to the public is often inadequate, & there is a need to influence their attitudes on SC. NAVET have a long experience in educating within SC. They got the mission to educate Borås public officials in the project Sustainable Future. NAVET also has a broad network of local/regional actors & will be an excellent dissemination partner. Skanderborg work with a high level of citizen involvement. Their experience on working closely with the citizens to come up with the best solution to address the challenges with sustainability is of interest. Columbares is a large organisation offering VET. They have experience in working with different methods for changing consumer behaviour. Columbares also has experience in educational programs & have implemented Green Homes. Santorso has a solid regional anchorage - both leading the Provincial Environmental Educational Laboratory & is also the promoter of the Mayors Statement of Altovicentino. Project activities: Exchange of experience on different themes & Best Practices on SC Develop a Best Practice guide on SC & draft a portal Carry out L/T/T in order to develop the Best Practice Guide Carry out LSP’s that give input to the VET & to the creation of the Best Practice Guide The Best Practice guide in this project will be the main result. The guide will be uploaded on the website of the project & will also be further developed in the portal, where new Best Practices continously will be uploaded. In this way, the results are available for everybody that is interested in using the material produced within ESCAR. The main desired impact of ESCAR is that the professionals working in the field will have better tools and training material in order to support citizens to make sustainaible choices. ESCAR also intends to make an impact at local, regional, national & European level, since it is in line with local & regional strategies in the partner areas. The decision makers will also be a part of the LSP’s, which will give them & other stakeholders better decision support. The durability of ESCAR is secured by the involvement of the policy-making level. All partners are responsible to involve local/regional decison makers which guarantees that results will be known & potentially applied by the policy makers. The broad dimension of the dissemination activities planned, involving stakeholders beyond the partnership, assures the sustainability. Borås will also be responsible for the continuation of the digital portal, where the guide will be further developed since new Best Practices continously will be uploaded. In this way, the results are available after project ending.
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