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From Awareness to Practice: Volunteering for a Sus..
From Awareness to Practice: Volunteering for a Sustainable Future
Start date: Mar 1, 2014,
This 8-month multilateral EVS project offers 11 young people from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America the chance to explore the wide range of issues related to sustainable development (SD) whilst volunteering in a country and culture other than their own. All host organisations in this project address the 4 pillars of SD (environment, society, economy and culture) although their main focus may be on: environment and socio-economic sustainability (Nepal, Mozambique), community development by tackling poverty, marginalization and exclusion (Kenya, Argentina, Brazil), supporting disadvantaged children and youth (Spain, Finland, Iceland), disability (Italy) and SD as a concept and in its entirety (Vietnam, Poland). The cultural dimension will be further emphasized through intercultural learning, which forms the foundational basis of the project, so as to deepen understanding and respect for minorities and the marginalized, and to thus link culture to the environment, economy and society to present the very fabric of SD. This project therefore enables the exploration of sustainable choices and lifestyles by connecting local action to global reflection (UNESCO’s concept of Education for Sustainable Development). Through their practical work at the local level and their reflections on SD during the EVS training cycle, the 11 volunteers will work towards a sustainable future for all, simultaneously enhancing their intercultural communication and practical skills and competencies, leading to their holistic -social, personal and professional- development. Serving as multipliers of sustainable choices, action and lifestyles, they will motivate and set others in their host and home countries off on the journey from awareness to practice for a sustainable future. As an inclusive and integrated response to the challenges of SD, this project will build solidarity and trust, opening up opportunities for cooperative learning and action for our common sustainable future.