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Global Week: Youth Action for Climate Justice and ..
Global Week: Youth Action for Climate Justice and Poverty Eradication
Start date: May 1, 2015,
End date: Apr 30, 2016
PROJECT
FINISHED
Global Week is an international leadership training course for young people. Under the theme ‘’Youth Action for Climate Justice and Poverty Eradication’’, the participants in Global Week 2015 have been equipped to engage in advocacy work for climate justice at community, national, European and global levels. Global Week 2015 has empowered young people to come and work together for a future without dangerous climate changes and environmental degradation and for a world without poverty. During this meeting the participants have received information and have been trained in effective advocacy methods in order to be able to have a positive influence in their future dialogue with policy makers at local and global levels.
Global Week 2015 has addressed the issues and needs of young people by: creating space to learn, building friendships and networks across the continents, discussing and making an impact in dialogue with youth decision makers. By teaching young people how to conduct a structured dialog with policy-makers, we have aimed to transform young people so they can create an impact on society and policy-making bodies that is in the interest of youth. Young people are marginalized in several arenas in society. Helping young people to understand how to raise their voice, mobilize and campaign for a cause has been therefore important in the implementation of the project. The main aim of Global Week has been to empower young people to make a change in their communities, in Europe and globally.
The specific objectives of the training have been:
1. To equip young people to increase active citizenship and engagement on climate change and environmental issues at community, national, European and global levels.
2. To prepare youth for structured dialogue and action so they are able to influence policy-makers (local, national, European, Global) to promote just policies concerning climate change and poverty eradication.
3. To equip young people to build networks across geographical, cultural and religious boundaries as part of a global youth empowerment process.
The training took place over a period of 8 days and was located at Viken Folk High School in Gjøvik, Norway. Global Week 2015 has used creative interactive learning tools with a focus on peer- to- peer learning. The content has been developed by young people and in many cases delivered by them also. In developing the programme, there has been a focus on learning by doing, such as designing advocacy solutions that are appropriate to the participants' own context. Considering the topic, the methods employed and the involvement of young people present at Global Week 2015 has followed the lines EU designed in its Youth Strategy and the core actions taken towards supporting and improving youth actions in Europe.
Over 100 youths from Europe, have taken part in the training, and also young people from Africa and Asia. They have been selected by the partner organisations on age criteria (18-30 years old) and maintaining the gender balance. In addition, the youths chosen to participate in this training have been socially involved in their communities and have beneficiated from non-formal education and international experience.
The activities of the project have been focused on: skills building workshops to develop participants’ capacity for advocacy; creative plenary sessions and group work on climate change as global issue; debates; meetings with Norwegian policy makers and experts on policy development in the field of climate and environment; cultural activities such as a cultural night; outreach to over 1500 teenagers at a youth-festival in Gjøvik via dance, flashmob, petitions, video, and drama; a demonstration on environmental responsibility and climate change will be also prepared in collaboration with youths and authorities in Gjøvik. Peer - to - peer learning and creative, non- formal methods are the fundamental means through which the participants have gotten high outcomes in terms of knowledge, activism, action and inspiration.