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Riverwalk Austria: Discovering and Protecting Wild..
Riverwalk Austria: Discovering and Protecting Wild and Wonderful Rivers
Start date: Jun 17, 2014,
End date: Sep 17, 2014
PROJECT
FINISHED
The “Riverwalk” concept arose out of a youth exchange in 2013, when Austrian youth expressed a desire to explore and get active for wild rivers in Europe and at the same time have a deep cultural exchange while sharing of ideas for how to become active citizens for the earth. The organizations in this project both focus on environmental protection, sustainability and education, are equally interested in these topics and are working together with a group of young people to make this project become a reality. Due to the diminishing number of free-flowing rivers in the Alps, it is more and more critical that people are aware of the beauty and the important ecological role they play and know how to get active to protect them.
This bilateral youth exchange will bring together 20 motivated youth (between the ages of 15-26 years old) and coaches from Slovenia and Austria to travel over 180 kilometers from the headwaters of the Isel River in East Tyrol, down the Drau River into Carinthia and end near the Slovenian border. The project’s objectives are to develop participants’ personal connection to nature and wild-flowing rivers, explore topics such as renewable energy, nature conservation, sustainability, and eco-tourism, as well as develop competences such as leadership, team building, project management, and active citizenship. At the same time, participants will experience and practice healthy behaviors that involve outdoor sports and activities, use digital communication tools, develop intercultural communication skills, learn how to live and work together with youth from different backgrounds, resolve conflicts in a productive manner, and co-create a supportive, participatory, and open communicative atmosphere.
Methods used will combine non-formal, experiential, and hands-on learning, and outdoor education, skill building and workshops, with the goal that participants will experience a deeper connection to nature, other cultures and the environment, lead to personal development, and encourage healthy, sustainable lifestyles.
Activities will include a submersion in nature through hiking, camping, paddling, and biking, as well as peer-to-peer workshops, meeting with inspiring people and experts, sharing of personal stories, and experiencing best-practice examples. Furthermore, there will opportunities for creative expression (art, music, theater) and time for personal introspection through individual and group reflection.
The direct results and impacts will be that youth participants will have a greater appreciation for and understanding about the importance of wild rivers, intact ecosystems, ways to live more sustainable and healthy lifestyles, gain perspective on career opportunities or future entrepreneurial ventures within ecotourism, improve leadership and team skills, gain a higher level of self-awareness, and make deep connections with locals, other youth and organizations from various cultures and backgrounds in order to create a strong network of active citizens living and acting for a more fair and sustainable world.
Long term benefits will be the participants’ greater involvement in political and civic life by being inspired to act and gaining skills for how to get active, spreading of their experience and knowledge to peers and others they tell, and future projects that might ensue. Project partners will gain more experience working together and be able to spread the results within their networks and incorporate new methodologies in youth work within their programs.