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Think Globally, Act Glocally: Climate Youth Ambass..
Think Globally, Act Glocally: Climate Youth Ambassadors for a Greener Future
Start date: Oct 12, 2015,
End date: Apr 11, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
According to both, the UN and the EU, climate change is the biggest collective, environmental challenge society faces today. Notwithstanding, youth and particularly youth from rural areas often do not have the relevant skills and opportunities to make their voice heard and advocate for a greener future. Therefore, our project Think Globally, Act Glocally: Climate Youth Ambassadors for a Greener Future aims at empowering youth, mainly from rural areas in Denmark, Italy, Lebanon and Jordan to formulate and communicate their concerns about climate change with decision-makers, and advocate for their right to a healthy, sustainable and safe environment on an international, national and local level. Throughout the project, climate change is seen a challenge that has to be tackled by the international community and therefore serves as a platform for international exchange and collaboration.
Through non-formal and informal learning methods during two transnational meetings and one national seminar, debating and advocacy skills of 16 young youth workers and 40 youth mainly from rural areas will be strengthened. Thematic workshops, field trips, group work and discussion rounds with decision-makers are the main methods used throughout the project.
The project activities comprise
the 4 days training Empowering Youth Climate Ambassadors: A Training for Youth Workers. The training will provide 16 young youth workers (under 30 years old) from Lebanon, Jordan, Italy and Denmark with practical knowledge and innovative methods to empower young people to become climate youth ambassadors who are capable of advocating their environmental concerns towards decision-makers.
One youth worker per country will be offered to use the gained knowledge and experience through the facilitation of the 10 days training Going Glocal: Youth Climate Ambassadors in Action. This training course will empower 40 youth mainly from rural areas in Lebanon, Jordan, Italy and Denmark to make their voice heard. In order to be selected for the training course, the participants have to take part in the essay tournament Youth Writers in Action: Tackling Global Climate Change Now and write essays about innovative ways for young people to address the issue of climate change with decision-makers.
Two decision-makers per country will assess and select the best essays and thereby decide who will attend the international training. During the training course, the participants will develop skills and knowledge through a simulation, debates with decision-makers as well as field trips. Based on these learning outcomes, the youth will develop the youth manifesto containing pressing issues for youth and recommendations to address dangerous climate change towards decision-makers. This manifesto will be disseminated among local policy-makers and climate change experts in Lebanon, Jordan, Italy and Denmark as well as online and therefore globally.
Finally, during the third activity, the national meeting Going Glocal: Youth Climate Ambassadors in Action, the Danish participants will use their experiences and the inputs from the fellow youth from Lebanon, Jordan and Italy in order to generate workshop ideas for Danish schools. The most active participants will have the opportunities to facilitate workshops in three Danish schools together with experienced youth facilitators from Crossing Borders .
The participants of the project will have strengthened their competencies such as communication in a foreign language or social and civic competencies. On the long term, this project has the potential to influence the attitude of youth and local decision-makers in Lebanon, Jordan, Italy and Denmark about threats of climate change. Beyond the national level, this project can be seen as a best practice for more collaboration on the global issue of climate change that needs to be addressed through international efforts and especially a stronger collaboration between Europe and the Global South as a vital part of a meaningful European climate change policy.