BIOLENS

Europeans are very concerned about climate change according to a recent survey (2019) by the European Commission (EC), 7 out of 10 respondents (70%) agree that adapting to the adverse impacts of climate change can have positive outcomes for citizens in the EU. 93% of EU citizens see climate change as a serious problem and 79% see it as a very serious problem. However, not all of them find themselves equally involved in the direct action or underestimate it. THE SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE draft shows that one of the reasons for this situation is the prevalence of the debate on the ¨hard infrastructure¨when tackling climate change such as more technical or scientific work done to adapt to climate change on a large scale political or technological level. However, the so called soft infrastructures embedded in the world-view, knowledge or attitudes and sometimes materialised in organisations or even style of governance, are, according to the research, equally important in channelling behaviours and changing wrong assumptions for those in favour of sustainability.

This is why our project will provide trainings and materials for youth workers to better meet the needs of individuals and will include the testing of these methods to prepare them to become true factors of change. The reason for that is, on the one hand, to empower them and, on the other, to include the climate change topic not only in the work of the already environment-related NGOs but also as a transversal approach that shall exist in work of any of them, regardless of its main activity and scope.

GO1. To exchange and generate transversal knowledge in the field of adaptation to climate change for youth workers from non-formal and in-formal education sector. Why? As stated before, the EC called for the transnational actions regarding climate change and youth).

GO2. To generate transversal materials in the field of adaptation to climate change for youth workers from non-formal and in-formal education sector.
(Why? Education is an obligation for State Parties of the The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change but it hardly appears in climate policies as they tend to target industry, general society or, recently, formal education field but rarely regarding Third Sector ).

GO3. To reinforce the individual responsibility among youth in order to promote responsible behaviour in relation to the consequences of climate change. (Why? As we stated before, youth is the driving force of the recent Climate Strikes movement and it is a perfect time to further engage them in action, and in the society).

GO4: To support awareness-raising and action on climate change through the development and distribution of dissemination materials and events. (Why? In 2013 the EU adaptation strategy was adopted and awareness raising and mainstreaming of adaptation were considered crucial).

GO5: To build other NGOs´ capacity and strengthen the cooperation among entities. (Why? It is a high time for climate change to be introduced as a transversal topic in any NGO regardless of its scope of work and through trainings, IO´s distribution and dissemination we will bring together many entities).

We divided the process in 2 stages:

1. The first one was carried out before submitting this application and consisted of the selection of the core team, namely project´s leader and dissemination managers from our NGO´s staff. We took into account such characteristics as being experienced, engaged and successful in the organization´s work, being eager to learn and actively cooperate. We valued being either experienced or very interested in the climate change, youth work and creation of educational materials. In case of the project leaders we also valued experience in project management, previous research and commitment to the project´s ideas, experience in non-formal and informal educational strategies and ability and/or strong willingness to innovate. When selecting dissemination managers we also valued their impact on the NGO and community, especially good contact and positive interactions with youth, audiovisual, IT and graphic design skills, experience as community managers, and, last but not least, creativity and implication.

As a result, we came up with the following core teams:

Medeina
Project leader: Monika Sobanska
Dissemination manager: Ewa Szkudlarek

Oriel
PL: Sillian Ferrari
DM: Giulia Uccero

PASOS
PL: Magdalena Amanowicz
DM: Inmaculada Vidal

2. The 2nd stage will consist of selecting among our staff and learners those youth workers (2 per each partner)and youth leaders (4 per each partner) who will participate in the LTTAs and contribute to the development of IO through the process of its evaluation and testing. We will run this selection after the approval of the project and we will prioritise participants that otherwise would not have the opportunity to participate in such a training due to their disadvantaged situation, the ones who have basic knowledge of English in order to communicate (will offer linguistic support and preparation, too: described in the Participants´ preparation section), those who have a strong commitment and interest in the area of climate
change, youth action, community work, social inclusion and non-formal education.

The above processes will be based on the following steps:

1.Call preparation: an introductory message and a questionnaire will be prepared and widely disseminate in order to gather the information about the possible candidates.
2.Support: we will assist all candidates by helping them with any extra questions and doubts they may have either through emails and phone calls or in person.
3.Decision making: after the evaluation of the questionnaire and the criteria, we will chose the pre-selected candidates through an interview. While setting a final group, we will also pay attention to gender balance.
4.Feedback and notification: we will notify all candidates of the selection results with an appeal procedure open and a feedback for their future improvement.

Medeina

Medeina works in Silesia, in a region characterized by the complexity of social problems such as poverty and unemployment. Traditionally, this region was sustained by coal mines industries, however nowadays, both economical struggle and difficulties in changing mind-shift when it comes to environmental issues subside. This is why some of our youth workers and young people we work with, are struggling with financial difficulties and limited access to specialized courses or opportunities for self-development. Sosnowiec is also a small city, without too many opportunities for the development of international cooperation. Participation in this project will therefore allow our youth workers with fewer opportunities to
supplement their education and continue the path of learning in the field of climate change, innovation and non formal methods of working with young people. It will also be extremely valuable to enable them to work in an international context and participate in LTTAs otherwise this type of collaboration could not take place due to the lack of offers and resources. Similarly, being able to co-create an interactive book is a unique experience as otherwise publishing materials of this dimensions as individual experts would be almost impossible.

Throughout the whole process, they will be supported and guided by our more experiences staff and specialists. Moreover, we will run an intercultural preparation session due to the fact that Polish society, compared to that of Italy or Spain, is not as much diverse and we consider this aspect to be important as an added and transversal value to the project.

Oriel

Oriel as a youth organization consists mainly of very young employees living near Verona, in a rural region with limited infrastructure and without much industrial development. Also, youth workers from their region do not have enough opportunities to gain practical experience after graduation or training, and our project will help them implement acquired competences into practice through internal workshops, Testing stage and Action groups. Oriel offers technical assistance in the form of an information service on the opportunities available to young people and will offer support their participants throughout the entire project providing them
equal opportunities and mentoring.

PASOS
It operates in an economically inactive rural area called Valles Pasiegos where previously strong sectors as agriculture are currently undergoing a major crisis and most young people are struggling financially which translates into difficulties in accessing training and employment. Also, in Spain there is no legislation or regulation at state level for social inclusion, let alone for the social inclusion of youth. Speaking of PASOS itself, some of their youth workers come from other regions of the world (Latin America) and Europe (Eastern Europe) and are still facing cultural, linguistic, financial, adaptation and geographical barriers. Due to these difficulties, linguistic and translation support will be provided during the work
planned in the project and individual pedagogical and cultural support if necessary. Special internal training on information dissemination and use of distant working IT tools will also be conducted for those who will be involved in the project activities as the opportunity to work remotely will also be made available to not discriminate against employees who live far away.

PASOS will be flexible when it comes to the course and whenever the participants show any needs or face emotional or educational challenges, they will be able to adapt the programme in order to make the participants´ experience most fruitful possible, even despite their obstacles.

Preparation stage

The project leaders and dissemination managers already selected will be in charge of the 2nd part of the participant selection process.

The main tasks to be performed are:
-Development and dissemination of a call
-Support for candidates
-Pre-selection
-Interviews
-Final selection
-Notification

We will also carry out activities that will ensure that transnational mobilities, both project meetings and LTTAs, are effective and guarantee security and benefits for participants.

Those mobilities will be prepared and run by each host as follows:

1st Project Meeting in Spain: PASOS
2nd Project Meeting in Italy: Oriel
3rd Project Meeting in Poland: Medeina

The LTTAs will have a double objective: transfering of the best partners´ and other local practices and setting the basis for the IO writing (more details on each visit´s schedules in the
LTTA´s section).

1st Study Visit in Poland: Medeina´s best practices such as Deep ecology, youth´s eco- coaching and mindfulness, Polish Climate Change Micro activism, carbon footprint workshop and Climate change and gender perspective, etc.

2nd Study Visit in Italy: Oriel´s best practices such as Theatre of the Oppressed and social inclusion, work with youth from disadvantaged groups through local Italian sustainable projects, Earth 2099 workshop and sustainable projects creation, etc.

Course in Spain: PASOS best practices such as 7 Days Challenge, Zero waste approach, Emotional management in the eco-anxiety context, Do It Yourself practices, Permaculture gardening, etc.

The main tasks to be performed are:

-Setting work teams and assigning coordinators and trainers
-Preparation of the content of the visits and trainings
-Contact with associated partners and any other related and involved stakeholders or institution
-Logistics management
-Reservation of tickets or support for participants
-Ensuring the process of obtaining European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)
– Language support
– Europass language passport
– Pedagogical preparation
– Preparatory meetings
– Assistance and information for participants, infopacks preparation
– Definition of risk prevention and Health and safety mechanisms
-Evaluations and certificates

Intellectual work
Each partner organisation´s technicians will work on the IO (details on the work division in the section an in the budget flows). The main responsibility here will lie on the project leaders, however they will also delegate the work to the specialists of each field (translators, graphic designers, researchers, etc).

The main tasks to be performed are:
-Researching
-Writing
-Consulting
-Testing
-Designing

-Translating
-Editing
-Revising
-Publishing
Dissemination

Each partner has a designated dissemination manager, responsible for the activities described in the section Dissemination section and grouped in 3 parts:
-Dissemination before working on IO
-Dissemination after working on IO
-Dissemination of project results

Continuation
The project teams as a whole will be responsible for engaging in providing the continuity of our work and its results even after the project´s ending.

The main tasks to be performed are:
-Action groups
-Working on a new follow-up KA205 project taking the interactive book as a base
-Interacting with people leaving comments or asking about our IO and providing guidance
-Spreading the word about the availability of our IO and the method during events, trainings, meetings, courses, etc.

Quality management and control
In addition, Medeina´s, and especially its project leader Monika Sobanska, will be responsible for managing the entire project (already detailed in the management "Management").

The main tasks to be performed are:
-Budget management
-Time management
-Quality control management
-Reporting (intermediate and final)
-Evaluations and risk management
-Communication and timeline management and updates

To achieve the planned results and goals of the project, we will work based on a flexible method of teamwork, ensuring that partner organizations feel comfortable and equally involved.
All activities planned in the project will be subject to additional review, adapted and agreed during international project meetings in order to best use the potential of our 3 countries and teams. Nevertheless, the implementation of the assigned tasks will be carried out by each participating organization adapting them to their national context, developing the professional competences of experienced project participants and providing new knowledge to those who have less experience.

All activities described in the project will be constantly monitored by our organization to ensure timely implementation of tasks and their high quality.

INTELLECTUAL OUTPUT

O1 (Interactive Book): ¨From eco-anxiety to eco-action: how to transform youth´s fear or doubts into eco-empowerment and inclusion¨

Content:

Chapter 1 Why Teach About Climate Change in the Informal and Non-formal education framework? Rationale behind the project, introduction and description.

2.Why does youth fear Climate Change? What Should We Understand about
Climate Change? Myths and Facts. Infographics. Basic vocabulary and visual
factsheets.

3.Climate Change through Earth History: Active Timeline Game for Youth, Intergenerational perspective.

4. From doubts to knowledge: causes of Recent Climate Change: Practical youth work activities. Theory and practice worksheets.

5. From fears to action: what is Adaptation and Mitigation? Theory introduction and factsheets and practical Youth Work Examples and Activities from our entities and regions.

6. From action to sustainability: Current Situation and the Future: Action Plan. Action Groups. Examples of other NGOs and eco-social and eco-agro local initiatives. The importance of daily ¨Micro Eco Activism¨ and being an ecoambassador.

7. Emotional Management and Mindfulness in the context of Climate Change work: guilt, passivity, fear versus motivation and action.

8. Climate change through gender lenses: how does climate change affect young women across the world and how do women resist?

9. Climate change through intercultural lenses: how can climate change be atool for uniting youth of different backgrounds?

10. Climate change through ethical lenses: poverty, marginalisation and social justice aspect.

11.7-Days Challenge Programme and tips:¨Sustainable Economy Monday¨,¨Zero waste Tuesday¨, ¨Healthier Wednesday¨, ¨Do It Yourself Thursday¨,¨Collaborative Friday¨, ¨Go outside Saturday¨, ¨Re-start Sunday¨.

12. Climate Change and your NGO: Practical adaptation guideline on how to incorporate Climate Change into your daily youth work of any kind.

13. Obstacles when Addressing Climate Change and Examples of solutions

14. Frequently Asked Questions

15.Additional useful Climate change reading list, movies list, application lists, website and other resources collection

Each chapter will contain links and QR codes to additional movie and reading lists and external resources. We will also provide quizzes and self-reflectionquestions that will help the process of using the book.

The final product of the output will be an interactive book in English, Polish, Italian and Spanish.

Celebration of one conference per country, followed by a practical session and debates. 40 attendees per country. Relevant stakeholders and local press will be invited.

The main goals of the conferences are:

– dissemination of the IO and the project,
– getting interest from other entities and youth workers towards our methods of working with
young people in the context of climate change,
– establishing contacts and collecting implementation commitments,
– improving the ability to organize events on a large scale by project participants.

Multiplier event 3:

Country of Venue: Poland

Participants:

– Medeina youth workers.
– Representatives of local youth and Sosnowiec Youth City Council.
– Youth workers, social workers, therapists, educators, teachers, representatives of the STOP
coaching centre
– Representatives of other non-governmental organizations working with young people, social
activists and activists with whom we will contact via the Sosnowiec Center for Non-
Governmental Organizations
-Local authorities (invitations to the city council of Sosnowiec and public institutions will be
issued).
-Local press.
– Associated partners.

Multiplier event 2

Country of Venue: Italy

Participants:

– Oriel youth workers.
– Youth workers, social workers, therapists, educators, teachers, volunteers
-Young people Oriel works with
– Representatives of other non-governmental organizations working with young people, social
activists and activists contacted via Centro di volutariato in Verona and Agenzia Eurodesk
-Local authorities (invitations to the city council of Verona and public institutions will be
issued).
-Local press.
– Associated partners.

Multiplier event 3

Country of Venue: Spain

Participants:

– PASOS youth workers.
– Youth workers, social workers, therapists, educators, teachers, volunteers
-Young people PASOS works with
-Local press.
– Associated partners.
– Representatives of other NGOs working with young people, social activists and activists
from such organisations as the Agency for the promotion and development of the Pasiegos
Valley.
– Representatives of training centers other institutions working with youth and youth workers.
– Representatives of the City Hall of Santander (the capital of the region) with whom they
cooperate in the dissemination of KA105 programs as part of the public program Espacio
Joven(Young Space).