GreenY 

Project Summary 

The younger generations, known as “generations Y and Z”, have recently demonstrated their concern for the environment and their future through actions and protests at the global level. As it is everyone’s responsibility to be an actor in the fight against climate change, JEF Europe and the expert partners of the Green-Y project aim to combat climate change and environmental degradation by establishing good practices and raising awareness among members of youth organisations.

The project therefore seeks to establish good environmental practices in youth organisations and to develop a step-by-step checklist for their implementation. Besides, online activities such as webinars will be implemented to strengthen the inclusiveness of the project by reaching more young people on the topic of the environment. 

In addition, the 6-day International Activity in Ljubljana, Slovenia, will develop the competences and skills of the participants on the environmental topic and enable them to express alternatives to implement more environmentally sustainable activities or events within the activities of their associations.

The project team will be coordinated by JEF Europe, representatives of its Executive Board, the Green Transition Task Force, and JEF Slovenia, plus with the support of experts from Youth and Environment Europe (YEE) and International Young NatureFriends (IYNF).

Aims and goals

The main aims are thus: 

• • Raise awareness and strengthen youth participation and collaboration within different youth organisations on the topic of the climate crisis and environmental degradation.
  • Create a pool of experienced and trained multipliers on how to make local and national sections more environmentally sustainable.
  • Continue working on achieving the internal directions on sustainable development set by the JEF Europe 2020 Activity Plan and the Green Transition Task Force.
  • Create a GreenY set-by-step checklist to gather good environmental practices to organise more environmentally sustainable activities and events in the youth field.
  • Offer space for learning and networking between different youth organisations from local to European level.

Main Activities 

Activity 1: Project team meeting (January 2020 – November 2021)

It will aim at setting up the bases for the whole implementation of the project and will establish links between the project team, the facilitators and the partners. It will give guidance for the selection of the participants, the preparation of the international activity and the finalisation of the training programme. In addition, an online introductory meeting will also be held in August/September with the participants to give them a brief explanation of the project’s objectives and to allow them to get to know each other.

Activity 2: Webinars (July to September)

A series of three webinars of 2 hours will be organised by the experts on the following topics:

• • Webinar 1: Climate change and why is it happening?
  • Webinar 2: What is Sustainable Development?
  • Webinar 3: Global and European strategies in tackling climate change in the context of UN Sustainable Development Goals and the European Green deal.

The webinars will be open to all young people interested in the topics and will help them to acquire sufficient background knowledge to support the participants of the International Activity in implementing their plans in the local follow-up activities.

Activity 3: International Activity (14-19 September 2021 in Ljubljana, Slovenia)

This 6-day International Activity will gather 20 participants from all over Europe in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The programme will be structured into different day-by-day thematic and will offer the opportunity for the participants to develop their knowledge and their expertise to become multipliers actors in the field of environment. The thematics of the training are the following:

• • Day 1: Arrival and catch-up discussion on environmental sustainability.
  • Day 2: Policy perspectives on climate change.
  • Day 3: Youth and climate change.
  • Day 4: Environmental non-formal educational methodology and study visit.
  • Day 5: Development plans for local actions and GREEN-Y checklist.
  • Day 6: Finalising the plans for the follow-up actions and evaluations.

Activity 4: Local follow-up activities (September – November)

Participants in the International Activity and webinars, with the support of the project team and expert partners, will use the plans they developed during the event to implement activities in their local organisations. Participants will be mentored in the organisation of online (events, campaigns, webinars) or offline activities. It will also be an opportunity for the youth workers and activists to use their newly acquired skills and tools developed during the International Activity. Altogether, least 20 follow-up activities will be implemented (10 online and 10 offline).