Complex, affects everybody & difficult to achieve are all words that are mentioned in conjunction with the term Sustainable Consumption (SC). The phrase is however often formally defined as the use of services & products which respond to basic needs while at the same time minimizing the use of natural resources. Many different professions work within the area, and VET is therefore constantly evolving. Environment, lifestyle & behaviour patterns are questions that everyone must take increased responsibility for. This problem looks the same whether in Borås or elsewhere in EU. Although environmental awareness is increasing, most people find it difficult to relate their consumption habits to large-scale problems such as climate change. To reverse current trends, consumers need to be well informed & know which habit changes will have the biggest impact. At the same time, the occupational groups who work in the field feel they lack the tools to work in the area. They also need to come closer & be more accessible to the public. ESCAR therefore strive to improve the VET within SC. The goal is to strengthen the skills of the affected professionals & give them tools that increase their professional development. In order to strengthen the VET, ESCAR will produce a Best Practice guide & draft a digital portal with good exemples on SC. The good examples will be collected from Local Stakeholder Panels (LSP) as well as Learning/Teaching/Training (L/T/T) activities. By producing a Best Practice guide & drafting the portal, the VET will be further developed. It will facilitate for practitioners to carry out their work in a better, more coordinated manner, receive knowledge on consumer behaviour, citizen participation & how VET could adapt & capitalize of this knowledge. The EU is encouraging more SC as part of different policies. As seen, this is not a local phenomena & all partners have the need to develop their work. However, they all have different backgrounds they could contribute with. The partnership is very suitable to carry out the project, since they represents both an NGO, municipalities & a science center carrying out VET. In Borås, many of the energy/climate/consumer advisers work on an individual basis. The accessibility & proximity to the public is often inadequate, & there is a need to influence their attitudes on SC. NAVET have a long experience in educating within SC. They got the mission to educate Borås public officials in the project Sustainable Future. NAVET also has a broad network of local/regional actors & will be an excellent dissemination partner. Skanderborg work with a high level of citizen involvement. Their experience on working closely with the citizens to come up with the best solution to address the challenges with sustainability is of interest. Columbares is a large organisation offering VET. They have experience in working with different methods for changing consumer behaviour. Columbares also has experience in educational programs & have implemented Green Homes. Santorso has a solid regional anchorage - both leading the Provincial Environmental Educational Laboratory & is also the promoter of the Mayors Statement of Altovicentino. Project activities: Exchange of experience on different themes & Best Practices on SC Develop a Best Practice guide on SC & draft a portal Carry out L/T/T in order to develop the Best Practice Guide Carry out LSP’s that give input to the VET & to the creation of the Best Practice Guide The Best Practice guide in this project will be the main result. The guide will be uploaded on the website of the project & will also be further developed in the portal, where new Best Practices continously will be uploaded. In this way, the results are available for everybody that is interested in using the material produced within ESCAR. The main desired impact of ESCAR is that the professionals working in the field will have better tools and training material in order to support citizens to make sustainaible choices. ESCAR also intends to make an impact at local, regional, national & European level, since it is in line with local & regional strategies in the partner areas. The decision makers will also be a part of the LSP’s, which will give them & other stakeholders better decision support. The durability of ESCAR is secured by the involvement of the policy-making level. All partners are responsible to involve local/regional decison makers which guarantees that results will be known & potentially applied by the policy makers. The broad dimension of the dissemination activities planned, involving stakeholders beyond the partnership, assures the sustainability. Borås will also be responsible for the continuation of the digital portal, where the guide will be further developed since new Best Practices continously will be uploaded. In this way, the results are available after project ending.
Complex, affects everybody and difficult to achieve, are all words that are mentioned in conjunction with the term Sustainable Consumption. The phrase is however often formally defined as the use of services and products which respond to basic needs while at the same time minimizing the use of natural resources. Many different professions work within the area, and the Vocational Education and Training (VET) is therefore constantly evolving. Environment, lifestyle and behaviour patterns are questions that everyone must take increased responsibility for. This problem looks the same no matter where in the EU you are. Although environmental awareness is increasing, most people find it difficult to relate their consumption habits to large-scale problems such as climate change. To reverse current trends, consumers need to be well informed and know which habit changes will have the biggest impact. At the same time, the occupational groups who work in the field feel they lack the tools to work in the area. They also need to come closer and be more accessible to the public. The ESCAR project has strived to improve the VET within the field of Sustainable Consumption, with the goal to strengthen the skills of the affected professionals and give them tools that increase their professional development. In order to strengthen the VET, the ESCAR project has produced a Best Practice Guide with good examples on how to work with Sustainable Consumption, which is available online and free for anyone to use. The good examples have been collected from Learning, Teaching and Training (LTT) activities, and from Local Stakeholder Panels (LSP). The Best Practice Guide facilitates practitioners to carry out their work in a better, more coordinated manner, receive knowledge on consumer behaviour, citizen participation and how VET could adapt and capitalize of this knowledge. The EU is encouraging more Sustainable Consumption as part of different policies. As seen, this is not a local phenomenon and all partners entered the project with a need to develop their work. The partnership was very suitable to carry out the project, since they all had different backgrounds they could contribute with, and represented both an NGO, municipalities and a science center carrying out VET. Project partners: - Municipality of Borås, Sweden - In Borås the energy/climate/consumer advisers work on an individual basis. The accessibility to the public is often inadequate and there is a need to influence their attitudes on Sustainable Consumption. - Navet Science Center, Borås, Sweden - Navet has a long experience in educating within Sustainable Consumption. Navet also has a broad network of local/regional actors. - Municipality of Skanderborg, Denmark - In Skanderborg they work with a high level of citizen involvement. Their experience on working closely with the citizens to come up with the best solution to address the challenges with sustainability is of interest. - Columbares, Murcia, Spain - Columbares is a large organisation offering VET. They have experience in working with different methods for changing consumer behaviour. Columbares also has experience in educational programs. - Municipality of Santorso, Italy - Santorso has a solid regional anchorage, both leading the Provincial Environmental Educational Laboratory and is the promoter of the Mayors Statement of Altovicentino. Project activities: - Exchanged experiences on different themes and best practices on Sustainable Consumption. - Carried out LTT activities in order to develop the Best Practice Guide on Sustainable Consumption. - Carried out a common activity on the topic of sustainable food, resulting in a booklet of recipes. - Carried out LSP’s in order to get input to the VET and the creation of the Best Practice Guide. Results and impact: The Best Practice Guide is this project's main result. The guide can be found online at www.sustainableguide.eu. In this way the results are available for everybody interested in using the material produced within the project. The main impact of ESCAR is that the professionals working in the field have gotten new tools and training material in order to support citizens to make sustainable choices. Decision makers have been a part of the LSP’s, which have given them and other stakeholders better decision support. Some of the main conclusions of the project are; that it's important to involve both heart and brain in activities in order to achieve behavioural change; with international contacts a local project gains credibility and bigger interest; that the municipality can play an important role as an enabler of grassroots' ideas. Durability: All partners have been responsible for involving and reporting to local/regional decision makers, which guarantee that the results will be known and potentially applied. The Best Practice Guide has been developed as a website where new best practices easily can be added, also after the end of the project.