LIVING LABs unites young talents and established environmental organisations in the Alps. It is an experimental project that uses participatory methods. Living Labs has a partner consortium of envirnmental networks in the Alps. The commision for the protection of the Alps, CIPRA International and its national CIPRAs want to enhance their youth participation. At the same time, they want to give young talents the opportunity to get involved in their work. Two transnational events will create the initial momentum in this project. Each year, a specific environment-related topic will be chosen together. During an event of several days, the topic will be explored and project ideas and initiatives will be developed. The young talents and the representatives will work together in this process. Local politicans and experts from the field and research will contribute with input. Each year, a national meeting will be organised to follow-up on the activities from the transnational meeting. During the national meeting, the young talents will meet the national CIPRAs, present the progress made on the thematic area and decide on next steps. They will also discuss how youth participation can be improved and how new young people can be involved. As an essential part, each partner has the chance to receive and invite representatives of the partner organisation and the young participants during "short staff trainings". Those job shadowing actions will give an inisght in the day-to-day work at the different offices. The project functions as a lab, this means that there are a lot of interesting ingredients on the table. Such as the partners, the potential topics, young engaged people and knowledge about interactive group processes and methods. The exact results and outcomes will be definded through the proecess. This shared learning journey will be the platform for strengthened cooperation and new project ideas and initiatives.
The LIVING LABs Erasmus+ project united young talents and established environmental organisations in the Alps. As an experimental project that used participatory methods, it supported intergenerational cooperation on the topic of sustainability and following a principle of co-creations. The project`s goals were achieved through different activities: 2 transnational meetings, 32 job shadowing opportunities and 14 realised national project ideas. The cooperation of the parners was strengthened, young people were empowered ll together realised environmentally friendly projects and initiatives that make the Alps a better place to live. Living Labs was made by a partner consortium of environmental networks in the Alps. The commision for the protection of the Alps, CIPRA International and its national CIPRAs enhanced their youth participation. At the same time, they gave young talents the opportunity to get involved in their work. Each year, a specific environment-related topic was chosen together with the partners and the youngsters, the first one being "sustainable tourism", and the other one "Landscapes". During an event of several days, the topic was explored and project ideas and initiatives were developed. The young talents and the representatives worked together in this process. Local politicans and experts from the field and research contributed with input. About 200 people were impacted, and a new project was drafted as a follow-up. Long terms benefits include job opportunities for young people in the CIPRA network; empowerment of the youngsters involved, and a rise in the awareness fot the need of a strong social involvment of youth to protect the alpine and global environment. A political paper on Landscapes was drafted in the project, and will be used in 2020 as a political tool to protect Alpine landscapes.