Besides discouraging impacts of climate change all over the world there are several grassroots solutions already in place which can be inspiring for youth and adults. Previous common experiences and the shared certainty of the importance to emphasize that alternatives exist and are being practiced, thus to reinforce the perception of possible socioenvironmental changes and the self-perceived ability to be part or generate them, are the basis on which we built the project idea and the partnership. We think that combining an online training on global environmental issues with field-visits to local solutions and communities involved in tackling climate change will result in the enhancement of youth and youth workers capacity to take action, networking and participate in social and political processes regarding climate issue. Moreover, through a developed educational game the youth will apply knowledge and competences acquired during the training to a proposed scenario and figure out how they can change/improve it. The project aims at raising awareness in the youth about the solutions side of the climate change debate by discover, discuss, analyse and spread local and concrete examples of alternative economic models within the 4 countries participating in ClimAlt. SPECIFIC NEED 1: Citizens are not fully aware of climate change, they still perceive it as something distant. They are often not able to link causes, effects and possible alternatives. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 1: Enhanced youth critical attitude towards climate change issue: they are aware of causes, effects and solutions. EXPECTED RESULT 1: 100 youth taking part in the 2-years training (online training, webinars) and 250 attendees participating in public events and youth-driven activities. SN 2: Citizens feel powerless in front of climate change, they don’t feel that individual actions can contribute to reverse course, they are still waiting from top-down solutions. There is a need to bridge the gap between causes, impacts and solutions, showing that climate change is occurring with it terrible effects, but we can be part of the change. SO 2: Youth empowerment and reinforced capacity to take action, networking and participate in social and political processes. ER 2: 39 youth participating in mobility activities and contributing to the organization of public events in their countries. SN 3: In the era of fast communication, complex problems need smart and innovative tools to attract people attention. SO3: Increased offer of contents and tools for youth, youth workers, educators in the field of environmental education. ER 3: 3 new educationalproducts developed by the partnership freely available on the project website and disseminated by communication and dissemination activities to 10.000 youth, youth workers, educators, students, volunteers, activists, citizens. SN 4: Environmental organizations often do not have the necessary resources to broaden their networks and capacity to advocate for sustainable solutions, compared to big corporations supporting the mainstream economic model. SO 4: Strengthened partnership among organizations committed to promote an alternative and sustainable economic model. ER 4: 2-years networking and expertise sharing among the partnership. Among the outputs to be developed and tested by the partnership: an e-learning training course on climate change causes, effects and possible solutions for youth; 4 in-depth webinars focusing on alternative model best practices; an educational game to enhance youth constructive attitude towards climate change phenomenon and ability to link the knowledge and competences acquired during the training to a proposed case. 4 mobility for youth are foreseen by the project in 4 countries, they will add great value to the training and the overall project because of their pivotal role in connecting theory and practice, problems and solutions, case studies analysed and people or communities involved in the creation and implementation of viable alternatives. The mobility will complement the previous phase of the training by associating global environmental issues discussed with a 3-day fieldtrip through solutions to tackle climate change. Although such solutions are generated from different socioenvironmental ad geographical contexts, they are all answers to climate change related issues and they all constitute virtuous and inspiring attempts to take action against such issues. An additional staff mobility is foreseen to strengthen their ability to network and create partnerships, to share their complementary expertise and develop educational materials and activities. Project material will be freely available on the online platform to facilitate post-project exploitation and dissemination among youth, youth workers, educators, volunteers, activists and citizens. In addition, public events will take place in each country in order to disseminate project’s intellectual outputs.
ClimAlt was carried out to inspire youth and adults with grassroots mitigation and adaptation solutions for tackling climate change. The project consisted in a step forward for the partnership: as some of them have been active for years denouncing the impacts of climate change on communities all over the world, ClimAlt intended to support actions and proactive narrative rather than focusing on impacts only. In fact, ClimAlt intended to empower youth and enhance their critical attitude through discovery, analysis, discussion and spreading local and concrete examples of climate friendly practices, thus reinforcing the perception that changes are possible and that youth can generate them. The activities realized consisted of: A 32 hour online course pilot edition on climate change causes, effects and possible alternatives for youth, implemented in 4 languages with tutor’s support; 4 e-learning platform with open educational contents on causes, effects and possible alternatives for youth, youth workers, educators, available in 4 languages; 4 four thematic in-depth Webinars in Italian, English, Bulgarian and Croatian focusing on how civil society organizations can proactively contribute to tackling climate change; 1-days online training on gamification techniques for educators; 1 card game on how you can help tackling climate change with simple actions that have a big impact; 4 public online events to inspire people to become actors of change and spread project outputs and results;. The needs identified by the partnership are connected to the access to quality training materials on climate change for youth and their attitude towards this urgent challenge. In fact, the proposal was written in April 2018 before the Fridays for Future movement was born when the theme was not a priority on the public agenda and on media and climate change was still perceived as something far. In particular, the following needs emerged from the context: Specific need 1 pointed out that citizens (youngsters and adults) were not fully aware of climate change, they barely linked causes to effects and possible alternatives. So, ClimAlt objective 1 was to enhance youth critical attitude towards climate change issues: make them aware of causes, effects and solutions. The action resulted in 568 youth from 16 European countries taking part in the 30 months training path (online training, webinars). Specific need 2 identified the feeling of powerlessness in front of climate change: citizens didn’t feel that individual actions can contribute to reverse course, they were still waiting for top-down solutions. ClimAlt wanted to bridge the gap between causes, impacts and solutions, showing that climate change is occurring with its terrible effects, but being part of change is possible. In particular, specific objective 2 aimed to support youth empowerment and capacity to take action, networking and participate in social and political processes. Since the mobilities foreseen by the project proposal were not funded, the objective was reached through the game launch and the participation in the multiplier event. Through the game youth had the possibility to get to know concrete examples of change ordered in 4 different categories, with links and references for each country; in addition, during the webinar, 303 attendees had the possibility to interact and ask questions to the agents of change. Need n°3 regarded the access to quality and attractive tools in the field of climate change: the objective was to provide new innovative contents and tools for youth, youth workers, educators in the field of climate and environmental education. Results were achieved with the dissemination of 2 new educational products (e-learning platform on climate change and cards game) developed by the partnership freely available on the project website and disseminated by communication and dissemination activities to more than 10.000 youth, youth workers, educators, students, volunteers, activists, citizens. The e-learning platform recorded 215 accesses in the 4 versions (en - it - bg - hr). Finally, specific need 4 regarded environmental organizations, their lack of resources, networks and capacity to advocate for sustainable solutions, compared to big corporations supporting the mainstream economic model. ClimAlt intended to strengthen partnership among organizations committed to promote an alternative and sustainable economic model, supporting the sharing of complementary expertise. After 30 months working together, partner organizations broaded their network and their credibility on the topic thanks to the contents and tools developed. The objective was also achieved thanks to staff mobility in which partners developed new skills on gamification.