Climate change and social exclusion are inextricably linked, and as the effects of the climate change increase,it will become increasingly difficult for the societies to eradicate exclusion of the fewer opportunities groups as they will also be those most affected by the climate consequences. Moreover, EPALE kicked-off the year 2020 with an official message regarding the role of education in increasing the environmental awareness of adults, highlighting that they shall urgently become factors of change and role models in the universal fight against Climate Change. Addressing it should also take more than just technology and science and rather a holistic approach encompassing education and social issues as a crucial element for the achievement of successful results. UNESCO also highlighted that the role of social and human sciences is not equally treated as other aspects that contribute to shape climate change solutions. Therefore, we must stop considering it as something separate from society or even individuals´ ACTIONs and emotions because they are truly intertwined as complex social-ecological systems and development will never be sustainable without further increase of understanding of environment’s role for our survival and well-being, and vice-versa. How thus to engage adult learners in Climate change related initiatives with innovative social aspects? Adult education organisations are called to design new pedagogical approaches to increase the participation and awareness of adult learners and, therefore, as social actors and citizens we all need to build adaptive capacity, resilience and effective and practical everyday solutions. Our Strategic Partnership took the above into consideration and was designed to bring significant improvement of professional competences for members of our 3 partner organisations (British Creativity Works Preston, Spanish NGO and training centre PASOS ( Platform of Sustainable and Solidarity Solutions) and Polish NGO Oczy Szeroko Otwarte) and other adult trainers and entities wishing to establish Climate Change related contents as it is a high time for this topic to be introduced as a transversal axe in any NGO regardless of its scope of work. The objectives of the our project called ACTION (Adult Climate EducaTION), are therefore the following: -We wish to exchange and generate transversal knowledge for adult trainers from non-formal and in-formal education field. -We plan to create materials in the field of adaptation to climate change for the above group, including practical work methods and its social aspects such as climate change and emotions, climate change and gender, climate change and the intrculturality or climate change and ethics. -We want to reinforce the notion of individual responsibility among adults in order to promote responsible behaviour. -We will support awareness and action on climate change through the creation and dissemination of related materials and events. -We strive for building NGOs´ capacity and cooperation among entities. The following main activities were designed in order to achieve the objectives: there will be 3 organizational project meetings and the best practices exchange through 3 LTTAs, each in one partner country. The intellectual work and testing stage undergone will have as a result the joint creation of an interactive guide on transoforming eco-anxiety into eco-ACTION, its edition and translation to languages of our partner entities, Polish and Spanish. Its further distribution and dissemination will involve 3 multiplier events and the opportunity for stakeholders and attendees to receive guidance on implementation of our IO. Moreover, internal workshops will be carried out for our NGOs´ staff and ACTION Groups for disadvantaged adults will be organised by the trained adult trainers. As for some of the project´s impact we believe that the project will help with reaching higher social participation through leading adult trainers to improve their way of interaction with adult learners who often show much scepticism towards the climate change action. We especially hope to reach the most disadvantaged groups, including the elderly. The elaboration of the IO in a transnational Partnerships will show that climate change topic, research, action and collaboration has no boundaries and, even more, that it is required as a mind shift in a global scale, no matter the country. This may produce a positive impact when it comes to other individuals or nations perception as an identification of a common goal, a priority and characteristic that unites us all, rather than separates. Moreover, the international community has already recognised the importance of climate change education as in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change the 197 parties commit to "the development and implementation of educational and public awareness programmes on climate change and its effects", on national and international levels.
1.To exchange and generate transversal knowledge for adult trainers from non-formal and in-formal education. By organising 3 training activities to increase the knowledge about best practices carried out by our partners and in their countries in the fields of climate change and social inclusion. 2.To generate transversal materials in the field of adaptation to climate change for adult trainers from non-formal and informal education sector, by creating an interactive book. 3.To reinforce the notion of individual responsibility among adults in order to promote responsible behaviour in relation to the consequences of climate change, by involving adults in the LTTAs and its dissemination and the testing period of the book. 4.To support awareness-raising and action on climate change through the development and distribution of dissemination materials and events. To reach a broad public we have translated the interactive book into Polish and Spanish, implemented a dissemination strategy and organised 3 multiplier events and international workshops. 5.To build intersectoral capacity and strengthen the cooperation among entities. We have distributed the interactive book among other entities, both associated partners and others.
Climate change and social exclusion are key priorities for European Union and citizens. Adult people included in our own focus group have stated that despite the increasing interest, adults show many doubts and lack a practical approach on their roles, and they underestimate the power of individual actions. In some cases, they feel anxious, yet they do not know how to start action. Climate change and social exclusion are linked, and as the effects of the climate change increase, it will become increasingly difficult to eradicate exclusion of the fewer opportunities groups as they will also be those most affected by the climate consequences. Moreover, education has a role in increasing the environmental awareness of adults. Addressing it should also take a holistic approach encompassing education and social issues as a crucial element for the achievement of successful results. Our Strategic Partnership was designed to bring significant improvement of professional competences for members of our 3 partner organisations and other adult trainers and entities wishing to establish Climate Change related contents as it is a high time for this topic to be introduced as a transversal axe in any NGO regardless of its scope of work.