The main aim of the project is to develop the capacity of youth workers to foster the wellbeing of youth through nature connection. Nowadays, wellbeing of youth is being challenged due to increasing global, social and personal stressors. Parallel to this, natural environments have experienced an unprecedented level of destruction which is bringing nature to the edge of collapse while many species are in a process of mass extinction. On top of this, the current global pandemic is forcing human societies to change really fast, increasing the level of separation, distress and acceleration of whole communities. Thus, we are in need of making responsible actions to prevent the collapse of nature while cultivating lifestyles that will secure sustainable wellbeing for new and future generations in uncertain times. It came very strongly to our attention that young people who had the chance to keep a good contact with natural environments during the first wave of COVID-19, where the entire World was under the lockdown, had much better mental health and better wellbeing then the ones who lived in a urban areas, which had no access to the nature at all. This was a huge indicator of the importance of nature that helps us nurture wellbeing. We are also facing new trends that emphasize the importance of digitizing our world; however, we wish to balance this tendency by bringing youth work (back) to nature. Most of the youth work is happening in enclosed facilities or online, but there are rarely any natural approaches and activities that would bring nature, wellbeing, and young people closer together. Therefore, this project proposal also intends to raise the capacity building of youth workers in the youth field to develop activities, projects and networking focusing on the wellbeing and nature connection for young people. Objectives:1)develop a theoretical framework and a concept for wellbeing and nature connection in youth work (Erasmus+), 2)create a practical manual with the variety of methodology that derive from the theoretical framework and 3)develop a long-term training course programme for the youth workers/leaders who will benefit from our work and will be able to transfer their knowledge and experience to the young people their work with. The target group of this project are youth workers that will be participants in the training courses but also youth workers and youth leaders in general that will have access to the manual developed in this project and use it in their practice. The youth workers participating in our training courses will develop their knowledge about the theoretical framework and test the methods (collected in the practical manual).Young people are not a direct target group and will benefit from the methodology, action plans and networking that youth workers will carry on at international, national, or local levels. We plan to work on three intellectual outputs. First IO (IO1) is a theoretical framework that will connect wellbeing of the young people, nature, and youth work. This document will consist of the integration of many scientific theories that support our idea – the importance of using nature connection as one of the elements for fostering well-being in youth work. Second IO (IO2) will be the compendium of different methods that complements the theoretical framework integrated into a practical and interactive manual. IO1 will bring the reasoning (answer to the question “why”) to the project, while the IO2 brings the answers to “how to achieve” the change. IO3 will be a training course programme that will make a comprehensive learning experience for the youth workers. To reach these three results, we will organise one seminar for the core team to check the methodology we have come up with and to test the newly developed methodology. We will also execute the training course programme for some of the youth workers from our respective organisations and/or countries. They will be a part of the two TC events and a mentorship that will be provided during both TCs. All methods will be tested also on the local level with the local youth to check the efficiency of each method and the level of impact participants feel. This will help us modify and to improve our results. For the purpose of the dissemination, we plan to create a website, Facebook and Instagram account to promote and disseminate not only our results (framework manual and TC), but also to raise awareness about the philosophy we will be developing – the need to include nature in the wellbeing of the young person. A direct impact of this project will be seen as an improved capacity of youth workers to foster wellbeing in young people. Youth workers will be better equipped to engage young people in nature connection and wellbeing.Young people will also learn how to cope with some personal challenges, and how to be more active in their communities.
Our journey started during COVID-19. The pandemic made us all question our lives and how we live them. For some people, it meant a welcome time of rest, while others suffered from mental issues and the impact on their social lives, including many young people. As trainers in non-formal education, we wanted to help youngsters with their struggles. It came very strongly to our attention that young people who had the chance to keep a good contact with natural environments during the first wave of COVID-19, where the entire World was under the lockdown, had much better mental health and better wellbeing than the ones who lived in a urban areas, which had no access to the nature at all. This was a huge indicator of the importance of nature that helps us nurture wellbeing. We are also facing new trends that emphasise the importance of digitising our world; however, we wish to balance this tendency by bringing youth work (back) to nature. This project intended to raise the capacity building of youth workers to implement activities on the wellbeing and nature connection for young people and their communities. We wish to share our passion for nature and life as the great teachers of how to be human on this marvelous Earth.
We decided to apply for this project because we wanted youth workers to become able to foster the wellbeing of youth through nature connection practices and knowledge, in order to empower them to cope with the current social and ecological crises. Humans are an integral part of Earth’s ecosystem. Despite the individualistic view in Western society today, we’re interlinked with everything around us. Feeling this sense of deep connection and belonging to the greater whole is essential for our own well-being. That is why with this project we wanted to support youth workers in helping young people reconnect with nature and create a thriving future for themselves and planet Earth. Regarding the needs, we realised that the wellbeing of youth is being challenged due to increasing global, social and personal stressors. Parallel to this, natural environments have experienced an unprecedented level of destruction which is bringing nature to the edge of collapse while many species are in a process of mass extinction. On top of this, the recent global pandemic forced human societies to change really fast, increasing the level of separation, distress and acceleration of whole communities. We are in need of regeneration of our relationships with the worlds of nature.