1. To foster active citizenship, sense of initiative and social entrepreneurship among young people through providing them with the opportunity, support and tools to virtually collaborate with their peers on eco-innovation ideas and projects, through the development, launch, piloting and validation of an open access digital Lab for young people willing to engage in environmental protection and fighting against climate change. 2. To increase the quality, innovation and recognition of youth work through developing and piloting a bespoke online course aimed at building the capacity of youth workers across Europe to foster active citizenship, sense of initiative and social entrepreneurship among young people, to boost environmental protection and fight against climate change, and to address the digital transformation of youth work. 3. To disseminate information about the project's progress and achievements, to promote the benefits from enhancing youth workers knowledge and skills to foster active citizenship, sense of initiative and social entrepreneurship among young people, and to raise the awareness on effective approaches and methods to boosting environmental protection and fight against climate change.
Young people and future generations will be the worst affected by climate change. Already, nearly all of the world’s 2.2 billion children have been exposed to at least one climate-related risk – from toxic air pollution to wildfires or droughts (The Climate Crisis is a Child Rights Crisis, UNICEF 2021). Despite their awareness of the green economy and climate change implications, many young people lack the necessary information and support to translate awareness into action at local, national, and international levels. They need opportunities and support to understand and implement solutions to address climate change effectively. Importantly, they need to be given the chance to contribute to creating a sustainable future. Young people in Europe, especially in less advanaced countries such as Romania and Bulgaria need to have open access to free of charge support mechanisms and ways to collaborate with their European peers, as our economies are heavily struggling due to the many crises during the last couple of years and there is hardly any funding available under our Resilience and Recovery plans to support non-formal education.