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Eat, Act, and Think Sustainably

2022-3-TR01-KA153-YOU-0000985522022Mobility of youth workersfinalized
Countries: TR|PT|DE|LV|HU · Grant: €36,834
Environment and climate changeGreen skillsCommunity development

Objectives

Our project is based on global issues that have become more pressing in recent years, such as the global climate crisis, environmental pollution, and food waste. Food waste is a significant problem both environmentally and economically. According to the Food Waste Index Report published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2021, 17% of the food produced globally is wasted, with Turkey ranking first in Europe in terms of household food waste. It is well known that food waste not only contributes to the carbon footprint but also leads to the wastage of natural resources such as water, soil, and energy. Additionally, the excessive consumption of processed and ready-made foods brings other issues, such as packaging waste, which further harms the environment. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this issue, with an increase in home food deliveries and online grocery shopping. Through our research and the online meetings we held with our project partners, we realized that people do not place enough importance on the concepts of food waste, conscious consumption, and sustainability. Therefore, we aimed to raise awareness among youth workers and participants on these topics and encourage them to contribute to creating a greener society through individual behavioral changes. The lack of sufficient knowledge and awareness about food waste and sustainability formed a key part of our needs analysis, indicating that these issues needed to be addressed. The goals of our project include raising participants' awareness of food waste, overconsumption, and sustainability, helping them realize that individual behavioral changes play a crucial role in combating the global climate crisis, and equipping participants with environmentally friendly and sustainable skills. Moreover, we aimed for participants to share the knowledge and skills they gained with their communities, thus advancing the goal of building greener societies. Additionally, we sought to demonstrate that cooking at home is an eco-friendly and motivating practice and encouraged participants to share their cultural dishes with others as part of the project. In addition to these aims, the project also sought to foster intercultural communication, provide opportunities for disadvantaged individuals to participate in Erasmus+ projects, improve participants' foreign language skills, and promote European Union projects. Enhancing participants' social and cultural skills and encouraging youth workers to engage more actively in projects were also key objectives. By employing non-formal education methods throughout the project, we ensured that participants were actively involved in their learning processes, thereby strengthening the educational dimension of the project.

Project partners (6)