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Summer Camps promoting Sustainable Action

2023-1-DE04-KA152-YOU-0001349622023Mobility of young peopleongoing
Countries: DE|EG|LB|PT · Grant: €50,887.92
Green skillsEnvironment and climate changeBridging intercultural, intergenerational and social divide

Objectives

The project aimed to empower the participants and the people involved in the project on several levels. Sustainability was deliberately chosen as the main topic of the mobility project. Due to the United Nations' sustainability goals and the media attention, the topic of sustainability is firmly anchored in the consciousness of the target group. Since the project was designed to get the participants involved in activities beyond the mobility activities, a topic was chosen that not only appeals to the participants, but in which the target group is already active beyond the project. The project itself focused on raising awareness of the environmental issues among the project participants. At the mobility meetings, the participants exchanged ideas about sustainability at the international level. This allowed the topic to be viewed from different perspectives. Non-European partners were deliberately included in the consortium for this reason. Sustainability is a global issue, but the effects are different in different parts of the world. Through international exchange, the participants' awareness of the topic of sustainability and the current effects was broadened. Therefore, one mobility in Europe and one mobility in a non-European country was deliberately implemented. All participants should have the same opportunity to break out of familiar structures and get to know new circumstances. Many participants were thus not only able to gain new, unforgettable moments and experiences, but also valuable insights for the future. The challenges in everyday life in terms of sustainability differ in different regions. Thus, the approach and the solutions are also different. It is important to exchange ideas about this and it can help to understand different perspectives. However, seeing and experiencing this is much more effective. Accordingly, the mobilities were used to provide insights into local life. Therefore, many activities were undertaken in collaboration with local organisations that deal with sustainability. This not only ensured that further perspectives were incorporated into the project, but also that the participants received as much local input as possible and were able to better understand the realities of life in both Egypt and Germany. In addition, the participants were provided with sufficient knowledge and alternative resources to bring about change at the local level. Overall, the participants of the two summer camps were empowered to actively contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 10 ‘Sustainable Development’. To encourage active participation, the participants were instructed to develop their own small actions or projects on the topic of sustainability. At the camp in Egypt, they worked in multinational groups to playfully design theoretical projects in order to learn the basic elements of project planning. With the support of the respective partner organisations, they planned and partially implemented individual actions or small joint projects. The results were further developed and improved in Germany with input from the international group. On the basis of an in-depth introduction to project management by the German partner organisation Starkmacher e.V., the participants received useful know-how and tools to help them implement their ideas. By the end of the project, several actions or projects had been implemented in each country to promote sustainability in the respective local contexts. In addition, the entire project was characterised by intercultural exchange. Youth exchanges were used to foster interaction between participants from different cultures, promoting inclusion and diversity and thereby changing the participants' mindsets and broadening their horizons. The involvement of non-European partners and the implementation of a camp in Egypt also added value, as the individual life situations on average differ more from European ones than they would in an inner-European context.

Project partners (4)