CLIMATE NOMADS IN ALBANIA Many young people are concerned about the climate and nature. According to international research, this concerns 75% of young people worldwide. Many young people do not know how to take action to contribute to positive climate change and thus reduce their concerns. This is what we wanted to change as YEA! Albania and ONE WORLD Citizens (OWC) Netherlands with our 'Climate Nomads in Albania' project and follow-up program. In our project, young people from Albania and the Netherlands have started to explore clean-up and waste recycling activities in preparation for the youth exchange, which took place from 23 to 30 November 2024 in Albania in the city of Shkoder and the village of Mamurras, which they could share with active young people from Shkoder, Mamurras and other villages during the 7-day event. In Shkoder and Mamurras, many young people are concerned about the heavily polluted Lumi i Drojës river that flows through the villages and flows into the sea. Governments and most of the 30+ inhabitants do not take responsibility to clean the river and prevent pollution of the river. That is why the young people want to take action themselves and thereby inspire residents and young people from their local communities to take responsibility together for the mandatory and clean keeping of the river. An additional reason to do this was the pollution that ultimately ends up in the sea and on beaches through the polluted river. The sand of beaches in Albania has a beneficial effect that Albanians and tourists make use of. This can lead to pollution, also to danger. HOW IT STARTED In September 2023, young people from Albania and the Netherlands participated in the 7-day We Grow Together for Climate Education & Entrepreneurship Youth Participation Event in Austria, where they shared their concerns about the climate with young people from 10 countries and stood up together for the right to Climate Education & Entrepreneurship of all youth. Because it is important that all youth can learn about climate issues and social entrepreneurship and can develop their ideas and solutions for climate challenges into local activities, projects and startups. During this Event week, they met during co-creation sessions about concerns and solutions for positive climate change. The young people from the Netherlands, where many and more residents are consciously working on waste reduction and a clean environment, saw the opportunity to help the young people in Albania with example activities and knowledge about recycling waste. Together they came up with a project plan for Climate Nomads in Albania. Inspired by this plan, we decided as YEA!, OWC and young people to organize the 1st Climate Nomads youth exchange in 2024 with the support of Erasmus+. Climate Nomads are young people who want to become aware of climate change and help each other to take action on solutions to climate challenges. To be a Climate Nomad, you need knowledge, skills and tools, which we gathered in the 1st Climate Nomads project and in which young people train each other. The program we completed together became the basis of Climate Nomads projects that we would like to copy with as many young people and partners as possible in other countries after the project is completed. more and more young people can get actively involved in their own communities. OBJECTIVES OF OUR PROJECT • To train each other in self-reliance, self-confidence, leadership. initiative, social entrepreneurship and collaboration, so that we can translate our concerns about climate change into local and successful actions, with which we actively contribute to change that we consider important, in collaboration with other young people. • By working together with young people from different countries, cultures, backgrounds and living conditions, discover that we belong together, that everyone counts and that by working together with each other, in Europe, the Balkans and the World we are able to undertake a better society and future. • Experience that we can learn a lot from and with each other, outside of school, online and offline, and informally. And that we can continue to do this after the end of the entire project. With the support of YEA!, OWC and the We Grow Together Community. predominant feelings of powerlessness, worries and being alone, reduce and make way for belief in your own contribution to change, positive change in your local community and future prospects in your own country. • Discover through personal experiences and small successful actions what inclusion, sustainable development, democratic participation and active citizenship are visible. And that participating together with other young people is inspiring, hopeful and fun!