The GO GREEN: Greening Europe Through Participation Youth Exchange was successfully completed. The project took place in Varna, Bulgaria from 9 June to 15 June and involved a total of 24 young people interested in the topic of sustainability and environmental protection. The YE was focused on educating the participants on environmental sustainability and introducing them to specific eco-friendly habits and practices to implement in their everyday lives. The project fostered participants’ environmental understanding and raised awareness of current issues such as climate change, various pollution, biodiversity loss, overconsumption, and food waste.
On the first day of the project, the participants got to know each other by implementing various ice-breaking activities and energizers to foster the group dynamic. Then they took part in a definitions game, whose final goal was for the participants to create group definitions of the term “sustainability”. After a presentation of the Youthpass Certificate, the team leaders of each national group introduced their sending organizations – FECE (Bulgaria), TAVO (Lithuania), SFERA (North Macedonia) and Monomyths (Romania). The end of the daily activities was marked by shared free time.
On the second day, the GO GREEN participants got acquainted with the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By working in groups, they had to brainstorm and list specific steps to support the implementation of four of the goals – Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption and Production, Life Below Water and Life On Land. The next activity – Beware, we are watching – aimed at introducing the participants to the human rights violations connected to the global clothing industry. Divided into international groups, they had to present different initiatives (such as protests, street campaigns or informational campaigns) to limit the negative impact related to child labor, low wages, environmental damages, poverty etc. During the last activity for the day, the participants had to prepare a short pantomime to present a chosen SDG.
On the third day, the participants brainstormed on how to make a given business “greener”. They were also introduced to the SWOT analysis as a tool to analyze the market. Each group was given a specific “green” service to be analyzed. In the afternoon (again in groups) they created green protocols for 1) school students, 2) office workers and 3) factory workers aimed to maximize the positive environmental impact through specific steps. Then the participants filmed short advertising videos for their protocols.
The fourth day started with a group activity that stimulated the participants to create street campaigns to motivate citizens to make the city “greener”. Then they completed the Varna Adventure Game by exploring the main landmarks of Varna and meeting the local youth.
On the final day the participants learned more about the Erasmus+ Programme and its main priorities, the European Youth Strategy (2019-2027) and the 11 European Youth Goals. Divided into groups they came up with sample projects to support the implementation of the strategy. The project ended with a group reflection and a Youthpass award ceremony. In addition, two intercultural evenings took place during the project.
Venue: Varna, Bulgaria
Duration: 9 June – 15 June 2024
Countries Represented: Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, Lithuania
Participants: Young people (18-30) from 4 European countries
The project is funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ program.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.