From October 27 to November 2 2024, the Fundació Catalunya Voluntària organize the international training course ‘ECOrasmus 360º’, which will bring together in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain) 23 individuals, leaders of youth, non-profit and non- governmental organizations that carry on a significant number of face-to-face youth activities
and who want to learn to carry them out in the way that harms the environment as little as possible.
The course is the result of a partnership between 12 non-profit NGOs from 10 countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Italy, Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine, and Turkey) with very diverse needs and contexts interested in exchanging and sharing ecological practices, and knowing and learning new tools so that the activities they organize
have the least possible negative impact on the nature.
Although the FCV has been carrying out actions in the field of environmental awareness and training for decades (organizing youth exchanges and other initiatives within the framework of the European Solidarity Corps program, for example), for more than 5 years it has been part of the ECOrasmus European initiative, a project of cooperation and exchange of good practices in youth matters to create a guide so that educational actions do not harm the natural environment.
This initiative carried out together with NGOs from Germany (coordinator), Netherlands, France, and Hungary, allowed us for 3 years to investigate, interview, and learn about several environmentally friendly practices, and host in the same venue, in March 2023, the first international training course ‘ECOrasmus’, contributing to the writing of the manual ‘Green your Youth Project!’ and to the recently launched website http://www.ecorasmus.eu, from which, among many other practical resources, you can download this manual for free (in 7 languages).
The course will bring together directors and managers from a dozen NGOs, some with the mission of protecting, raising awareness, and training on environmental issues, along with others that do not deal with this issue as a priority and are aware of the need to introduce more measures, with whom we will analyze some of the aspects to improve in planning, venue
selection, purchases of materials, trips, and meals, etc.
The general objectives of the activity are to improve the ecological standards of the partners and expand the informal network of NGOs committed to more eco-friendly youth work.
The specific objectives are: to explore, share, and learn new tools, practices, and valid guidelines for organizing ecological educational activities; develop tools to assess and improve the green competencies (skills and attitudes) both of youth workers and young people and, finally, establish new partnerships to multiply the lessons learned and, this way, increase
awareness of the need for youth educational activities to be truly ecological.
After months of preparation, in July/August, each partner will recruit the participant/s, who will be invited to an online conversation (at the end of August) and, later, to a webinar (in September). At the course, we will present various environmental management tools, through workshops, games, and exercises. As is the practice at FCV, we will value the group’s knowledge and experiences, designing collaborative dynamics and offering spaces so they can share experiences, practices, and knowledge and analyze how to apply the lessons learned.
Aware of the important ecological footprint of international youth activities, we have set ecological standards that we will follow and monitor, such as, for example, that 1/4 of the participants take ecological trips, that 1/2 of the activities are outdoors, 3/4 of the menu is vegetarian, as well as hiring the services of green suppliers and eating seasonal and local foods.
We also plan to dedicate a morning to collaborating with an initiative to recover the natural environment.
For more information about the initiative, which takes place thanks to the support of the Erasmus+ program of the European Commission, you can send an email to projectes@catalunyavoluntaria.cat
Lluc Martí
Coordinator
Fundació Catalunya Voluntària