Green Cities of YOUth

Increasing the role of young people in the development of sustainable cities

 

 

       

 

Final Youth Meeting, Miguelturra

The last youth meeting of the "Green Cities of Youth" project took place in Miguelturra (pilot town of the project), from November 13 to 19, 2023. A leader and seven young people participated, some of them with fewer opportunities, from Spain, Romania and Germany.

This opportunity was taken to share points of view and make proposals for improvement on the sustainability of our towns. In addition, activities were carried out such as: making graffiti with awareness messages in busy places, developing an awareness campaign, creating gardens with native plants in the area, reforesting the green area of ​​the pilot town with native plants (there were planted more than 60 plants between the different areas), or creation of insect hotels, in order to increase biodiversity and promote pollination of the area.

The young people had the opportunity to improve their social, communication and personal skills, as well as the different aspects linked to increasing knowledge in sustainability and environmental education. Therefore, we can conclude that the impact and achievement of the objectives of said activity has been positive and of great impact.

Initial Youth Meeting, Bucharest

The Youth Exchange ‘Green Cities of Youth’ that took place in Hotel Yesterday, Bucharest between 12th - 18th of July 2023 equipped 24 youth participants from Germany, Romania and Spain with green competences as the following environmental awareness, culture for innovation, sustainable entrepreneurship and active communication skills. The project empowered young people through their involvement in the process of environmental improvement in their localities, using environmental awareness as a tool for integrating this group, it allowed the participants to share the environmental context of their countries with their peers focusing on problems, possible solutions and good practices and raised the awareness of the participants about their own consumption.

As a result, the participants proposed and made their own program for local activities and workshops that promote sustainable practices such as: raising awareness about the importance of sustainable practices in daily life and exchanging ideas about how to integrate more sustainable practices in our lives; promoting biodiversity in the community, recycle clothes workshop or how-to zero-waste management in one’s personal life and practices though the delivery of information and hands-on practices. Moreover, the participants made video raising awareness campaigns about sustainable practices, the importance of insects and environmental problems, one of them being posted on the pages of social media of the organisations.

Some intercultural and fun activities were included to ensure the the deeper connection and exchange of the participants.

Study Visit Freiburg

From 20.- 25. July 2022, one project coordinator, one youth workers and two youth from Romania and Spain resepectively travelled to Freiburg, Germany for a Study Visit. In the heat of July they visited a broad variety of projects and stakeholder in the field of education for sustainable development for children and youth. It was a dense but also fun program with a combination of oral exchange with local stakeholders such as NGO`s, acting as spectators, intensive working sessions and hands-on activities and even participating in two festivals!