If it´s not fun, its not sustainable

By Steffi Pardella, FFA Team
A report on our 23 month project Sustainability in action from october 2020 to august 2022.

We have successfully completed our first Sustainability in Action project for a Sustainable Green Europe, quality learning, information building and constructive dialogue within education for sustainable development!

The project included a total of four mobilities:

• „Methods for Sustainable Youth Work I“I
  Youth Worker Mobility - 20. –28.06.2021 in Italy
• „Journey of Empowerment“
  Youthexchange - 12-20 November 2021, Berlin
• „Methods for Sustainable Youth Work II“
  Youth Worker Mobility – 4–13.04.2022 Slovenia
• „Community building and Solidarity“
  Youthexchange - 30.06–08.07.2022 in Spain

In total, five partners from Spain, Italy, Germany, Slovenia and Romania participated in the project. The main objectives of the project were to reflect on sustainability in the fields of ecology, education, economy and social structures, to promote sustainable living practices among young people and to strengthen the competences of youth workers.

Participants in the mobilities were youth workers and young people aged 14 to 17 who were interested in sustainability and environmental protection, including participants with fewer opportunities, young people from rural areas, with social barriers or economically modest backgrounds.

The youth worker mobilities were training courses for youth workers interested in sustainability. In each youth worker mobility, methods were developed to be used in the context of sustainable education concepts in youth work and also in the subsequent youth exchanges, and some youth workers from these mobilities were also taken part youth leaders in the youth exchanges.

Youth workers were supported to develop new skills for sustainable youth work, to experience different non-formal methods for Education for Sustainable Development and to be able to implement and apply them well in their own work.
A special focus was always on a large action and self-awareness orientation and of course learning with fun.

Here you can get an insight into our second training session in Slovenia:

Manual of Methods for a sustainable impact_ready (yumpu.com)

 “I got so inspired by all the people and the new things I leaned. I will come home with so much new input and motivation. I even surprised myself. I feel like I have opened so many new doors for my future and so many new paths were shown to me by others.”

In particular, the choice of locations contributed to a deeper understanding and internalisation of sustainable practices on different levels and aspects - ecological, economic, social, cultural and personal - in addition to the thematic examination of sustainability and environmental protection.

“I really liked the whole project. It was a wonderful experience and I learned a lot of new and useful things, that I will apply in my daily life.
"I especially like the Dragon Dreaming method and the Circle of Courage, because I think these are some of the greatest ways that can help you to work on yourself and grow as a person and can encourage you to do things you've always wanted to do.“

In particular, Sunny Hill, a space of cooperation, innovation, and supportive environment for research, education and active practice of sustainable development, and Vidalia, a growing project of an intentional community, cooperation and transformation, where two of our activities took place, played a special role in really experiencing sustainable living and immersing themselves in the sustainable projects.

The results of our extensive project range from high satisfaction of our participants with many positive impacts on their private lives or even their professional actions, improved sustainable working aspects within the participating organisations and developed working materials for sustainable youth projects to deepened partnerships and follow-up projects.

We are very grateful for the cooperation with our great partners, for all participants and their participation and sharing of their experiences and good practices and for all ideas that will drive our future projects.

We have expanded our focus to the levels of sustainability and currently, our follow-up project "Sustainability in Action 2.0" is running with four mobilities for youth workers, involving already participating organisations and also attracting new partners. Also youthexchanges with other specific topics are on our agenda.

„A real opportunity to become more aware of who we are and what we should be doing here, in our lives, as individuals and as groups, connections and in the capacities of youth to be/become responsible global citizens“

"I thank the organizers for their enormous work and the organization of the many workshops. The workshops opened my eyes to the real world and made me the environment and the people I am in contact with or live in a society, to perceive more consciously."

We will continue to work on this promising and important topic with intensive continuity and a great devotion.

Partner organisations
Vidàlia | Community, Cooperation and Transformation (vidalia.coop)
Sunny Hills of Istria – Sustainable culture of living, Slovenia (soncnigrici-istra.eu)
https://www.edubiz.ro
Papperla.net | Centro giovanile Bolzano

Funding
This project was financed by Erasmus+ and supported by the German National Agency (Jugend für Europa).