“It’s Time” is a project implemented in several countries such as Portugal, Spain, and Greece to address environmental challenges and sustainability topics. There have been many activities as part of the projects, including a clean-up hosted in the Valley of Serres – where participants used interactive games to inform about eco-friendly practices.
Objectives:
The “It’s Time” project has several objectives, some of which include:
- Promote Sustainability Awareness
- Encourage Active Participation in Environmental Efforts
- Disseminate Knowledge of Eco-Friendly Practices
- Foster Cross-Cultural Collaboration
- Empower Youth as Change-Makers
- Involve Communities in Environmental Awareness
Description of the practice:
The project promotes sustainability, and environmental awareness, and fosters youth participation in global challenges. In the project, participants from Portugal, Spain, and Greece collaborate during several activities that promote the use of practical, hands-on approaches to inform young people about environmental issues. Similar to the Valley cleanup that we introduced earlier, the outdoor activities of this project utilise interactive hands-on learning through games and other fun activities to make sure that learning about sustainability is both engaging, accessible and fun. A crucial part of the project is the dissemination of both the participants’ knowledge and experiences. A concrete example of this is a live radio broadcast of some Greek participants where they shared their experiences and learnings from the various outdoor events. This mixture of outdoor hands-on, community-based learning can tackle a number of sustainability topics like water conservation, carbon footprint, diet choices for sustainability and so on.
Impact & Results
As a result of the project, the participants increased their knowledge of various sustainability topics. The activities under ‘It’s Time’ increased youth engagement, interest and experiences in a series of sustainability topics. The knowledge and experiences of these young participants were disseminated through numerous channels, including radio channels in Greece. This project also had a series of beneficial activities for the environment like the Valley clean up that also enhanced community involvement.
Conclusion & suggestion for youth workers:
Similar to the other lessons discussed in this booklet, outdoor and hands-on learning experiences in outdoor environments are a great scenery for informal learning. Furthermore, the main takeaway from this project is its emphasis on dissemination. Not only for sharing the learning outcomes of the projects but also for giving space to participants to share their experiences on social media, radio and so on. Sometimes we as young people do not only respond to facts and learning materials, sometimes, hearing experiences from people can inspire us – something we can keep in mind for all our projects.
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