Recommendations for a climate-sensitive learning mobility
>90% of the young project participants consider climate change a serious or very serious topic
It can be difficult to get clear information on a certain topic. Making the right decision on how to live one’s life in a sustainable way can be complex. Information can be contradictory or turn out to be wrong, also because new insights have been gained, for example. Make this trans - parent to the participants. Discuss in the group how to deal with this ambiguity and still find a way to take concrete steps towards sustainable action. Above all, it is the small practical steps that the young people can easily integrate into their everyday lives that are already very valuable and usually more promising than complex plans. Over 90% of the young project participants consider climate change a serious or very serious topic. Especially participants from EU coun- tries had a very strong sense of their own responsi- bility and the importance of their personal choices. At the same time, when asked about their concrete engagement on climate issues, only a relatively small number mentioned regular activity. This shows that in this field, too, international youth work organisa - tions could support and empower young people on their way towards stronger engagement. Think about including concrete actions in your learning mobility programmes to provide concrete experiences for the young participants. Use your network and your access to young people to open up their way to information, contacts and resources. Inform them about active groups, interesting local solutions and positive environmental examples and put them in touch with each other and their active peers. Provide information about hands-on steps everyone can take to be more sustainable. Highlight that small steps count, too! At the same time, be sensitive to signs of eco-anxiety or overconcern, which have a paralysing rather than activating effect.
Moreover, when asked about their interest in becoming active in the future, the vast majority of respondents pointed out that they would be inter- ested in joining activities focussing on climate protec- tion. When asked about the kind of activity they would prefer, a clear majority of young respondents from all countries mentioned they would like to join “projects in my school/training institute/university/ workplace”. In the focus group sessions, the young participants explained this further. First of all, young people seem to feel that their formal education takes up so much time that they don’t have the space, energy and means for other commitments. Hence taking action on climate issues wherever they have to spend their time anyway is simply practical. This calls for including time slots for civic engagement in formal education curricula. Look for cooperation possibilities with the formal education system. Schools might be interested in non-formal-education activities/ workshops to enrich their daily schedule. If you already have contacts in formal education, you can bring ecological groups or initiatives to this network to introduce their work, give a presenta- tion on certain topics, etc. Besides the lack of time, it was discussed in the focus groups that it can feel challenging to approach a new, unknown group of people or context even if the issue tackled by the group is considered important. This feeling of insecurity can be reduced, the young people said, when some persons in the group are already known and hence some contact is already established. Look for opportunities to cooperate with civil society groups and build bridges to rele- vant activist groups. The peer-to-peer approach can be encouraged. Climate activist groups, polit - ical parties and initiatives can be invited to school or youth groups to make the first contacts easier.
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Practical tips
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