EnvironMental

We live in a time of Climate Emergency, European Green Deal was announced in 2019 hoping to achieve climate neutrality in the European Union by 2050 and one of the main focuses of the new Erasmus+ Programme 2021–2027 (‘Green Erasmus’) is environmental education, nevertheless, our collective actions do not yet approximate a real understanding of it. Quite the contrary, adult learners are a specially challenging target group in environmental education as many times they already present a fixed set of values and behaviours and also even a negation-based passive or negative attitudes that are not easy to work with.

The European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) in its recent Manifesto for Adult Learning in the 21st century also stresses out that to take care of our health and well-being over our lifespan requires knowledge, skills, behaviours and lifelong learning that make adults more self-confident, self-efficacious and aware of their own capacities and skills. It also provides opportunities to bring people together in person and therefore strengthen their social networks crucial for well-being.

How do we want to work on that? Solution-based narrative was scientifically confirmed to give a sense of direction where the doom narrative only says no. Climate psychologist Adam Corne says that environmental communication challenge, especially when working with socially vulnerable adults, should not lose the creative art of storytelling as the need of updated data and information is by all means true, however “it is human stories, not carbon targets, that capture people’s attention.”

There is no scarcity of inspiring „green”that can be translated into exalting success stories. However, there does seem to be a lack of captivating and equipped „storytellers” who spread inspiration to action as well as vivid images of a dignified future: „if it cannot be imagined and well told, then people will surely not work for it to happen”. (Actually, even the EPALE 2020 Conference about an Adult trainer profile stated that „Motivation” is indeed the most desired practical skill in adult work these days).

For this reason, the General Objectives (GOs) of our project are as follows:

GO1. Enhance skills and expertise in the topic of climate change denial for adult educators from organizations working in non-formal and informal education. Target group: Adult educators from our non-governmental organizations who work daily with adults from our communities.

GO2. Raise awareness through the creation of new materials that integrate ecological and emotional issues for adult educators from organizations working in non-formal and informal education. Target group: Adult educators from our organizations and other entities.

GO3. Improve the understanding of the significance of environmental actions among adults and their motivation for lifelong learning, as well as for cultivating pro-environmental attitudes. Target group: Adults who are learning.

GO4. Enhance the cross-sectoral inclusion of ecological and emotional education in the third sector and other adult education institutions. Target group: Other entities from the third sector and adult education centers.

We run the Participants’ Selection Process twice: the first one is already been carried out in order to come up with the core teams for our project, and the second one will be carried out if the project is successful and will provide us with the Course in Spain missing participants.

The Selection Process is based on the following actions run by each NGO’s board members:

1. Defining selection criteria including: a daily work with adult learners, a strong interest in innovation and training, availability to travel and engage in the project’s activities, experience in materials creation/environmental or emotional education/informal and non formal adults’ teaching/digitalisation and social inclusion, ability to work in English language. A preference was given to trainers with obstacles and difficulties further described later on.

2. Using the identified criteria to prioritise possible candidates from our NGOs.

3. Preparing a list of project’s responsibilities for participants and its outline and delivering it to the preselected participants.

4. Decision making based on the criteria and short interviews and the results notification.

In the first selection process that was already carried out we came up with the following core project teams.

OSO
1. Management coordinator (MC): Kamila Kępczyńska
2. Communication and dissemination coordinator (CDC): Paulina Kuźmińska
3. IO developer 1 (IOD1): Mariola Kaniewska
4. IO developer 2 (IOD2): Patrycja Telerak

PC
1. Management coordinator: Daniela Mendoza
2. Communication and Dissemination coordinator: Begoña Cueli
3. IO developer 1: Carmen Solla
4. IO developer 2: Oscar Argumosa

Oriel
1.Management coordinator: Sillian Ferrari
2. Communication and Dissemination coordinator: Manuel Berto
3. IO developer 1: Giulia Ucciero
4. IO developer 2: Giulia Nichele

If the project is elected for funding, we will carry out the 2. part of the Selection Process to recruit 4 more active youth workers working with our adult communities from each NGO.

The participants selected in the both phases will be actively involved in the project and their main tasks are described below.

1. Management coordinators: as management coordinators they will be responsible for management tasks and deadlines, quality control processes and monitoring systems, budget and time managements, decision making together with the other coordinators from their NGO and the Partnership and meeting the goals and expected impacts. The management coordinators will also be in charge of risk management and problem solving processes and they will be the contact people for the 3 involved National Agencies. They will attend the Project Meetings and LTTAs.

2. Communication and dissemination coordinators: they will be in charge of the dissemination campaign of each NGO which entails creative content creation, managing of social networks and websites and event organisation supervision. They will be controlling the Dissemination impacts and make sure the Dissemination Plan is being effectively implemented and is reaching its objectives. They will be the contact person when it comes to the stakeholders and third parties involved in the workshops and multiplier events organisation and they will work closely with the other coordinators and colleagues from the project team in order to offer a fluid communication, both inside and outside of the Partnership. They will attend the Project Meetings and LTTAs.

3. IO developers

IO developers’ main task will be to assure a proper and timely development of the IO according to the phases outlined in the IO related section later on. Apart from the creative and research work, they will also supervise the whole process and keep in touch with the fellow coordinators from the partner organisations. They had already run the task of dividing the workload between the 3 NGOs and will further supervise it offering support and guidance for the rest of the team. They will make sure the timesheets are stored on the project’s Google Drive account and the deadlines are being met, they will also perform as the IO’s main editors and co-organise the Testing stage and Multiplier Events together with their colleagues. They will attend the LTTAs.

4. Participants from the 2. round of Selection Process: They will attend the Course in Spain and be a part of the good practices exchange there and they will co-organise the Testing workshops for the IO, the internal transfer workshops for the rest of their NGOs’ teams and the Follow Up Workshops „Motiva(c)tion” for the adult learners from their communities. They will also support the Coordinators in their tasks (each one will be „assigned” to the coordinators mentioned above) and be actively involved in Communication, Dissemination and Multiplier Events organisation.

We will organise 3 Project Meetings attended by 2 coordinators from each NGO:

-Management Coordinator

-and Communication and Dissemination Coordinators.

• 1st Project Meeting (Kick off meeting) by OSO
• 2nd Project Meeting (Intermediate progress check and evaluation) by Permacultura Cantabria
• 3rd Project meeting in Italy (final evaluation and conclusions) by Oriel

The main objectives of these evens are to:

-spread the project and its results,
-share the IO and reply to questions,
-explore cooperation areas among participants and
-involve additional organisations and stakeholders in the use of our IO offering them a consultation period,
-create an interactive, participative event.

MULTIPLIER EVENT E1: Poland

We plan to reach at least 40 direct participants such as:

-representatives of our Associated Partners,
-youth workers from other organisations,
-educators and environmental activists from Kielce and Świętokrzyskie region,
-Local authorities (invitations will be issued to The Regional Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management-Wojewódzki Fundusz Ochrony Środowiska i Gospodarki Wodnej, Regional Environmental Protection Inspection Office-Wojewódzki Inspektorat Ochrony Środowiska)
-Local adult education entities such as Centrum Kształcenia Edukator or Koło Polskiego Towarzystwa Nauczycieli w Kielcach
-Local and regional media (invitations will be issued to Gazeta Wyborcza Kielce, Echo Dnia, Tygodnik Starachowicki, Tygodnik Ostrowiecki, Radio Kielce, Charaktery – Magazyn psychologiczny dla każdego Kielce, Wiadomości Świętokrzyskie).

The event will last 1 day and is planned on Saturday to ensure a better participation opportunity.

MULTIPLIER EVENT E2: Italy

We plan to reach at least 40 direct participants such as:

– youth workers, social workers, therapists, educators, teachers, Verona Regional Volunteering Centre representatives
– Representatives of other non-governmental organizations working with adults and social and environmental activists, for example Vegambiente: Sicurezza, Ambiente, Formazione,
-Local authorities (invitations issued to Verona City Hall or Direzione Ambiente – Comune di Verona, Environmental Direction of the Verona Region)
-Local and regional media (invitation will be issued to: Il Verona, L’Arena, Verona Oggi, etc),
-Associated partners.

The event will last 1 day and is planned on Saturday to ensure a better participation opportunity.

MULTIPLIER EVENT E3: Spain

We plan to reach at least 40 direct participants such as:

-PC youth workers.
-Other youth workers, social workers, therapists, educators, teachers, volunteers
-Local press (invitations will be issued to El Diario Montañes, Diario Alerta, El Faro de Cantabria, etc)
– Associated partners.
-Representatives of other NGOs working with adults, social activists and activists from such organisations as the Agency for the promotion and development of the Pasiegos Valley, Asociación de Educación Ambiental y del Consumidor (ADEAC), Centro de Educación Ambiental de Viérnoles, Centro de Investigación Ambiental (CIMA), Centro de Permacultura «El Hayal», Parque de la Naturaleza y Centro de Educación Ambiental «Península La Lastra»,
-Representatives of training centers other institutions working with adult learners and youth workers, for example Centro de Educación de Personas Adultas de Santander.
– Representatives of the City Hall of Santander (the capital of the region) with whom they cooperated on other occasions.

The event will last 1 day and is planned on Saturday to ensure a better participation opportunity.

Study visit in Kielce – Exchange of good practices

Objectives:

-Better understanding of methods of social inclusion of people with disabilities through climate change actions and best practices in non-formal and informal education of CSOs to empower adults, especially those belonging to vulnerable groups -Understanding the intergenerational aspect and how older people can contribute to climate change actions

-Visits to local actors working on sustainable development and climate change and working with people belonging to disadvantaged groups

C2 : Course in Spain – Exchange of good practices 

Date: June 2022 (According to the Application)

Host organisation: Permacultura Cantabria

Participants : 30

Duration: 7 days + 2 day travel

Objectives: 

– To share best practices and techniques on ecological and emotional actions of PC and Oriel.

– To showcase local environmental initiatives and projects of Cantabria with adult participation.

Interactive book

Title: «Changing the narrative about the climate crisis and our attitudes towards it: environmental and emotional education for working with adult climate change deniers».

The IO aims to develop the following themes: (Each chapter will include links to online resources and QR codes for assessment).

Elements of IO innovation 

Linking emotional and environmental education. At the EPALE 2020 conference on the profile of the adult trainer, it was identified that ‘motivating’ was the most desired practical skill in adults and we therefore want to follow this recommendation as our RPI will include a whole section on motivating adults to change and learn. It is also innovative to broaden the narrative of the climate crisis climate crisis narrative with its emotional components in order to work with climate change «deniers» and so-called «climate doomers», as this topic is usually only addressed from the from the environmental science side, without taking into account the need to work on the difficult emotions associated with it as described previously described in the questions on project priorities.

Digitisation. One of the priorities of the Erasmus + programme and one of the 6 priorities of the European Commission for 2019-24 is an EU digitisation strategy. The European Association for Adult Education (EAEA) in its recent Manifesto for Adult Learning in the 21st Century also reports that today’s society is in the process of responding to the fourth industrial revolution: digitisation. Hence, our guide will include online adult training methods adapted to pandemic and remote working situations.

Self-learning and self-assessment. Our handbook will be designed as a «portable course» with progress tests, as a compendium of theory and practice to promote lifelong learning at your own pace. The EU’s Europe 2020 strategy sets as one of its main goals increasing the practice of self-directed learning, and the website of the Polish Ministry of Education emphasises the urgent need to to promote and offer lifelong learning among adults.

Promoting change in adult education. As EPALE reminds us in its report «The role of adult education in developing environmental awareness », despite increased European investment, one of the main factors limiting the transition to «green» societies over the past decade has been the lack of related skills and training. Adult learners will also be included in the development of the RPI during the test.

The impact is expected in the following groups:

1. youth workers from our NGOs who work on a daily basis with adult learners from our communities, especially those who are climate change „negationists” and „doomers”.

2. youth workers from other entities wishing to be „bio-neers” in these topics.

3. Adult learners, especially those who are climate change „negationists” and „doomers”.

4. Other Third Sector and adult teaching entities.

5. Our 3 entities that form this Partnership.

In order to brainstorm and determine the following impacts our Partnership also jointly consulted the Impact + Exercise offered by the United Kingdom’s Erasmus+ website.

1.

1.1. Project participants from our NGOs will have strengthened their professional skills and competences in methods of working with adult learners, especially in the link between emotional and environmental education and new climate emergency narratives.

1.2 Project participants will have gained practical experience in the skills acquired during the training.

1.3 Project participants will have meliorated their research, organisational and teamwork and communication competences, including remote and digital work skills.

1.4 Project participants will have their knowledge accredited.

2.

2.1 Thanks to our free IO and its materials for professionals working with adult learners, they will have gained methods to tackle emotional issues with their adult learners.

2.2 By the opportunity to attend the Multiplier Events, youth workers from outside of the Partnership will have got acquainted with the materials and offered guidance in its implementation in order to better tackle the climate change related work among their learners.

2.3 youth workers from outside the Partnership through the opportunity to participate in our practical Motiva(c)tion workshops (online and offline) will have got to know methods to practically motivate their learners.

2.4 There will have been an improvement of understanding of educational opportunities offered by the UE.

3.

3.1 The adults our NGOs work with will have noted their emotional wellness improvement.

3.2 The adults our NGOs work with will have got increased their interest and changed their attitude towards environmental related actions, especially when it comes to marginalised groups.

3.3. The adult learners our NGOs work with will have increased their digital skills.

3.4 The adults our NGOs work with through participating in the creation of our IO via pilot workshops during the IO testing stage will have increased their self-confidence and integration levels.

4.

4.1 Other Third Sector and adult teaching entities by participating in IO testing workshops will have increased their experience and abilities to produce innovative materials themselves.

4.2 Social awareness about the relation between emotional and ecological actions thanks to the free access to our IO will have got increased.

4.3 IO Multiplier Events will have increased the interest to implement our IO in the attendees’ daily work with adult learners.

4.4. By receiving our help in implementing the IO content in their daily work and participate in follow up Motiva(c)tion Workshops, other entities will have improved their work on emotional health of their learners and their climate change related actions.

5. Our 3 entities that form this Partnership.

5.1 Our organisations staff´s’ environmental expertise level will have been improved.
5.2 Our NGOs will have gained emotional education and tools related to climate change
5.3 Our NGOs will have got better at remote working.
5.4 Our NGOs will have promoted intercultural dialogue.