Today we still have a historic opportunity to do things well, to promote sustainability that meets with the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement and that puts people, and youth who will suffer most from the climate change consequences already to be perceived even across Europe, at the center of the decision-making decisions. A process that, to be successful, must be socially equal and well-known to all.

Climate Change especially affects the most vulnerable, and among these, women and girls as they suffer greater risks and burdens associated with disasters due to situations of poverty, but also to the roles culturally associated with gender.

And this is not all. Apart from being affected in different ways by climate change:

-girls and women and boys and men contribute differently to originating the causes of Climate Change. Male ecological footprints are much higher than the female ones as a result of a distribution of gender responsibilities and identities (UN WOMAN, 2018).

-girls and women and boys and men have different attitudes and participation regarding responses to Climate Change.

Researches show that boys are less likely to take Climate Change related action than girls and they even find pro-environmental attitudes as ̈unmanly ̈ (Brough and Wilkie, 2017).

This reality must be taken into account carefully, implementing climate actions that integrate the gender variable and that respond to the specific needs of girls and women and their vulnerabilities, and also trying to engage young men better.

Investing in gender equality and the young female empowerment and new masculinities equals improving environmental conservation, reducing poverty, and ensuring that international agreements can be met.

When actions are put in place considering a gender approach, we are not only providing a better response to Climate Change, but we are also taking into account female human rights and reducing social inequalities.

The response to the great challenge posed by Climate Change requires the active and inclusive participation of all.

We actually need to create new masculinities to combat the perpetuation of gender roles in the face of this problem (Men Engage Alliance, 2017), especially when it comes to young boys’ education, and empower and make girls and young women aware of the inequalities they are suffering and actions available (UN WOMAN, 2018).

As the researcher Anke Stock (2012) indicates, it is essential to take into account the above-mentioned differences in designing responses to the Climate Change via:

-Developing capacity and specific expertise in the area of gender and Climate Change,
-Including gender focal points in all Climate Change actions,
-Including gender aspects in plans and programs for adaptation and mitigation of Climate Change,
-Supporting / strengthening and cooperating with organizations and institutions of the associative movement.

Therefore, the main aim of this Partnership is to empower NGOs ́ staff with new tools and methods to tackle Climate Change action from a gender-sensitive approach while creating and testing an interactive guide tailored to the non-formal education sector.

To this end, we have established the following Project Objectives:

1. To improve our NGOs ́ expertise by exchanging best practices to tackle different aspects of Climate Change action in the non-formal education sector.

2. To elaborate on gender-sensitive methods of working on Climate Change in the non-formal education sector.

3. To enhance NGOs ́ and communities ́ awareness of Climate Change and gender perspective, both inside and outside of our Partnership.

The main project activities will be the following:

–3 Project Meetings (Kick off in Spain, intermediate online meeting and final meeting in Italy),

–8-days-long Course in Spain for 10 youth workers from each country with the best practices exchange,

–Internal transfer workshops for the rest of your staff who did not participate in the Course,

–Writing of an Interactive Guide for Youth Workers on Climate Change from a gender perspective,

–8-days-long Youth Exchange in Hungary for 8 young people and 2 youth workers/leaders from each country,

–1 Multiplier Event in each country for at least 30 relevant stakeholders from youth work, climate change and gender equality sectors,

–1 Consultation Period in each country for the Multiplier Events’ attendees who wish to implement out Guide in their own youth work context,

–Follow Up Workshops for youth from our local communities led by youth workers trained in the project.

–Internal transfer workshops: they will consist of a practical transfer of skills and knowledge gained during the Course in Spain for the staff not participating in the project.

And, transversely:

–General Project Management and its activities (online meetings, progress checks, reports and documentation preparation, time and budget managements, etc),

–Impact Management and its activities (evaluations, progress checks, analysis and documents’ preparation, etc),

–Quality Management and its activities (evaluations, progress checks, analysis and documents’ preparation, etc),

–Risk Management and its activities (likelihood of occurrence measurement, progress checks, etc),

–Dissemination Campaign,

-Follow up activities.

1.Youth we work with in our communities in general will have:

1.1.improved their awareness of the links between CC and gender issues and got examples of available actions, both at individual and community levels,
1.2 got motivated to act and become better equipped to start a local action group and inspire and motivate others,
1.3 become familiar with a broad social and gender aspect of CC.
2.All youth workers from our NGOs will have:
2.1 become experts and innovators in the newest developments when it comes to CC education and equipped with a gender-sensitive methodology and youth work tools,
2.2 improved their gender and CC online mainstreaming skills and remote youth work potential and CC action,
2.3 improved their social inclusion skills.

Each Partnership Organisation specifically

3.FK will have:

3.1understood why gender and social inclusion are relevant to climate policies, programmes, Third Sector management and actions
3.2become more innovative in how to practically work with youth on gender and CC related issues,
3.3increased their digital work skills and acquired innovative good practices.

4.Oriel will have:

4.1 become aware of the international interconnectedness of the CC and gender issues,
4.2 acquired tools to create gender-responsive content and initiatives addressing CC,
4.3 increased their experience in digitalisation.

5.Permacultura Cantabria will have:

5.1 improved their methods and expertise on CC with the in-depth gender input,
5.2 increased their chances to better tackle rural youth ́s needs via better online youth work expertise,
5.3 acquired practical examples and informal and non-formal education methods to tackle gender inequality in an environmental education context.

6.Course in Spain participants will have:

6.1 better understood the linkages between gender and the environment on different levels (environmental, social, digital,
legal, etc) and learned how gender shapes experiences and impacts of CC,
6.2 explored evidences, success stories and good practices of gender-responsive CC adaptation and mitigation,
6.3 appreciated how gender-sensitive and socially-inclusive youth work tools increase the effectiveness and sustainability of climate action, and how gender-blind approaches undermine its effectiveness.

7.Youth Exchange in Hungary: Participants (young people) will have:

7.1 been able to illustrate key advantages of promoting gender equality in CC action,
7.2 got familiar with using Internet and audiovisual contents as allies in CC and gender mainstreaming,
7.3 got to know examples of both national and international commitments on gender equality and the environment.

8.Youth Exchange in Hungary: Participants (youth workers who accompany young people) will have:

8.1 co-created the Exchange activities for youth being able to introduce the knowledge and skills from the previous Stages of the project (starting with Course in Spain) in practise,
8.2 improved their communication and intercultural skills,
8.3 become active ambassadors of CC and gender-sensitive perspectives.