Youth – Capacity building , Action and Responsibility for the Environment

Youth– Capacity building, Action and Responsibility for the Environment (Youth-CARE) project is a structured effort of 5 civil society organizations to bring the theme of environmental preservation and action at the centre of attention for young people living in disadvantages areas (and in direct touch with natural environmental resources). The project is leaded by Beyond Barriers Association in consortium with 4 other organisations with expertise in environment and non-formal education. This project is anchored in our belief that environment is a crosscutting theme of the future. Therefore, it must be incorporated in the work of all civil society organization despite their scope of work. Moreover, given its complicated nature, the environment problem should be tackled from all levels (individual, inter- personal, structural and society). Our intervention aims to foster knowledge and equip young people with tools that ease analysis of environmental issues at the local, national and international level. Moreover, it offers integrates comprehensive and tailored youth and structured tools (research, toolkit etc.) for self-use and to taught methods that allow individual analysis and self-reflection of behaviours that affect the environment. The project is anchored in non-formal education as a proven effective method for learning life skills and preparing for active citizenship. It expands the regional cooperation of organizations, but also citizens by highlighting the universality of the environmental protection theme as a common cause that surpasses all kinds of boundaries. Lastly, we have given a central attention to the online and digital information given its enormous potential in the digital era we live in, especially when targeting young people. Around 865 young people, youth workers and stakeholders from four countries will be engaged in this project.Our objectives are: -Providing a clear and comprehensive picture ON the understanding of the environmental problems from the perspective OF DISADVANTAGED young people living in areas with key natural environmental resources/asset within the consortium.

-Produce a toolkit that incorporates proven non-formal education methods for comprehensively comprehending environmental issues,self-evaluating personal environmental impact, and raising awareness of the benefits of active involvement in environmental decision-making processes.

-Improving young people’s understanding and action towards environmental protection by capacity building measures targeting youth, youth workers, and local institutional staff.

-Identify shared approaches for addressing environmental problems in the region (Programme and third countries not associated to the Programme) from the youth perspective, sharing best practices, inspire for future youth actions and outreach.