Together for the Climate: New Solutions and Innovations for Youth Climate Action

Background We applied for this project to address the urgent need to tackle climate change's impact on urban environments. As organizations working in cities, we recognized their significant contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions and vulnerability to climate change. We aimed to empower young people to advocate for change and lacked competences, inspiration, opportunities to connect, and support networks. We also identified the need for organizations and youth workers to work systematically on climate change. Our project aimed to strengthen competences through research, methodology development, local work, and knowledge sharing. The outcomes included climate change projects, a methodology, an online tool, and training activities. We aimed for long-term impact by empowering local youth, promoting innovative approaches, and disseminating project outputs. Objectives Through this project, our objectives were to: - Bolster civic and youth campaigning, activism, and participation in cities to decrease cities' contribution to the climate crisis. - Empower young people to be independent and proactive in implementing community-based projects focused on cutting emissions. - Support cross-sectoral cooperation between young people and NGOs to enhance their capacity to support youth-led projects. - Develop an innovative methodology for working with young people in climate change mitigation and adaptation, distributed to young people and educators. - Create a multilingual website as a resource hub for innovative methodologies supporting community-driven initiatives. - Increase the inclusion of young people in civic participation and decision-making processes. - Establish a support and learning network for young people from Czechia, Slovakia, and Austria engaged in climate change activism. These objectives aimed to empower young people, foster collaboration, develop innovative approaches, increase participation, and contribute to global climate change mitigation efforts. Implementation The project produced five outputs and organised three international learning activities, five international project meetings and six learning events for young people not yet involved in the project. The outputs are a Baseline study on attitudes and involvement of young people in addressing climate change, a Methodology Towards Local Action, three Climate Change Mitigation Projects, a Climate Change Project Manual and an Acttogether.eu Interactive Methodology. International training events took place online and on a Slovak eco-farm in Vienna, Austria. Multiplier Events visited and inspired 180 people from nine countries. 15 youth workers received training in mentoring skills, and a total of 50 people participated in two Youth Groups Leaders trainings. Achievements O1: Baseline Study Methodology ; O2: Methodology Towards Local Actions + 3 youth group beta projects ; O3: three Climate Change Mitigation Projects (one in each country) ; O4: Climate Change Mitigation Project Manual “Together for the Climate: A Practical Guide For Collective Actions ; O5: Interactive Methodology Acttogether.eu.