EDU2030: Youth in Transition

As it is necessary to identify the root causes of climate crisis, we applied to empower youth organizations in developing competencies in various sustainability-relevant sectors, developing green skills methodologies, as well as have a voice about future-oriented curricula that better meet the needs of individuals and communities. We also wanted to contribute to the call for a more democratic and equitable process for localizing Agenda 2030, which both includes young people and also tackles inequalities: "reinforcing links between policy, research and practice" becomes in this perspective a fundamental vector to approach a just and fair transition. Meeting the needs of young people the project carried out multilateral actions to "give them a seat at the table" in policy-making processes and provided training materials to orienteering them towards the new professions of sustainability, empowering the ability to influence the political agenda at all levels. We also tried to meet the need of transforming isolated initiatives that respond to some principles and goals of the 2030 Agenda into a basis for building a network of cooperation on common local agendas to strengthen young people and youth organizations in this transition era.

Over the most recent five years of available data, the EU made progress towards almost all of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDG). Progress in some goals has been faster than in others, and within goals, movement away from the sustainable development objectives also occurred in specific areas. Those valiant efforts are endagered because of the pandemic crisis. The context we're living into is the Next Generation EU one, as a temporary instrument designed to help repair the immediate economic and social damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. With these funds, Europe wants to be greener, more digital and more resilient to better adapt to current and future challenges. From those premises, the objectives of the project in a trasnational framework were: - contributing to mainstream the principle of sustainable development across policy making in the consortium's countries; - providing innovative youth-led tools on Just and Fair Transition accessible for grassroot organizations; - establishing a transnational alliance between local communities of young people committed to be "critical agents of change".

The first transnational meeting was held in April 2022 in Tirana, hosted by the National Youth Council of Albania, in the framework of Tirana Youth Capital 2022. So, in addition to management aspects, we were able to exchange good and innovative practices in the field of the "EDU2030" project among partners and relevant stakeholders: a fundamental first step that, together with the national InfoDay Youth in Transition, declined locally by partner organizations, positively contributed to the realization of the Knots of Transition: A practical guide for grassroots organizations. During the sixth month of the project, the LTT activity LIVING (IN) TRANSITION in Fiumicino, Italy, hosted by the project coordinator Io, Noi – ODV, contributed to the full achievement of the project’s objectives by reinforcing and enriching, with a participatory bottom-up approach, the consortium’s vision of a just and fair transition. Specifically, by providing participants, in a proper transnational framework, with concrete tools to become agents of change in their communities, the LTT had a decisive impact in activating results for the following project objective: “establishing a transnational alliance between local communities of young people committed to be critical agents of change.” It was also the activity that started in a proper manner the co-development of the Youth in Transition MOOC, an open and distance learning educational resource tailored for youth “transitioners” and organizations. Together with all dissemination activities of this core result of the project, we implemented the second National InfoDays Transition in Talking, with a relevant focus on public stakeholders. This event was not only an opportunity for meeting and discussion between stakeholders from local/national public bodies and institutions but was relevant as a key to the dissemination of the project to enable future actions in the same community in the vision of active policymakers and agents of change. The collection of results of these activities also helped in designing the Guidelines to localize the 2030 Agenda. With these guidelines in place, the project promoted the multiplier events ROADMAP FOR LOCALIZING THE SDGS: this series of events were organized to reach a wider audience not only the intellectual outputs of the project but and foremost aimed to further multiply and engage national, regional and local institutions, strengthening the collaboration already established with other teachers, schools, and organizations. In this framework, involved and active parties became allies in the just and fair transition. The creation of this transnational alliance, which we had started from the first meeting in Tirana, allowed activating locally transformations and transitions, well beyond the empowerment of individual participants, in a flow of participatory processes able to manage and promote the young generations oriented to sustainable development and active and nonviolent transformation of society. The meetings were planned to involve, in addition to the identified target group, youth leaders, and key stakeholders in a series of structured conversations, with the goal to explore, together and by different points of view, the new strategies designed at the European level on the project topics. The “EDU2030: Youth in Transition” final and sustainability meeting was held in October 2023 in Ermesinde, Portugal, hosted by the youth organization "Associação Sójovem das Saibreiras." The meeting was the occasion to present the final results of the project and to involve participant organizations with the stakeholders, including local authorities, in an open round-table discussion about the follow-up of the project.

According to the project objectives, the general expected outcomes were to witness concrete steps forward in people’s rights in the communities involved in the project, enabling them to participate in the decisions that shape their future. The aim was also to see youth organizations supported and empowered to represent young people’s voices as critical agents of change. Additionally, the project sought to contribute to the design of policies ensuring a more equal society, meeting the needs and rights of all, including marginalized groups and future generations, within the means of the planet. In particular, during the project, the envisioned outcomes were as follows: Boosting the activation of new eco-friendly ways and green practices inside the partner organizations, thanks to joint cooperation, related to Project Result "Knots of Transition: A practical guide for grassroots organizations." Testing and validating training methodologies in the field of sustainability with three actors' profiles through the LTT "Living (in) Transition." Involving relevant stakeholders and rightsholders. Developing virtual, open, and free-of-charge training materials, related to Project Result "Youth in Transition MOOC." Engaging local institutions in a discussion about Just and Fair Transition policies, related to Project Result "Guidelines to localize the 2030 Agenda." Project Result 1. KNOTS OF TRANSITION: A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATIONS: The handbook results were presented in a pragmatic manner, aimed at the hands-on project team. They were supported by relevant references to examples of best and/or good practice, competence centers, and role models being carried out in the European cultural field, as well as by global links to appropriate and useful online resources. Project Result 2. YOUTH IN TRANSITION MOOC: It was, consistently with the project aims, realized and implemented in different phases marked first by the time and then by the results of studies and research in the field of young people and youth workers by the networking formed by the partnership in conjunction and collaboration. Young people, youth workers, and youth leaders involved in the project continued to carry out actions in their communities and at the transnational level supported by this newly open and distance educational resource. Project Result 3. GUIDELINES TO LOCALIZE THE 2030 AGENDA: This toolkit was addressed at regional and local policymakers responsible for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, as well as other stakeholders involved in the process. Its goal was to support and guide on how to organize the meaningful participation of young people, providing a set of principles, methods, and concrete tips on how to maximize the meaningful participation of youth in the programming, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the people reached by the Youth in Transition project. Moreover, the project sought to directly involve young people, policymakers, youth organizations, and stakeholders in shaping the main design elements of the toolkit, ensuring it is as useful and as close as possible to the real needs and challenges of both young people and the local authorities advocating for a just and fair transition. On its completion, the expected outcomes were: Establishing transnational alliances of Just and Fair Transition activators. Keeping available an open directory of educational resources and their availability to learners with an already significant amount of trained young people. Disseminating role models in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by cooperating with civil society stakeholders. Raising awareness of public authorities in the implementation of minimal content of new transition policies.