YOU-CARE’s general objective is to allow young people in Europe to collectively examine and assess the set of emotions linked to the ecological crisis, so as to move from ecological preoccupation ...

YOU-CARE’s general objective is to allow young people in Europe to collectively examine and assess the set of emotions linked to the ecological crisis, so as to move from ecological preoccupation to active participation, while fostering their emotional, pedagogical, scientific, and advocacy skills. Through its different activities and results, YOU-CARE’s priorities are to reinforce the links between research, policy, and youth participation, as well as to bridge knowledge gaps on eco-anxiety.

YOU-CARE is based on 3 interconnected activities: (1) A training for youth workers and educators to provide them with the tools and guidelines to help youth face eco-anxiety ; (2) A set of youth-led participatory action research workshops and learning exchanges, in order for young participants to share experiences and think about ways to act ; (3) A Youth Open Assembly bringing together decision-makers, youth communities, and other civil society players to share the project’s key outcomes.

Concrete results include youth-generated recommendations for politicians and other co-decided mixed-media research results, a video documenting the research workshops in each country, and mid-term/final reports summarizing main findings. Other results include the creation of a space for cross-cultural and cross-sector dialogue around a complex subject, encouraging collective ownership and driving policy changes towards a better handling of climate-change related emotions and their causes.