Earlier this month, between the 2nd and 5th of July, the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) of the Consortium and Local Authorities (LAs) of the European project "Ecoality - Youth and Local Authorities together for Climate and Gender Justice!" (European Commission), created with the aim of helping to increase awareness and a sense of co-responsibility among European citizens regarding individual and collective behaviour in the face of the interdependence and intersectionality of ecological crises, met at the Wissensturm - Community College and Public Library in Linz, Austria.
Oxfam Italia (ILO), the project's promoter, organized the first working days and was joined by 10 partner organizations from the participating countries - ActionAid Hellas (AAH) (Greece), AIDGLOBAL (Portugal), Agenda 21 (Romania), Antropológiai és Közösségi Kutató Egyesület honlapján (Hungary), Câmara Municipal de Loures (Portugal), Centrum Edukacji Obywatelskiej (Centre for Citizanship Education (CCE)) (Poland), Forum Za Slobodu Odgoja (Forum for Freedom in Education (FFE)) (Croatia), Institut International des droits de L`Homme et de la Paix (International Institute for Human Rights and Peace (2IDHP)) (France), Rauhan-Kasvatus-Instituutti (Peace Education Institute) (Finland), Région Normadie (France) and Südwind (Austria) - with the aim of taking stock of how the project is going and planning and organizing upcoming activities.
The meeting also had the following objectives: to strengthen collaboration between the different partners in order to improve communication, to identify and establish common elements useful for creating harmony during the implementation of activities and to share concepts, indicators and data collection for the MEAL system - Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning - a tool that allows organizations to improve their performance based on lessons learned during the project's life cycle.
During the meeting, AIDGLOBAL shared its know-how on the different topics discussed and its experience of working in Mozambique to prepare for the international work camp that will be held with young people in the summer of 2025 and 2026. He also had the opportunity to put into practice the activity "There Is a Planet B!" on the theme of environmental sustainability, which will be included in the educational resource that will soon be available.
On the third and final day of work, the LA Networking Workshop was held, which was intended to be an opportunity for peers to exchange experiences and learn from each other, in order to integrate Development Education and Global Citizenship (EDCG) into local intervention policies and initiatives, with the aim of mobilising more young people to commit to global challenges and strengthen their cooperation with local authorities, raising awareness and sensitising them to the urgency and shared responsibility of taking collective action to support and promote Climate and Gender Justice.
Encouraging debate with a view to increasing Global Education strategies in formal and non-formal education and in local communities, in order to facilitate the exchange of good practices and knowledge, as well as debating strategies for the effective and active participation of young people in decision-making processes relating to sustainable development policies at local and regional level, were the objectives that characterised this Workshop.
It's worth noting that the international meetings planned in the project were strategically and geographically selected in the centre of the European continent in order to mitigate the CO2 emissions generated and make travel more sustainable. The partner organisations from Italy and France, for example, travelled to the first face-to-face meeting in Linz, Austria, by train rather than plane, thus reducing their carbon footprint.
Two more consortium meetings and two face-to-face LA Network Workshops are planned during the lifetime of the project, namely in Zagreb, Croatia, in 2025, and in Budapest, Hungary, in 2026.
“
Ecoality: Youth and Local Authorities together for Climate and Gender Justice!”is funded by the
European Commission, promoted by
Oxfam Italy, and has as partners,
ActionAid Hellas,
AIDGLOBAL,
Agenda 21,
Antropológiai és Közösségi Kutató Egyesület honlapján,
Loures City Council,
Centrum Edukacji Obywatelskiej,
Forum Za Slobodu Odgoja,
Institut International des droits de L`Homme et de la Paix,
Rauhan-Kasvatus-Instituutti,
Région Normadie and
Südwind.
