Youth Exchange on Climate Change and Circular Economy 

Agreement No: 2020-3-CY02-KA105-001934

Summary of the Program

Since the first industrial revolution humankind has been following a linear approach regarding how we use natural resources. We have been extracting, transforming, manufacturing, using and discarding resources - the linear approach. And we've been doing it a lot, actually. Several reports states that only 9% of the world is circular today. This means that only 9% of 92.8 billion tons of mineral, metals, biomass and fossil fuels that enter the economy are re-used every year. As for the remaining 91%, experts from Circle Economy call it the "circular gap" and give insights on how to close it. Circle Economy estimates around two-thirds of greenhouse gases (except those from forestry and land use) are released during the extraction, processing, and manufacturing of goods to serve societal demand. The remaining one-third of emissions happen when goods or services are transported or used. Another interesting insight is that society's needs for housing, nutrition, and mobility account for over 80% of our total current material footprint. Based on the above facts, we decided to implement our project. 

CCAFAF II is a project which is going to utilize a lot of alternate, exciting and interesting indoor and outdoor activities, in order to meet its purposes. Through the implementation of this project we aim, primarily, to contribute to the development and involvement of young people from Europe while promoting the need for self-awareness, innovation and face of environmental problems with circular economy. Specifically, this project wants to achieve intends to develop each one's self-awareness, in combination with the promotion of need of the awareness of HR. Furthermore, it purposes to come up against the factors which depreciate the way we understand ourselves. Moreover, the implementation of this project aims to discover our strengths and to understand that hidden within every weakness are our strengths, so sometimes we must look at them from a new perspective. As we focus on ourselves and start evaluating our current behavior, in comparison to our internal standards and values, we become self-conscious, and we become an objective evaluator of ourselves. Another basic purpose of the project is to encourage youths to be as much as possible innovative. They will understand that getting out of the box, giving their own ideas, leads to innovation, innovation leads to success and success leads to further improvement of what they are thinking. Those factors are interconnected. By implementing this project, we also aim to encourage people use their strengths and powers to overcome environmental problems like climate change, greenhouses gases, tons of garbage everywhere and a lot of pollution anywhere resulting from ignorance and infringement of our HR. Through the enhancement of ourselves we also aim to improve our relationships and to promote innovative ideas for the overall well being. One more purpose of the training is to encourage the need to know our history, culture and civilization in order to know ourselves. Our past, our place, our religion, our ancestors are directly connected with who we are, and they have something to "tell" about us. Finally, we purport to attain the key competencies of the Erasmus +, communication in the mother tongue, communication in foreign languages, mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology, digital competence, learning to learn, social and civic competences, cultural awareness and expression and sense of initiative and entrepreneurship.

Generally, this project consists of an effort to achieve the below objectives:

1. The evaluation of the ways by which each people understand him/herself.

2. The awareness of our own strengths and weaknesses and the use of our strengths to overcome our weaknesses.

3. The examination of the objectivity of our self-knowledge and our ideas in green entrepreneurship.

4. The development of skills for better self-understanding.

5. The encouragement of thinking "out of the box".

6. The development of innovative ideas to improve ourselves.

7. The cultivation of the idea of living in a fair and innovative world.

8.The encouragement of the need to learn our culture to learn better ourselves.

To conclude, self-knowledge, self-improvement, innovation, and awareness of Environmental problems are the main aspects on which "CCAFAF II" relied on to implement this project, which emphasizes to build upon to purports its objectives. Innovation and getting out of the box is the key to succeed our goals in circular economy. Think differently, think alternatively, rely on your powers to overcome your "imperfections" and use them to develop yourself, to help others to improve themselves and to improve with your own way and on the degree you can your environment. The component to achieve them is to start thinking out of the box!

Hylatio Tourist Village

Pissouri 

Limassol, Cyprus

 Applicant organization: ACPELIA

Main Idea of the Project

60 youngsters (ages 16 - 20) from 10 organizations and 20 leaders will gather in a YE and with their own ideas will learn how to get out of the Box and to create their own green projects and to extend them so to get educational keys that has to do with entrepreneurship and critical thinking.

The aim of the project is to increase the level of environmental knowledge and awareness of the need to protect the environment through alternative methods according to the environmental realities in the local communities.

The project`s theme is climate change and global warming and its main objective is to enable young people and their leaders to work together and strengthen their European citizenship, promoting in the same time inclusion, environment and European awareness. The Project specific objectives are:

• empowering the participants European identity and, awareness of the need for social participation to reduce climate change among European citizens.
• Making young participants to get out of the box giving their own ideas in green entrepreneurship.
• encouraging the direct participation of young people from 9 countries and encouraging the adoption of a responsible attitude regarding the reduction of energy consumption and waste.
• understanding the differences between nations, making them more united through the meeting between different cultures
• promoting the reduction of environmental pollution and understanding the importance of a healthy living environment among the members of the communities.
• Sustainable food, energy and generally keeping responsible attitude regarding reduction of energy and wastes

The idea is to use a variety of different Non Formal educatonal methods of thinking out of the box for green enterpreuneurship with their self-improvement, personal development, coaching, time-management, psychology, against social and cultural discrimination and a lot of other themes which are becoming part of our personality. The aim is to spread these methods through the NGOs and help young people become more balanced and happy in their daily lives as well as increasing their employability rates.

Relevance of the project for Erasmus + :

• Improving the key competencies and skills of young people;
• Including PAXs with fewer opportunities;
• Promote participation and active citizenship in European labor market;
• Increasing learning mobility opportunities for young people active in youth work;
• Enhanced cooperation

March 2021

Starting of the program - first communication with the partners. Webinar about the project for partners organisations

Webpage of the Program

April 2021

Create a group in Facebook with all the trainers / leaders participating in the project for an easier exgange of ideas or questions about the program and for better communication, thought sharing and actions.

May 2021

Selection of the participants that will participate in YE in August 2021

Signing contracts with all participants of the training and the organisations  

Facebook group will be extented to all participants except from leaders, trainers and failitators of the orgnizations. Facebook page for the moment is going to be a closed page - after in dissemination is going to open for all the people for dissemination of the results.

May - June 2021

Contest Logo for our project 'CCAFAF'.

June 2021

Webinar about the project for participants. 1st Detailed InfoPack that will be send to all participants through Facebook Webpage and also through their emails after the webinar.

Do a research to find places which reflect the effects of Global Warming. Organize a road trip, respectively in every country, to visit and take photos of these areas.

June - July 2021

Lectures and discussions from specialists, informing the participants about global Warming and Climate Changes. In Cyprus we will have 2 lectures (both will be given by a specialist from the Environmental Department of Institute of Cyprus, in Nicosia).

Project planning and implementation. The project includes the creation of four posters, in every country. The Posters will represent the Global Warming problem and ways to reduce the phenomenon. The posters can be in any form, like comics but they must be accurate and enjoyable

July 2021

Article preparation from groups by each country, writing about their work and what they have done during the whole program (from March 2021 till the end of July2021). Articles will be published to our webpage

August 2021

Publish to the Webpage of the Organisation of Cyprus all the information and material developed through the project.

Create a leaflet about Youth Exchange. The event will take place in August, in Cyprus.

Production of Ballpens, stickers and calendars with project's logo.

Youth Exchange (7 days excluding travelling days) in Cyprus.

September 2021

Evaluation of the program from the organisations.

Final modification of the activities of the training on our webpage.

October 2021

Set up the 'Global Warming letter'. The letter will include indications in ways that people can act, in order to eliminate the Global Warming phenomenon. Final webinar with all participants and organisation for dissemination of the results.

Dissemination of results. All organisations will need to come in contact with their local area so all results of our project to be published and disseminated to a lot of people

Create a video about the whole project. The video will be prepared by the group from Cyprus.

November 2021

Posters will be plced in town centers. We will have a street information campain (stants and kiosks in busy city squares)

End of the project

Youth Exchange (16 to 20 years old): 29 of August to 5 of September 2021

Project Name: CLIMATE CHANGES AS FAST AS FASHION II

Duration: From 1/03/2021 till 31/11/2021

Activity: Youth Exchange at Hylatio Tourist Vollage in Pissouri, Limassol, Cyprus for 60 youngsters and 20 leaders (6 youngsters and two leader from each organization) in green enterpreuneurship and environmental awareness with Non Formal Educational Activities.

Applicant Organisation: Active Cypriot Programs and European Learning Into Acceptance, ACPELIA, email: acpeliacy@gmail.com 

Coordinator: Nikolas Nikolaou email: nic_nicolaou@hotmail.com 

Trainers: Nikolas Nikolaou, Stella Komodromou, Orfeas Kritikos