<< Objectives >>This partnership aims to improve international environmental youth work in the seven countries crossed by the rivers Scheldt and Sava by building capacity of the Sava and Scheldt youth parliaments, and disseminating the insights gained from experimenting with alternative youth work approaches (co-creation of media and art). At the same time, this project will empower the involved youngsters to assume an active role in environmental management and to grow personal skills during a youth exchange.<< Implementation >>In this project, partners will exchange best practices from international river youth parliaments. Throughout the project and in two youth exchanges, we will develop of a social media strategy, and experiment with art and media content (e.g. photo reportages, podcasts, paintings) with youth, as a means to increase their active participation in environmental management of rivers. A guideline on the use of art and media in international environmental youth work will be developed and disseminated.<< Results >>Our project will improve the work of the Scheldt and Sava youth parliaments By exchanging on joint challenges, testing and developing new methods. In addition, the guidance document and its dissemination will serve to inspire other extracurricular environmental youth projects in the countries involved (and possibly beyond). Last but not least, our project will inspire a group of new young European water ambassadors and raise awareness for the need to protect our rivers in a wider audience.

CONTEXTIn the face of the major environmental problems facing European cities, nature-based development solutions offer a relevant answer. By relying on ecosystems, these solutions can significantly improve climate change resilience and quality of life, while contributing to a functional economy. Yet while these solutions offer many environmental, economic and social benefits, their development remains marginal. In question, a lack of knowledge of plant engineering in urban areas and its functionalities, combined with a limited experience feedback from project owners and local authorities (overall costs, management, maintenance and upkeep modality, long-term sustainability of ecological interest) which constitutes a brake in the decision on the choice of the good practices to adopt.The PROGRESS Project focuses on environmental professionals and stakeholders in urban areas by offering them the opportunity to meet and discuss the issues of development, maintenance and sustainability of urban green spaces. The program consists of sharing and transmitting experiences, methodologies and know-how in different issues and contexts (cities, populations, climate contexts, local and governmental policies, economic and institutional feasibility, etc.). It is also about training future professionals (students, apprentices, young graduates) by giving them new tools and new methods.OBJECTIVES- Contribute at a European level to a transfer of knowledge, methods and experiences on sustainable management practices of urban green spaces;- Strengthen the technical knowledge and alternative management methods of green spaces for professionals and environmental stakeholders in urban areas.In a global approach, it is also a question of being able to approach the question of urban spaces through:- The elements of control and management of urban green spaces: modalities and costs of management and exploitation of these spaces, notions of sustainability, economic, social and political contexts ...- The notion of the commons and the citizen reappropriation of urban spaces, particularly through participatory management;THE PARTNERSThe project brought together 4 partners from 4 European countries who bring complementary skills in the fields of green engineering, environmental education and citizen participation.- Orchis Engineering, Montpellier, France: Engineering consulting firm specializing in the fields of water, environment and renewable energies. Specificity: urban water management and green engineering, islands of freshness- Eco-Union, Barcelona, ​​Spain: A non-profit organization that works to connect agents of change in different sectors of society to catalyze the transition to sustainability. Specificity: Urban Mobility, Citizen Participation, Capacity Building and Advocacy- Goodplanet, Brussels, Belgium: A non-profit organization that helps young people and adults learn to live in a sustainable way. Specificity: environmental education, youth, training and learning tools- Forest and Landscape College: Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen. Specificity: maintenance, sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) and use of plants in an urban contextTRAINING ACTIVITIES- Activity C1: Urban planning and management of urban natural spaces. From March 27 to 31, 2017, Montpellier, France.- Activity C2: Citizen participation in the management of urban green spaces. May 8 to 12 2017, Barcelona, ​​Spain- Activity C3: The design of urban green spaces for young audiences. From 23 to 27 April 2018, Brussels, Belgium- Activity C5: Sustainable management of green spaces. August 20-24, 2018, Skovskolen, Denmark.- Activity C8: Transition to the natural city. October 22 to 26, 2018, Barcelona, ​​Spain.RESULTSIn total, there were more than 123 participants - professionals, students, elected officials ... from various professions related to the creation, development and management of green spaces - who met during the training seminars.The PROGRESS project has globally contributed to:- Strengthen international cooperation;- Develop professional networks;- Acquire new methodologies and new knowledge on UGS;- Mapping the issues and solutions to be implemented;- Develop an original form of teaching: a mix of learners on intensive training seminars- The use of urban space as a living experimental laboratory

<< Background >>Our consortium consists of partners supporting primary, secondary and VET education in the sustainability field. We work with and for schools on the Sustainable Development Goals. We often do this on behalf of school boards and municipalities, so that the impact we make takes place at regional or national level rather than just sticking to one school. We work on SDG 4 (Quality education), (Sustainable cities and communities(11), (Responsible consumption and production (12) and Climate action (13) by working with students and teachers on contributing activities. For this project, we want to work together to provide a new service to the educational field (primary, secondary and VET), which is to create what we call an amazon.com of providers and service providers to schools in the area of sustainability. As consortium partners we noticed that there is a multitude of providers of sustainable project for education. For example, there are already several labels that a school can achieve, such as ecoschools or the united nation schools. In addition, a multitude of challenges and separate projects exist. But there is no overview of providers, let alone a ranking of quality. We thought there would be a need for this and investigated it. The focus is on the provincial level, given that it is not realistic to map the supply at the national level in three years. We have done research at the provincial level per country among the schools to see if we are right and if there is indeed a need in this area. In the Netherlands we did this in North Brabant, where we spoke to all the schools. Of these schools, 90% indicated that they did not have an overview of sustainability offerings and had this desire. They also confirmed that they would make use of this platform. The other partner, GoodPlanet contacted primary and secondary schools in their network to ask similar questions to verify if this problem is similar in Belgium. This was the case. Declory is a private institute for vocational education. They recognize the issue from their own perspective. With this project we want to start a long-term cooperation with a consortium of European organizations; municipalities and the educational sector to work together on the development of an international platform including training that meet the needs of the sector and simultaneously the linking with the SDGs and other relevant tools.. We fill a needed gap with this platform. To ensure that the products are properly connected to the sector, it is important to examine the needs of the schools within this project. Which requirements are needed of the providers for a school to decide if this is a service that meets their needs? Associated partners of this project, the municipalities, play a key role in the project for input on these subjects. Based on this input the platform is going to be set up and flled. The partners in the project aim to work towards a systematic exchange of providers in the sector between the provinces and schools. In this project we focus on to raise standards of education in sustainability and improve quality of this branch throughout Europe with the goal of having 5 million young climate innovators trained by 2030 in Europe.The project will produce two core project results are:PR1 International online Platform with providers on sustainability for primary and secondary schools. (the amazon.com on sustainability) where they can find the service they need to work on sustainability.PR2 Trainers guide for users and providers<< Objectives >>The overall goal is to contribute to the European Green Deals target of being CO2-neutral by 2050. We achieve our contribution by supporting schools by building a quality online platform which schools can freely use to find providers of sustainability projects programs and/or labels. We're building capacity by capturing our working method which can be duplicated by other regions.We do this by-To organise focus groups in order to identify and focus on specific sustainability providers that best address the needs of the project’s stakeholders.-To map best practices and methodologies applied for schools in partner countries. (What works and why) -To develop a trainers’ guide addressed to the schools and providers that will work with the platform and will design, support and evaluate the platform - Monitoring framework for measurement of use and results.This leads to our two core project results.<< Implementation >>In this project we are mapping initiatives of providers of sustainability projects, programs and or labels for primary schools, secondary schools and VET institutes. This mapping is done in an to be developed International online Platform. A complimentary guide is developed in order for schools and providers to use the platform. When developing the platform we take into account what the end users (Schools) need on information to decide which provider they want to hire. We also take into account that providers can’t share all information because of the unique selling points. Further we build capacity on regional level to ensure our platform is adopted and used in order for our platform to grow.<< Results >>Our project produces two core project results:PR1: International online Platform with providers on sustainability for primary, secondary education and VET institutes (the amazon.com on sustainability) where they can find the service they need to work on sustainability.PR2: Trainers guideThe guide will be addressed to primary and secondary schools and providers of sustainable education in a varia of forms and will include a theoretical background, as well as practical methods on how to implement the platform. Moreover, during the implementation of the PR, seminars for trainers in schools and companies will be organized by project partners, which will contribute to the capacity building of the field. A more detailed description of the Project Results and their results is given in a later section of the proposal.Other results expected during the project:Awareness raising of the importance of sustainability in general. The project partners will carefully design targeted activities to companies in order to collect input for the platform.

With this project, Belgian Women in Science, a Brussels-based non-profit organisation, aims to bring women researchers closer to the general public and stimulate the interest in scientific careers among young people with a special focus on gender diversity and inclusiveness. Citizens of all ages will be able to discover research related to nature, space and the 5 EU missions (cancer, soil deal, ocean & waters, adaptation to climate change, climate-neutral smart cities) allowing them to exchange ideas and experiences with scientists about their careers and breakthroughs. To achieve this, we will organize over 100 activities engaging the audience like demonstrations focused on climate change and evolution; art & science exhibitions portraying female scientists, workshops focusing on new trends in science and technology such as water and solar power and food of the future. The European Researchers Night (“Night”) events take place in two inspiring locations in Brussels, the capital of the European Union, also enabling the discovery of historic and natural landmarks where research has been conducted for almost two centuries. The ‘Researchers at Schools’ (“Schools”) workshops take place in schools, with a special focus on reaching vulnerable children. In addition, some workshops will be organised at a Brussels university campus, where students can become researchers & innovators, and in the two musea (Museum of Natural Sciences “Museum” and the Planetarium of Belgium “Planetarium”). Our awareness campaign will be one of the successful key points in this project. A dedicated media plan has been designed and a specialized press office will be involved to promote the activities at national level, also promoting our outreach events throughout the whole year on social media channels. In order to evaluate the impact, we will analyse the target audience reached; measure the increase of knowledge and promotion of the researcher's figure; and understand the level of appreciation.

As the world faces a global emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the vital importance of integrated and sustainable water management is exacerbated particularly for the most vulnerable populations. Furthermore, the impacts of climate change continue to add more stress to water security. For youth, the need for a sustainable future is especially important as they will have to live with the consequences of the choices we make today. Youth are already proposing innovative ideas and creating their own spaces to design and improve their future but they are limited by resources, capacity and connections. Once youth are equipped to realize their full potential, youth can become leaders and entrepreneurs in addressing the challenges of sustainable management of water resources and contribute to the SDGs.This program aims to address issues highlighted by youth and partner organisations related to capacity building, employability and a structure to better connect organizations and youth. As such the following objectives have been developed:To develop common and innovative methodologies to strengthen a global youth partnership addressing climate and water related issues and enhance their outreach and impact.To support European youth in acquiring transversal and specific skills in collaboration with program partners at global, regional and country levels allowing them do develop bankable projects or accessing employment opportunities and thus contributing to building a water secure worldThe program will develop material which will be accessible to all European youth on the Youth for Water and Climate platform and will develop a sustainable youth program which will be addressed to a yearly cohort of 20-30 young professionals. The first cohort will target youth aged 18-30 years old from France, Sweden, Slovakia, Hungary and Belgium. Priority will be given to youth with fewer opportunities. Criteria will also be added in the selection process to ensure gender balance. The program will have 3 phases:1. Preparation research and development of materials: This phase will focus on program development and the 4 intellectual outputs: Youth Water and Climate Career Curriculum, a Mentoring guide, Community of Practice and a Youth for Water and Climate Programme roadbook.2. Implementation of the pilot: An open call will be launched. The selected participants will start their journey with 3 modules, 1- Taking up a Career in Water & Climate Change, 2 - Innovation & Problem Solving ,3- Leadership development. Following these 3 modules, youth will be separated into 2 groups according to their specific interests, (i) Entrepreneurship (4a) or (ii)Professional development (4b). The youth will also take part in other learning activities, such as a Mentorship program, internships and International events to either take part in capacity-building workshops or advocacy activities.3. Wrap Up and Evaluation of Tools and Programme: This phase will be dedicated to the evaluation of the project's results and improvement of the outputs produced using quantitative and qualitative data collected throughout the various activities.The program is expected to result in:- an increased capacity of partner organizations and young professionals to work at the European level and increased level of cooperation between the partner organizations;-the development and implementation of innovative replicable methodologies and tools for supporting young people in their professional or entrepreneurial development in the water sector;- for European youth, including underprivileged and marginalized youth, to be empowered and their capacities to be strengthened with transversal skills and water specific skills;- quality assured youth-led business projects and job creation potential are developed by youth, including underprivileged youth, in various countries, contributing to address water and climate related challenges.The expected impact is to have a strong and empowered generation of European youth' civic and entrepreneurial spirit who can play an active role in society particularly in the environmental and climate change sector. These young leaders will be motivated because of their improved knowledge and capacity to take hold of a local issue and provide a relevant solution to it. Also, for partner organisations to gain confidence in the abilities of the younger generation and improve their processes for youth engagement in the future and create more structured and permanent programs. The program overall will cultivate a community of supporting organisations and active young professionals who work together to strengthen youth involvement in the water sector.In the long term, the methodologies and outputs developed will be available to be replicated in other countries and regions. The youth participating will be the beginning of a community of ambassadors for improved youth engagement and connectivity with partner organisations.