⛵ Training Course: Greening International Youth Mobilities

 Location: Valeri, Asturias, Spain

A training course for youth workers and youth project organizers to learn how to reduce the negative environmental impact of international youth mobilities (youth exchanges, summer camps, training courses, study visits…).
Where: in a traditional rural house in the beautiful valley of Valdediós (“valley of Gods”), in Asturias, Spain.

For who: youth mobility project organizers, preferably working within the Erasmus + framework.

Why: The way in which most of us have been carrying out our daily activities has led us into the most serious climate crisis that humanity has ever had to face. Youth mobilities are no exception and, through them, we consume resources, promote national and international travel, and build capacities in young people across Europe and beyond.

In the quest for lowering our negative impact on the planet, we have figured out many ways in which to organize more environmentally friendly youth mobilities. We want to tell you all about it and look together for even more ways in which we can utilize these activities for the improvement of the health of our planet.

Objectives:

The objectives of this training are:

To train youth mobility project organizers on ways to decrease the negative environmental impact of youth mobilities;
To explore further ways in which to have a positive impact on the environment through a youth mobility project;
To connect project organizers with an interest in greening their practices, and foster their cooperation and ideas sharing;
To support participants in their inner journey of finding personal motivations and commitment to sustainable project implementation;
To provide experiential learning of different methodologies conducting to a deeper understanding of the importance of ecologically conscious projects.
Methodology: This learning experience will be largely based on participatory, non-formal education methods (team games, workshops, learning-by-doing, experiential activities, self and group reflections, plenary discussions, experience sharing…), combining peer-to-peer learning with training and guidance from experienced trainers and facilitators.

Conditions for participation:

Please only send your application if you fulfill ALL of the following conditions:

You organize or want to start organizing residential projects for building capacities of young people coming from different geographical locations (youth mobility projects);
You are over 18 years old at the time of the training course;
You are currently living (and will travel from) one of these countries: Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Senegal, or Spain;
You are fluent in English;
You are able and willing to be fully present and participative during the whole duration of the training course (2-8 October);
You are happy to spend a week surrounded by nature and away from urban distractions.
Team of trainers: Esther Vallado, Erika Karman, and Noa Philippon.

Costs

Participation fee
We have set a symbolic participation fee on a sliding scale from 50 to 150€. You will be free to choose your contribution according to your own personal financial possibilities and the value you see in this 7 days training program. Your chosen fee will be deducted from your travel reimbursement. This fee will be waived for those participants traveling to the training venue by land.
This fee will be used to compensate the CO2 emissions of your travels, via donation to the NatureFriends Climate Fund, as well as for contributing to the training costs. If this fee is an obstacle to your participation please talk to us about lowering or waiving your fee.

Accommodation and food
You will be provided high-quality training by a team of 3 experienced trainers/facilitators, a memorable learning experience, comfortable accommodation, and tasty sustainable meals during the training course at no extra cost to you.

Travel reimbursement
Your travel costs to Spain will be fully reimbursed by bank transfer after your participation in the training course, upon submission of your travel tickets, up to a maximum of 320 EUR for Germany, Czech Republic, and Italy, or 275 if traveling by plane, 530 for Senegal, and 210 EUR for Spain (only if you travel from more than 100 km away).
For coherence with the topic of this project, you are encouraged to travel to this training by land or sea (i.e. not by plane). If you travel by land, your participation fee will be waived. A prize will be awarded to the greenest traveler.
If you decide to travel by plane, your travel plan will first need to be approved by our team, and you will be requested to compensate your trip’s CO2 emissions by donating the corresponding amount to the Naturefriends climate fund.

You can find more information here