YOUNG CLIMATE PROFESSIONALS (YCP)Empowerment programme for “Green literacy and civic education for a sustainable Europe”

<< Background >>THE CIVICS has applied to create a space for youth from across Europe to come together and enhance their green literacy competencies by strengthening their communication and project management skills. Through a mix of expert inputs from a diverse field of environmental and sustainability topics as well as peer-to-peer learning and the conceptualization and development of their own project ideas participants were encouraged to develop their own agency as multipliers. THE CIVICS has realized that there is a discrepancy among different European countries when it comes to the level of green literacy. Especially, between the Eastern European countries and Western European/Scandinavian countries. Within this programme, THE CIVICS aimed at creating space for these different country contexts and perspectives to be heard and to acknowledge that the European Green Deal has to take different approaches in different countries in order to be successful. With the YCP programme, THE CIVICS caters to these different needs accordingly and enables knowledge transfer among participants. << Objectives >>THE CIVICS aimed at promoting active citizenship and social entrepreneurship among young adults from 10 European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, and Sweden) with its green literacy pilot project Young Climate Professionals (YCP). At its core, the programme wanted to enhance the individual’s sustainability competencies and empower participants to become agents of change in their own communities. << Implementation >>The YCP programme consisted of 4 activities. The first three were online activities which lasted 4 hours each and took place on Saturdays (01.10.2022; 03.12.2022; 04.02.2023) via Zoom. Miro and Slack were used as tools for working and communicating among the group. The last activity was a three-day YCP Campus which took place in Berlin (30.03.-02.04.2023) as an in-person event consisting of expert talks, fishbowls, workshops, a Gallery Walk, and a field trip to the floating university.<< Results >>Each activity was documented on the website and social media channels of THE CIVICS and through the process facilitation in charge. The documentation includes Zoom recordings as well as screenshots of the Miro board and handouts created by the participants as well as the presentations of the individual speakers. THE CIVICS MagicMonday format via a Slack channel has resulted in an extensive toolbox that entails links to insightful reads, podcasts, videos, and funding opportunities and which has been made public on the website of THE CIVICS and can be used by YCP participants and anyone interested to brush up on their green literacy skills.During the Gallery Walk at the YCP Campus in Berlin three winners out of all projects were curated and received the mini grant which is supporting the implementation of their project idea running from May 2023 – June 2024. The winners from Bulgaria, Croatia, and Lithuania will need to report to THE CIVICS regularly and all materials and documents produced within these projects will be made publicly available through the YCPs themselves and THE CIVICS.