9.4 Raising awareness about global issues
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On this page
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Formal, non-formal and informal learning
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Youth-targeted information campaigns on global issues
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Information providers
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Key initiatives
Formal, non-formal and informal learning
In line with the Recommendation of the Council of the European Union of 22 May 2018 on key competences for lifelong learning, the Royal Decree 157/2022, Royal Decree 217/2022 and Royal Decree 243/2022 establishes the basic curriculum of primary education, compulsory secondary education and baccalaureate respectively. In primary education, the aim is to improve mathematical competence and competence in science, technology and engineering (STEM). On completion of Primary Education, the pupil Participates in scientifically based actions to promote health and preserve the environment and living beings, applying principles of ethics and safety and practising responsible consumption. In compulsory secondary education there are some subjects such as biology and geology, where topics such as the importance of ecosystem conservation through the implementation of a sustainable development model and the analysis of environmental problems such as global warming are dealt with. In baccalaureate within the citizenship competences, we find that students should be able to understand the systemic relationships of interdependence, eco-dependence and interconnection between local and global actions, and to adopt, in a conscious and motivated way, a sustainable and eco-socially responsible lifestyle.
Green in everyday life
Green in everyday life is an educational project aimed at reducing the impact of households on the environment, whose methodology (manual, outreach videos and various educational materials) is based on the national project Green Homes. The initiative has international cooperation and with the economic support of the European Program of Education, Training, Youth and Sport Erasmus + and the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y Reto Demográfico). This project has worked seven different organizations from Spain (Asociación Columbares and the National Center for Environmental Education (CENEAM), United Kingdom (Insider Access), Sweden (Global Playground Stockholm), Italy (Consorzio ABN), Morocco (Bassin Guirr) and Jordan (East & West Center).
OSCE Youth and Security Conference
After 10 years of the first Youth Forum promoted by the Organization for Security and Co- operation in Europe (OSCE), in 2017, a new conference on Youth and Security (Conferencia sobre Juventud y Seguridad) was held in Malaga to assess the achievements from the decade and provide a space for dialogue between young representatives (18-29 years) and the actors responsible for promoting a culture of peace, prevention and conflict resolution, incorporating the safe use of ICT and promoting tolerance and respect for diversity within online platforms.
The international Forum was attended by young people from more than sixty OSCE member states and representatives from the field of safety and youth in their respective countries.
VII Online Course on Volunteer Training of InteRed
The Workshop on Volunteer Training is an NGO initiative InteRed for those who want to deepen the causes of injustice at the global level and participate in the construction of a collective thinking with people interested in solidarity action.
21 October 2023 sees the start of the International Volunteering Course-Workshop, a semi-attendance space to deepen our understanding of the reality of the world we live in, to activate social and citizen participation with a global and transformative outlook, and to offer channels for national and international volunteering.
University of Youth and Development
The University of Youth and Development (UYD) is a space for meeting, training and action planning, which brings together hundreds of young people, youth workers, experts in the field and youth policy makers for a week.
The 21st edition took place from 11-18 September 2022 in CEULAJ, Mollina (Spain) and focused on "Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions".
The UYD is a partnership between the Spanish Government (INJUVE), the European Youth Forum (YFJ), the Spanish Youth Council (CJE) and other international youth-led and youth-serving organisations.
Young people against climate change
Young people against Global warming (Jóvenes frente al Cambio Climático) was a proposal (2012) focused on educational innovation Young people seen by young people, with a methodology and an innovative audiovisual format that allows the professional audiovisual co- production of students and poses an alternative to the traditional communication design. This is a research project of applied innovation, financed by the former Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport and developed in the following educational centres and institutions:
IES Puerta Bonita de Madrid, as a focal point. Institut Pere Martell, Tarragona.
IES Néstor Almendros, Seville. IES Imaxe e Son, A. Coruña.
MDCS research group Dialectic Mediation of Social Communication (Mediación Dialéctica de Comunicación Social), from the Complutense University of Madrid.
The idea is that the footprints of the impact of climate change are different in Tarragona, Seville, Galicia or Madrid, hence the responses of young people and the general population as well.
Therefore, the importance in trying to collect the different voices and strategies through three different lines:
A documentary for cinemas and television, the result of the cooperative work of more than 80 students and 15 professors from the different participating centres of Spain who are studying higher degrees in Communication, Image and Sound. It is a work developed by young people in order to educate others of the problem of global warming and to promote their commitment to mitigation.
At the same time, the graphic design students have produced interactive content and development of the Web documentary in the Transmedia Narrative workshop with the intention of linking the various participating institutions and disseminating the information online.
In the same way, the Complutense research group carried out various activities aimed at research on the communication of climate change. These were carried out through focus group on environmental issues, research days and discussions with experts in the field.
IDEATON X LOS ODS
The Ideathons for the SDGs are events open to the participation of Civil Society to offer citizen solutions and real actions to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and involve citizens in the 2030 Agenda. All this through participatory dynamics and the Empodera.org platform supported by the United Nations.
Educator's support
Course of the European Council on Human Rights Education
The North-South Centre of the European Council convened youth workers, educators and youth policy leaders to three different online courses that have been being given: the Human Rights Dimension since 2009, the Intercultural Dimension since 2012, and the Citizenship Dimension since 2015 and due to their success they are still available.
Green homes
Green Homes (Hogares verdes) is an educational program aimed at families who are concerned about the environmental impact of their everyday habits and would like to have a more responsible management of their home: promoting the self-control of energy and water expenditure; introducing energy saving and economising measures; helping to make a more ethical and ecological purchase. The responsibility of the program is the National Center for Environmental Education (CENEAM o Centro Nacional de Educación Ambiental) who is in charge of coordinating numerous NGOs of diffenrent Autonomous Regions that together boost more than 1,000 households, thus constituting the network of Green Homes.
Terral
It is a project that aims to become aware of the socio-environmental problems of climate change in schools and to spread it beyond the educational community. The Terral project is part of a joint initiative between the Junta of Andalusia, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge and the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. It aims to serve as an orientation between the actions of the teachers and offer suggestions, support resources for the design and completion of environmental education activities among those that emphasise: to raise awareness about climate change and to promote energy saving to effectively reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
There is a formative activity that is compulsory (no time periods are indicated) for the implementation of a plan to reduce emissions and voluntary activities: training workshops and online courses.
Youth-targeted information campaigns on global issues
Community #ForTheClimate
Community#ForTheClimate (Comunidad#PorElClima) is a platform with more than 4,000 videos, links, good practices in a toolbox created from November 4, 2016 that brings together diverse individuals and entities that act against climate change, acting actively to comply with the Paris Agreement. In March 2021, there are more than 20.500 members involved, from between citizens and private companies, NGOs and public administrations. They have more than 400 tools stored by topic to help you take action.
2017 Year of Sustainable Tourism
The UN has established the year 2017 as a year of sustainable tourism for development with the intention of pointing out the importance of the tourism sector in economic, social and environmental development, to catalyze positive actions that empower women and young people interested in that area.
HI Fund for Sustainability Award for REAJ
The Spanish Youth Hostels Network (Red Española de Albergues Juveniles) won the first prize in a competition from Hostelling International in which the associations of hostels in all countries compete for €12,000 to carry out sustainable projects.
Information providers
The Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo, AECID) is the first Spanish cooperation management body that is oriented towards the fight against poverty and sustainable human development.
In Spain, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, through the White Book on environmental education (Libro Blanco de Educación Ambiental), wants to promote a pro-environmental action between individuals and social groups, to achieve informed actions towards a sustainable society in the vital context of its citizens: home, work, school, leisure and community.
The Euro-Latin American Youth Centre (Euro-Latin American Youth Centre) is a centre of national and International youth information resources and activities that depends on the Injuve for the rapprochement and youth cooperation between Latin America and Europe.
Key initiatives
Zero CO2
It allows to act against climate change by calculating CO2 emissions to achieve emission reductions (air, land, hotel stays, heating and sanitary hot water consumption, electricity consumption) and to promote the seal and ZeroCO2 (CeroCO2) label, as well as the verification of the carbon footprint for companies and citizens through a platform and collaborating with the "community for the climate" mentioned above.
European Solidarity Corps
The European Commission has created a new initiative aimed at encouraging the solidarity of young Europeans. This initiative, with its own legal base and budget, offers opportunities for young people to participate for a period of 2 to 12 months in solidarity activities, such as volunteering. This can also include a period of internships and jobs in areas related to solidarity, as well as in projects developed by themselves on their own initiative, which will have an important component of learning and will be good for their personal, educational and professional development.
In Spain the campaign was called Your body is asking for it (Te lo Pide El Cuerpo) for people between 18 and 30 years old, 17 year old can apply although they will not be able to carry out the specific activity until the age of 18. The actions of the European solidarity corp will be coherent and complementary with various policies and programs of the Union, in particular, but not exclusively, those relating to education and training, employment, gender equality, entrepreneurship (individual, social entrepreneurship), citizenship and democratic participation, the environment and the protection of nature, action for climate, prevention, preparation and recovery of disasters, agriculture and rural development, the supply of food and non-food products, health and well-being, creativity and culture, physical education and sport, social assistance and welfare, the reception and integration of third-country nationals and territorial cooperation and cohesion.
For the implementation of the European Solidarity Corps, various types of activities are envisaged:
Voluntary "volunteer placements" will provide young people with the opportunity to volunteer full-time between 2 and 12 months, both in EU countries and at the national level;
The "placements" in the form of employment will provide young people with a contract of work in public or private entities that carry out their activities in the field of solidarity between 2 and 12 months, both at the national level and within the European Union;
The "placements" in the form of internships, a period of internships in public or private entities that carry out their activities in the field of solidarity between 2 and 12 months, both at the national level and within the European Union;
Solidarity projects: solidarity activities implemented by groups of five or more.
Networking activities between the different entities participating in the program.
With a dedicated budget of over €1 000 millions for the period 2021-2027, thenew programme offers opportunities for around 275 000 young people to contribute to tackling social and humanitarian challenges by volunteering or setting up their own solidarity projects. For the first year of action, more than €138 millions are available. From next year onwards, the programme will also enable young people to engage in humanitarian aid volunteering activities around the world, so that they can contribute to addressing humanitarian challenges in safe third countries and support EU aid activities in these countries.
The new European Solidarity Corps supports the EU's overall policy priorities and makes it easier for organisations and young people to engage with them. There is a particular focus on four aspects:
- Promoting inclusion and diversity;
- Greening projects and promoting environmentally responsible and sustainable behaviour among participants and participating organisations;
- Supporting the digital transition through projects and activities that boost digital skills, foster digital literacy and improve understanding of the risks and opportunities of digital technology;
- Enhancing young people's participation in democratic processes and civic engagement.
In addition to these four areas of intervention, the programme will have flexibility in adding annual priorities, in order to focus on urgent issues, such as health this year.