YOUth Creating Action Research on Ecoanxiety (YOU-CARE)
Implemented under Erasmus Plus KA2 funding. Project no. 2023-2-BG01-KA220-YOU-000171222
What has been created?
Duration
2024.04.01 – 2026.04.30 (25 months)
Budget
250 000,00 €
About YOU-CARE
YOU-CARE’s general objective is to allow young people in Europe to collectively examine and assess the set of emotions linked to the ecological crisis, so as to move from ecological preoccupation to active participation, while fostering their emotional, pedagogical, scientific, and advocacy skills. Through its different activities and results, YOU-CARE’s priorities are to reinforce the links between research, policy, and youth participation, as well as to bridge knowledge gaps on eco-anxiety. The project addresses three main topics: physical and mental health/well-being, environment and climate change, democracy and inclusive democratic participation.
YOU-CARE aims to target young people aged 15-24, coming from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds; youth workers/trainers/educators; as well as stakeholders.
The partner organisations involved in the project bring a diversity of ecological realities, climate trajectories, socio-economic figures, cultural and political contexts; work directly with the youth sector; have expertise in research and practical experience in the field of pedagogy; have connections with local, regional, national or European authorities; have expertise in inclusion and vulnerable youth.
The project’s general objective is supported by the following specific objectives:
- Providing youth-workers and educators the tools and guidelines to help youth facing eco-anxiety.
- Empowering young people coming from different geographical and socio-economic realities to connect and exchange about their experiences with ecological issues, thus increasing their agency and their participation to decision-making processes.
- Gathering information allowing to assess the presence and levels of eco-anxiety experienced by youth in different European countries, as well as the factors contributing to its development, its diverse natures and manifestations, and the coping mechanisms and strategies adopted by youth to manage eco-anxiety and mitigate its effects.
YOU-CARE is based on 3 interconnected activities:
- A training for youth workers and educators to provide them with the tools and guidelines to help youth face eco-anxiety.
- A set of youth-led participatory action research workshops and learning exchanges, in order for young participants to share experiences and think about ways to act.
- A Youth Open Assembly bringing together decision-makers, youth communities, and other civil society players to share the project’s key outcomes.
Concrete results include youth-generated recommendations for politicians and other co-decided mixed-media research results, a video documenting the research workshops in each country, and mid-term/final reports summarizing main findings.
Other results include the creation of a space for cross-cultural and cross-sector dialogue around a complex subject, encouraging collective ownership and driving policy changes towards a better handling of climate-change related emotions and their causes.
Organizers and Partners
All this was done with our amazing partners:
Association FOR YOU from Bulgaria.
QUEST from Belgium.
FELCOS Umbria from Italy.
Love and Care for People from Ireland.
Innovative Generation from Lithuania.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Commission or the Agency of Youth Affairs. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.