Inclusion is one of the most prioritised topics of nowadays reality. How to involve youth, despite of their social, cultural, educational, geographical, economic or mental obstacles in environmental projects and give them same opportunities for learning? How to reach people from different backgrounds? How to make environmental projects more inclusive? In order to answer these questions, YEE organised the training course “YEE-nclude: inclusion in environmental youth projects”.

From 2 to 9 April, 28 participants from different countries explored the topic of inclusion. The training course took place in the environmental educational center “PROUD” in Horažďovice (Czech Republic).

The 6 days of the training course were filled with different activities: we learnt what inclusion means and created profiles of young people coming from different disadvantaged backgrounds; we talked about the importance of media and got some tips on how to use media for promotion of the projects; reflected about nature cycles and practised in inclusive communication with “way of council”; learnt about the role of environmental education for youth work; shared our knowledge about the topic in open space; built new collaborations for the future; planned new, inclusive projects and reflected on how to make an ongoing projects more inclusive.

Two experts were invited to share their approach of inclusion and their experience in doing inclusive work. One of our guests told us about the needs and problems of people with fewer opportunities and explained how it is to work with people with disabilities, particularly with visually-impaired people. The participants also had the chance to experiment, at PROUD’s educational farm in Horazd’ovice, how to include people with fewer opportunities into educational outdoor activities.

Evenings were active as well. We shared environmental stories of places we live in; had a movie screening related to the topic; explored the local environment and learnt about YEE during a treasure hunt, presented the work of our NGOs, played board games, had a bonfire and just talked to each other.

The training course is finished, but stay tuned for news on the project’s follow-up. Useful tools will be prepared in the following months. We are also looking forward to hearing from the participants about their inclusive projects!  

Check pictures from the training course here.