When: 15^th – 22^nd April 2011

Where: Strnadovský mlýn, Vršovice, Czech Republic

Who: Youth and Environment Europe

Project description

The Youth Exchange 'Learning from each other - Methods of environmental education' took place in an old mill located 70 km south of Prague. It involved 7 different organisations which work in the field of environment and youth. 27 participants from Armenia, Finland, Macedonia, Latvia, Portugal, Ukraine and Cezch Republic spent a whole week sharing their knowledge and tools in methods for environmental education.

Every day one of the participating organisations presented its best practises and the most effective methods they use in their work with youth. This was done through practical workshops and games, basically outdoors and always through 'learning by doing'. The aim was to transmit the most successful and inventive practises to other organisations and to improve and vary the everyday work of the youth NGOs. All the methods and ideas shared during this youth exchange will be gathered together in a booklet so many other organisations will have access to them.

Objectives

• to spread good practices and methods from environmental education;
• to promote environmental education as important way of educating children and youth about nature;
• to learn through practice;
• to show young people that they can learn things in new, enjoyable ways (by participating in teaching and experimenting);
• to teach new techniques, games to young people and to make them encouraged to practise them in their organisations in an attempt to improve the life of their community;
• to give young people platform to exchange knowledge and experience;
• to provide young people (maybe first time in their lives) an opportunity to pass their knowledge;
• to give youth inspiration for establishing new methods of work in the environmental education;
• to give young people space to decide about their own programme (each group was responsible for their own workshops);
• to encourage organizations to share their knowledge at European level;
• to increase the contact between local/national organizations at international level.

Opinions from Participants

"It was a successfully accomplished project based not only on my personal observations, but also on the opinions of other participants. As the leader of one of the reflection groups, I received regular feedback from other team leaders, and when summarizing the discussions of team leaders' meetings, it was evident that there were more positive opinions about the program than negative ones. I definitely share the overall positive evaluation of the program.
In my opinion, all the countries were well-prepared for the program. The presentations and activities of all NGOs were interesting and provided new information about environmental problems and the ways they should be solved.
I am sure you know YEE very well, so you won't be surprised at my opinion that everything was really well-organized by them, and as a result, the whole program was productive, interesting and fun at the same time."
Babken Sahakyan (Stepanavan Youth Center, Armenia)

"I think the Youth Exchange - learning from each other - gave more or less what it promised: we surely learned many things from each other. Whether it was information about a never-heard-before NGO, a new environmental game, a national slogan or some concrete tools for environmental education, it all made a great mixture that spiced our multicultural and - lingual soup and also provided us with a nice week in the middle of nowhere with good company!"
Kamilla Billiers (Luonto Liitto, Finland)

Guna Dauvarte (Radi Vidi Pats, Latvia)

"This was my first project so I don't have such a huge experience and anything to compare with. But all together I really enjoyed it. Firstly because of people, that was interesting - so different cultures like Macedonia and Finland or Ukraine and Portugal working together and sharing experience. About the organisation part I enjoyed that it was not too despotic but in the same time it was not too chaotic. Just how it should be. Of course I got tons of new ideas and inspiration. What would be really nice would be to get some reviews about how participants are using their new knowledge."

Linda (Radi Vidi Pats, Latvia)

Participating organisations

• YEE and Hnuti Brontosaurus – Czech Republic, hosting organization
• Luonto Liitto – Finland
• H2O – Portugal
• DEM – Macedonia
• SYC – Armenia
• MELP – Ukraine
• Radi Vidi Pats – Latvia

Financial support

The project was supported by the European Youth Foundation – the Council of Europe.

Photogalleries

YE 'Learning from each other' Photogallery