Call for participants | Online Training Course ´Spreading Pollen´

Online Training Course | Spreading Pollen: Scaling up community engagement for the protection of wild pollinators

If you have ever been interested in mobilising others for the protection of the environment, keep on reading and apply now for the online training!

Why pollinators you ask?

Let’s see:

We depend on pollinators for our food supply: Around 75% per cent of the main crops grown globally rely to at least some extent on pollinators for growth, quality and/or seed production including coffee and cocoa!
Pollinators are essential for biodiversity: Around 50% of flowering plants are completely dependent on animal pollination for their reproduction. By supporting the existence of plants pollinators are responsible for maintaining entire ecosystems and all the services they provide from providing habitat for wildlife to climate change mitigation.
Pollinators provide medicinal products such as manuka honey and propolis

Pollinators undeniably support nature itself but they are in great danger! In recognising this, the EU Commission has adopted the EU Pollinators Initiative in order to tackle their decline. The initiative sets long-term strategic objectives towards 2030, and short-term actions to put the EU on the right path towards reversing their decline. In this regard, The Joint Research Centre (JRC) supports DG Environment through the STING project aiming to increase collaboration in reverting the decline of pollinators. Understanding the importance and potential of youth involvement in biodiversity matters, the JRC has decided to support youth initiatives in fostering engagement in the conservation of wild pollinators.

As part of this project, two training courses will be delivered exploring different avenues of involving young citizens, on the topics of community engagement and advocacy. The planned training courses aim to provide youth groups with the knowledge and tools necessary to engage and mobilise others in the conservation of pollinators. We are kicking off this project with the community engagement training course.

WHEN

14th-16th and 21st-23rd of May 2021

The course will take place over two consecutive weeks and the sessions will take place on:

Friday at 16:00-18:00 CEST
Saturday at 10:00-12:00 CEST followed by a lunch break and an additional session at 14:00-16:00 CEST
Sunday 10:00-12:00 CEST

The same schedule will be repeated during the second week of the course.

ABOUT THE TRAINING COURSE

This online training course will provide you with the knowledge, tools and confidence to implement local actions for the protection of pollinators. It will help you turn your motivation to action and will empower you to become a pollinator champion through coordinating decentralised direct action. The entire training is based on experiential learning and non-formal education and will include a wide array of activities in the virtual space. It is grounded in generating actionable ideas fit for real life situations.

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT?

Through the course you will:

Gain an understanding of pollinators ecology, their importance in ecosystem functioning and the main drivers of decline
Become aware of the policy framework governing pollinators and the EU Pollinators Initiative
Learn about and share your experience on effective ways to engage community
Exchange knowledge and skills with interested and motivated young people from across Europe
Be provided with a supportive space to develop actions tailored to your community and feel empowered to implement them
Connect with motivated young individuals interested in the topic of pollinators
Explore your connection with pollinators and nature itself

WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?

This course is targeted at young individuals who have some experience with community engagement be it through awareness raising, citizen science or any other local action that aims to engage people in environmental issues. There is no need to be an expert in those just to have some experience that the training can build on. There is no need to have much knowledge or experience with the topic of pollinators as we will provide that during the course. Participants that are already part of NGOs, networks or informal groups will be prioritised.

Requirements: