See a videoclip of Youth Trainers' Seminar in March 2019 in Aljusrel, Portugal, with our participation in
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The “Precious
Plastic” is a call for action, stimulating young people to act upon some of
their fundamental environmental rights that are currently threatened. It is
inspired by the Precious Plastic initiative (https://preciousplastic.com/), which enables the creation of low cost, DIY,
community-based recycling units. Recycling units that are not only capable of
collecting and separating plastic waste, but also to transform the recycled
plastic into multiple and new design
products. A space that connects social awareness
(active citizenship) to creativity (design of new products) and digital skills
(digital manufacturing). A Precious Plastic workshop is above all a neighborhood recycling factory, a space to
gather a community, share a purpose, develop new ideas and contribute for a
better world.
This project is
innovative because while focusing on the worldwide circular economy movement of
the Precious Plastic, it aims to address young people with less opportunities
through specific actions that develop their spirit of initiative and respect
for the fundamental right to a clean and sustainable environment and living
space. Not only we are focusing young people´s needs by proposing to open a
Precious Plastic local chapter but also opportunities, through the stimulus of
their entrepreneurial spirit and self-reflexion on their consumption patterns
and waste issues. From the success of this KA1 will depend on the existence of a future KA2, allowing to gather
relevant experience afterward needed for the creation of new methodologies and
other outputs targeted to this group.
The objectives
of this project include:
-
Promotion of
active citizenship and development of a sense of initiative in young people
regarding a European priority – the reduction of plastic waste;
-
Enable young
people facing social or economic exclusion to have a unique learning
opportunity, promoting inter-religious dialogue and multicultural exchange to
provide a more rich experience to participants;
-
Promote capacity
building in partner organizations and youth workers in the development of innovative
programs in circular economy, acquisition of digital skills, and in being able
to engage youth communities to act upon fundamental rights as the right to a
clean, safe and sustainable living environment;
-
Disseminate
innovative practices and provide quality contents in the field of digital youth
work;
We seek to empower
local communities, with a particular role
of young people, to make a difference regarding our collective future. This message is particularly relevant in a
Europe still struggling to find a sense of belonging and purpose, while the
precious plastic offers citizens a sense of usefulness and the opportunity to
make a difference in a common challenge.
The Precious
Plastic project will train 14 youth workers from 7 partner countries, as well
as provide a Youth Exchange opportunity to 42 young people, all from difficult
backgrounds facing social exclusion. It will be
structured around three main activities:
-
Advance Planning
Visit: Discussion of operational matters regarding the project implementation,
preparation of the activities, and
signature of the partnership agreement;
-
Youth Workers
Mobility: Capacitating youth workers and partner organization to successfully
implement and develop educational contents in the field of circular economy, as
well as develop competencies in the area
of digital youth work;
-
Youth Exchange:
A unique opportunity for young people, facing the risk of social or education exclusion, to be part of an
international environment and develop relevant competences
and skills while promoting cultural and
religious dialogue.
This project
shall be continuously designed by both the partner organizations and
participants of the activities, developing adequate training to specific needs
and profiles. The precious plastic project is
based on group work, implementation of non-formal learning techniques,
and development of creative thinking. Such approach is only possible because
the activities will be developed in
Buinho (www.buinho.pt), a rural fablab that allows participants to go from idea to physical product rapidly. This enables participants to fail and learn
from failure, to experiment and engage in peer-learning, and more importantly
to have from freedom to develop their own learning experience.
Finally, a continuous dissemination strategy was
designed to improve the sustainability of the
project in time and increase its multiplier effects. The project dedicates a special attention to the future growth
and impact that this project may provoke. Inspired by the work of Dave Hakkens
(https://preciousplastic.com/en/mission.html), we aim to enable the creation of new precious
plastic chapters across Europe, supporting the growth of this international network and more importantly increase Youth
awareness and participation within this grassroots movement. This project will
produce a strong impact not just with the
participants but also for all organizations of the consortium, as well as other
relevant and local stakeholders to which the Precious Plastic can provide new
solutions in the area of circular
economy. The interest and commitment of partner organizations in following the
experience of applicant Buinho in opening a Precious Plastic workshop are
indicators of the activities future sustainability.
The lessons learned from previous applications showed the
importance of a coherent and solid
consortium composition criteria. Such criteria include:
a)
Previous experience;
b)
Degree of
motivation and needs;
c)
Added value to
the project;
d)
Capability of
the organization for preparation of participants
and dissemination;
e)
Diversified
background and nature of the participating organizations to add more contents and viewpoints to the
project.
Two of the selected organizations (P2 and P6) are well known to the
beneficiary, being also partner
institutions in another KA1 coordinated by Buinho. The other four organizations
(P3, P4, P5, and P7) were invited based
on their quality, experience, and unique inputs they could bring to this
application.
The project is supported by a consortium of 7 partners from different backgrounds
and composed by:
-
P2 Capranica –
This Italian Municipality brings their experience in the fields of youth and
social work and organizing activities with NEETs. They offer unique competences in the area of Youth work and
non-formal education. With this project
the youth workers from Capanica will gain
more experience in the use of digital tools, develop contents for their
innovative school project, learn how to manage and operate a Precious Plastic
workshop and reinforce its position as an active and innovative member within the regional network of rural
municipalities it coordinates;
-
P3 KPE Vamou – They provide training experience in the
fields of Recycling, Upcycling, and non-formal
education, thus being a relevant partner for the development of the training
courses as well as the preparation of the youth exchange activities. It
provides the opportunity to include and work with Syrian refugees based in
Crete. P3 will also gain relevant inputs
in the field of digital youth work as the use of 3D Printing and its use with
recycled PLA. It will also learn on how to assemble and manage a Precious
Plastic workshop, providing to their community a working space adequate to the nonformal learning activities they practice;
-
P4 Maltepe
Secondary School – Maltepe Secondary school has a wide experience in managing
environmentally related Erasmus+ projects and has a Makers Club focused in the
use of non-formal education in order to stimulate a creative, leadership,
team-work and entrepreneurial spirit amongst the school’s youngsters.
Furthermore, Maltepe Secondary School works very closely with local
organizations and municipality, providing non-formal educational contents and
activities within the local youth center. Maltepe Secondary School has 10
teachers specialist in non-formal science
based education, providing an excellent
source of knowledge and experience to the consortium. The project will
contribute to their work with refugees and other young people facing extreme
social exclusion, namely in activities related with recycling and digital
prototyping;
-
P5 Viaje a la
Sostenabilidad – Is an NGO focused on
environmental protection and education in the field of Deep Ecology. The deep ecology approach is of particular
relevance in the diversification of the contents provided during the Youth
Exchange, promoting cultural exchange, physical and emotional well-being, while
raising special awareness for the issues
of environmental sustainability. P5 youth workers will have access to very necessary training the fields of digital
youth work and in the transformation cycle of plastic waste;
-
P6 Artefacts –
It brings their accumulated experience as a major
cultural and social cooperative, fostering entrepreneurship at all levels and
their focus on youth work development. P6 will provide together with Buinho
relevant contents in the field of digital youth work, namely the use of open
source solutions and physical computing to provide low cost and engaging
learning experiences to youth. For Artefacts this project represents a unique
opportunity to develop added knowledge in the area of circular economy, now
becoming a top priority for them;
-
P7 Ecocenter
Foundation – P7 will share their experience in blended training and discuss forms to incorporate these capabilities in the
continuous mentorship efforts useful to capacitate an effective network of Precious Plastic youth centers. The participation in this project will
bring Ecocenter the opportunity to assemble a Precious Plastic project in
Hatvan Park, strategic for the future growth and outreach of their nonformal education activities next to local
young communities.
Participants’ Profile
Youth workers mobility
The criterion of
fair and transparent selection is conditioned to the dimension of the partner
organization. Nevertheless, the selection
will be made according to both the youth workers and participating
organization’s needs, as well as their availability to further participate in
preparation of the youth exchange. Standard questionnaire will be used for a qualitative evaluation of the
motivation and level of commitment of the applicants with future implementation
activities and dissemination and includes four
quality questions:
a)
Needs and motivation that sustain the application;
b)
Identification
of skills to acquire and goals to achieve;
c)
Added value for
the partner organization;
d)
Follow up
activities and dissemination developed by the youth worker.
Youth workers
mobility takes into consideration
concrete needs of the participating organizations, namely regarding youth
workers skills set.
Youth Exchange
We want to
promote the use of fair and transparent selection process, but in order to
ensure the participation of young people with fewer opportunities we will avoid
the selection of participants that already have participated in more than one
Youth Exchange or long term EVS. Since the target group are disadvantaged young
people we will not use a questionnaire similar to the one used for the
selection of youth workers. Instead we will rely on group sessions and group
activities promoted with the youth trainers that will evaluate the following
items:
a) needs and motivation to participate in
a international exchange;
b) ideas they would like to explore;
c) skills and goals they would like to achieve;
d) interest in circular economy and plastic waste reduction;
e) difficulties and obstacles that prevent them to engage in similar
programs.
This is a measure specially designed to ensure the selection of youth with
fewer opportunities and gender equilibrium. Taking also into consideration the
feedback from the youth leader that developed the group dynamics and will lead
the participants to A3, partner
organizations will select the most motivated participants while providing positive
discrimination for the candidates that:
a)
come from a
disadvantaged environment and belong to a risk group;
b)
had never
participated in international
mobility;
c)
or if the candidate’s gender is a minority within the overall candidate's
population.
Youth mobility is directed to disadvantaged young people, facing social
exclusion and/or economic constraints. Participant profile is a young person
with low self steem, unlikely to ever participated in an internacional exchange
or even traveled abroad. The participant may face danger of radicalization by
feeling excluded by Society, and will have poor access to quality educational
contents.
The youth leader
that will accompany each group in the youth mobility will be selected from one of the youth workers that
participated in the youth trainers activity.
