"The Training Course TC ""Environmental Training for Eco-Trainers"" (ET4ET), taking place in Wiek (Rügen), Germany from 20-28 March 2015, gathered 35 youth workers or active members from 15 youth and environmental organisations of 12 different countries (Albania, Armenia, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Spain, United Kingdom) between 18-35 years.The German organisation FÖJ-AKTIV e.V. applied for the project out of the needs for (1) a rise in number and quality of environmental projects on local and international level, and (2) supporting and educating youth workers within the network and its members in the development of skills, competences and attitudes, identified by other organisations from their network organisation Youth and Environment Europe (YEE).The overall aim of the project ET4ET is to educate and empower new Eco-Trainers into effective leaders by providing them with new tools and methodologies to enable participants to prepare, run and evaluate Environmental Trainings for young people. This is aimed at individuals hoping to enhance their chances for future work in NGOs.Eco-Trainers are trainers who (1) facilitate environmental learning activities such as trainings in order to raise awareness of various environmental issues and the potential solutions and (2) add the environmental dimension to training-sessions (where training does not focus primarily on the environment e.g. soft skills, sessions on promotion etc.). Additionally, they can consult and contribute to the development and planning phases of a project itself in order to reduce its environmental impact. Thus, an Eco-Trainer is a combination of environmental educator, trainer and project manager.Environmental Trainings are organised and implemented in way that they have the lowest possible environmental impact in all areas: e.g. travel and transportation, food, venue and accommodation, materials, energy, waste, and water usage.The target group were participants with an environmental and/or educational backgrounds (through studies or work) and experiences in training courses and international projects who are actively involved in an environmental NGO and who want to become trainers.The TC applied methods from non-formal education as well as learning-by-doing and experiential learning. The participants prepared and ran a Trial Session as Eco-Trainers during the TC. Furthermore, some participants already implemented a training activity locally within their organisation after the TC. Another follow-up was the publication of the booklet ?Eco-Trainer Guide?, written by a team of participants, that contains a toolkit about methodologies and tools for planning and running Environmental Trainings as well as information about important trainer competences.Even after the end of this project, the YEE network continues to establish a ?Pool of Eco-Trainers? for future international environmental projects and plans another follow-up project (Training of Trainers) due to the high demand of applicants and good evaluation results."

The training course “Be(e) the Change” will be held in the ecological center Kapraluv Mlyn in Czech Republic. The activity will take place on 6-13 November 2016 and it will involve 30 participants coming from 16 partners.The project idea comes from YEE’s campaign “The Right to be(e)” that is ongoing for three years now. With this training course we would like to learn and develop more tools of creating successful environmental educational campaigns, as well as share experience among the organisations who took part in campaigns such as “The Right to Be(e)”. The project’s activities will help to improve YEE’s and its member organisations’ campaigning skills by learning about what an educational campaign is, how to plan it or how to motivate young people to participate.The participants will be chosen based on their previous experience with campaigns, especially with ones carried out by YEE. They will be asked in advance to prepare examples of their previous campaigning. Also, they will be involved in creating the follow-up.The activities are related to learnings and overviews about organising an educational campaign. The objectives of the planned activities fit the objectives of the project because they will be designed to developing general campaigning skills, especially ones regarding international campaigns. The sessions will be developed using the principles of the non-formal and intercultural education and will reflect the needs and expectations of the participants. The working methods of the youth exchange will involve: team building, working in groups, discussion in groups, research, giving/receiving feedback, brainstorming, presentation, etc.After the training course we will create a publication gathering the knowledge and ideas developed throughout the activity, together with other promotional materials. Participants will organise local activities in their communities, after working on their campaign ideas in the training course.Moreover, the training course will shape a quality strategy and action plan for The Right to Be(e) campaign in 2017 and it will lead to higher participation of young people in YEE’s campaigns. The project will help participating organisations create successful environmental campaigns - based on the experience they shared, new knowledge and skills that were developed.

Youth and Environment Europe (YEE) is a network of over 40 youth organisations which are, among other things, active in environmental protection. Members address environmental issues on different levels (local, regional, national, international) with different approaches, such as campaigning, research and education. During the 2016 Annual Meeting several member organisations expressed their interest in exploring the topic of ecotourism. Some members even pointed out the need to further develop this type of tourism in their countries. Moreover, ecotourism was identified as a current topic and a good way to promote active citizenship among young people. We believe that ecotourism can connect different parts of communities and could therefore be an innovative approach for promoting youth participation. The aim of this training course was to strengthen youth participation and active citizenship through ecotourism and related projects. Objectives: - To define the role and importance of ecotourism in local communities. - To create the common understanding about youth participation in local communities through ecotourism. - To provide space for partners to share the experience of organising ecotourism projects with young people. - To expand the knowledge and skills needed for organising ecotourism related projects in local communities. - To create space for networking and building new partnerships among environmental youth organisations. The training course “Uniting Youth for Ecotourism” took place on 6-13 November 2017 in the ecological center Kapraluv Mlyn, Ochoz u Brna, Czech Republic. It was organised by Youth and Environment Europe. 31 participants from 13 countries took part in this training course. Most of the objectives have been achieved thanks to a balanced combination of formal, non-formal and informal education strategies.In particular:- The role and importance of ecotourism in local communities were defined both through sharing sessions where participants expressed their ideas, impressions and even personal experiences and through visits to five different ecotourism realities in the area around Kapraluv Mlyn.- The common understanding (both theoretical and practical) about youth participation in local communities through ecotourism was established through a teamwork project where participants had to develop a product or service targeting young ecotourists and meeting ecotourism standards. Moreover, during an intercultural evening, participants had the possibility to present an object, food or drink related to ecotourism practices in their country or region.- A large space was provided to participants willing to share ecotourism practices in their countries. Two participants from Italy, two from Hungary, one from Russia and the two trainers (from Spain and Czech Republic) provided concrete examples of ecotourism projects involving young people. - The knowledge and skills needed for organising ecotourism projects were expanded through the session “Ecotourism and heritage interpretation” where the topics of marketing strategies, ecotourism practices and youth participation were interconnected with each other.- A large space for networking was provided to each participant. They had the possibility to present their organisation, their role within the organisation and latest projects. In the light of the genuine interests that participants showed for others` activities and the emergence of common grounds, new partnerships are likely to be built.- Additionally, several other activities (Service and Care, bonfires, movie night, visit to caves) have supported participants in their quest to know each other, build a great team, exchange ideas and even make new friends. Project results were shared among participants, partner organisations and other members via email correspondence and YEE online media. In addition, all materials created before, during and after the training course were uploaded on YEE website. As a follow-up, a publication will be published which will contain project results and useful information on how to plan successful eco-tourism projects.

The training course “International Environmental Action Days” took place in Finland on 8 July - 14 July 2017 (including 2 travel days). It was organised by Youth and Environment Europe and Luonto-Liitto. 30 participants from 13 countries took part in this event. The participants come from the following countries: Finland, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Hungary, Ireland, Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Serbia, Moldova.Aim and objectives:The aim of the project was to provide space for environmental youth organisations to share their experience and develop various competencies needed for organising successful environmental campaigns.Objectives:-To share the experience and build up the knowledge and skills needed for organising environmental campaigns. -To expand the knowledge and skills needed for organising environmental campaigns-To provide new tools and methods for organising environmental campaigns-To create space for networking and building new international partnerships among environmental youth organisations.The training course was organised using the principles of non-formal education and intercultural learning. We explored several important aspects of environmental campaigns in great detail: invited experts delivered sessions on communication, lobbying, strategic planning, youth participation and time management.As a result of this training course participants made new partnerships and developed new skills and methods of campaigning.

Youth Exchange “Three Rs for the Environment” will take place on 19-27 October in Moldova. It is aimed to attract young people, who are interested in the topic of waste management or working in NGOs whose activities are related to waste management and new innovative ways to raise the awareness of waste issue. The participants will have an opportunity to exchange experience and knowledge about waste management in various European countries, find new interesting ways of minimizing the environmental impact (e.g. promoting upcycling – creating new valuable things from the waste), how to develop the initiative and start their own project/organisation/start-up and learn new ways to promote sustainable lifestyle among young people, obtain deeper understanding of the problem and to see creative ways of dealing with it.For 7 days 30 young people from 6 European countries (Czech Republic, Moldova, Romania, Portugal, Russia, Georgia) will work in a comfortable intercultural environment and will have the chance to share their knowledge on the topic of waste management in their countries and find out a bit of more of the theoretical side of the issue.Youth exchange will consist of a theoretical part, organised and presented in an interactive format, and a practical part which will include “upcycling lab” and workshops, organized by participants for each other. During “upcycling labs” the participants will be creating new objects from the garbage and showing other people how to make it. This will enable everyone to share knowledge and experience creative ways to introduce the issue of waste, and various waste management solutions. This will be prepared and practiced in such a way as to give the participants the tools for being able to start own small business in handmade domain, which becomes more and more popular. Also participants will be capable to transmit this knowledge through environmental education activities in their NGOs and local communities.The main aim of the youth exchange is to bring young people together to exchange experience and knowledge about waste management in various European countries and work on various methods of promoting sustainable lifestyle.The objectives of the project are:-to share experience and learn about differences, advantages/disadvantages of waste management systems in different European countries-to exchange knowledge about creative ideas of dealing with the issue of waste management-to learn more about European policy on waste management-to introduce and practice various environmental education tools which can be used on local level- to promote active citizenship and sustainable lifestyle among young people on the example of responsible consumerism and promoting more sustainable waste management tools.