CONTEXTThe internet has become an integral part of children and young people’s lives. However, the increased time spent online is prompting questions about whether they are in control of their internet usage and if they are aware of the side effects and the causes of the maladaptive behaviours related to excessive Internet use. Even if youngsters are not addicted, recent European research analysis has shown that it is not always or not only the time spent online that makes internet use problematic and ‘excessive’, but the impact of internet use on what might be called a ‘balanced life’. Excessive online exposure may affect physical health, children’s ability to stay focused leading to poor school or academic performance negatively impacts their emotional well-being and it may also be related to lower empathy and social well-being or abstention from physical and offline social interactions.OBJECTIVEGameOFF has as primary objective to produce approaches and tools to help those working with young people reach out to them with a view to help them adopt a balanced approach to technology use by gaining a deeper understanding and interpretation of causes, risks, and effects of constant online commitment and by identifying and reacting to addictive formulas.PARTNERSThe partnership consists of a company offering bespoke software development services to governmental agencies and private companies (P5-CIVIC), a university (P4-NTU) specialising in Internet Addiction related problems, a technical and training consulting SME (P3-AKNOW), and 3 training organisations (P1-E-Juniors, P2-INNOHUB, P6- RightChallegne)ACTIVITIESThe main objective will be achieved through the following activities leading to concrete results:- Elaborate and validate a training approach to train youngsters on the identification and interpretation of causes, risks, and effects of constant online commitment based on personalised user profiles- Design and develop a serious game based on the training approach which will be used by trainers to support the young trainees in their journey towards screen time moderation.- Design campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of a balanced approach to media and technology.- Reach out to youth trainers and youth organisations with the aim of increasing smart and thoughtful and focused use of technology - Develop and test a set of 'best practices' & recommendations.METHODOLOGYAn iterative methodology under which three versions of results will be produced in three iterations. After each iteration, the results will be validated in workshops with teachers and children and based on the conclusions the next iteration will be planned.RESULTS- 5 country reports on the state of play in the participant countries- A Training methodology for youth trainers to engage in a learning dialogue with youngsters about IAB- A serious game to empower young people - Online Resources under creative commons license.- Publications, conferences, promotional videos, online campaigns, and recommendations programme.TARGET GROUPThe direct target groups in the life of the project comprise young people (16-25) and youth trainers. Apart from these direct target groups, the beneficiaries comprise also indirect target groups such as youth organisations, parents, youth's associations, policymakers and educational stakeholders. After the life of the project and subject to the delivery of concrete results, more target groups become relevant, such as commercial organisations producing serious games and universities with pedagogical departments.BENEFITSEmbracing a balanced approach to media and technology by youngsters includes thoughtful and intentional uses of media and technology, prioritization of focusing on a single task and not multitasking in educational, work, or social contexts, and recognition of the importance of face-to-face communication, in addition to online communication, in supporting rich social relationships.

"To achieve the objectives of the 2030 Agenda, the UN recognizes a strategic role to education and training, with a view to Lifelong Learning.There are two dimensions in which the Educational Institutions, generically defined, are called to participate. The first is related to their institutional mandate, that is to achieve the goals described in Goal 4: ""Provide a quality education, fair and inclusive, and learning opportunities for all"". The second is inherent in the strategic role that the Institutions plays in shaping competent and responsible new generations that contribute to sustainable development.In this scenario, the Strategic Partnership for Adult Education named ""FACIT: Fostering Active CITizenship competences"" intends to raise the standard educational approach to an upper level, by promoting interdisciplinarity as the key for Active Citizenship learning/educational opportunities, through the acquisition of specific competences coming from different sectors, from Ecology to Economy, from ICT to Participatory Democracy and Social Cohesion. The project activities are scheduled in order to achieve the project objectives: FACIT will directly affect the educators/trainers/facilitators/staff members from the 5 partner organizations from IT, FR, PT and HE, working with Neets, Unemployed adults, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, adults facing geographical and economic disadvantages. Their involvement in every project's step will allow them to acquire new competences in the designing of innovative educational approaches to enrich Active Citizenship competences of their adult learners. After FACIT completion, the staff members will have learned how to integrate Economic, Digital, Ecologic, EU and Global Citizenships in the designing of any educational path (in any sector).This will be possible thanks to a structured work program with tailor-made activities. Beside the 3 International Meetings for coordination and management of FACIT, other specific activities are planned.1/ In the first step, by taking part to 5 Study Visits, the partners will exchange best practices on educational approaches in 5 diverse sectors, which could improve learners' Active Citizenship competences: Economy e Business start up (Kainotomia, Economic Citizenship), EU Participation (FPD, European Citizenship), Human Rights Education (Integra Onlus, Global Citizenship), ICT (E-Juniors, Digital Citizenship), Ecology and Environment protection (Geoclube, Ecological Citizenship);2/ The second step will concern the designing of a new methodological approach, adoptable in every context and sector, which will take into account all the 5 declinations of Active Citizenship previously experienced. Thanks to this new approach, in every Training course or educational path, it will be possible to ensure the full acquisition of Active Citizenship competences, regardless of the sector and the specific topic of each activity. E.g., it will be possible to educate adults to environment protection, by also introducing them to the economic impact of pollution, to the rights and duties of being EU Citizens, to the existing tools to have a say at EU level and to the necessary digital competences to use them online.In order to reach this results, one educator/teacher/facilitator per partner will be involved in a 2 months Training Assignment on Active Citizenship, to be held during summer 2021 in Portugal, when Geoclube usually hosts a Summer Camp for young adults, with the topic of Active Citizenship. The 4 foreign trainers (from FPD, Kainotomia, Integra Onlus and E-Juniors) will work together with the Geoclube's trainers; each of them will lead a training session in his/her own sector, focusing on the learning achievements in terms of Active Citizenship competences.3/ After the Training Assignments, all the partners will co-design the final draft of the methodology, which will be adopted, by each of them, at the local community contexts. The results of this practical experimentation, which will involve a total of about 150 EU learners, will be collected and discussed by the partners and they will lead to the final version of the ""FACIT TOOLKIT"", to be released and freely downloadable, among all, from the main Adult education platforms (EPALE, E+ Results Platform, SALTO)."

The ACTION project proposes a three-strand approach to re-engage NEETs in education and training framed in a digital and social media production training environment.1. Partners will focus on developing a suite of action-learning resources that are completely different from the formal provision that has failed in the past. The action-learning resources will use inquiry-based, embedded-learning resources to unlock the talents of marginalised youth to build high-value, transversal skills that are essential for inclusion, personal development and employment.2. The training will be delivered in a ‘scaffolded’ team-learning environment to ensure that learners have the support of their peers throughout the training process.3. The training will be entirely built in a digital and social media production framework where there are potential roles and opportunities for individuals of all personality types allowing target group members to participate and learn according to their own individual preferences. The proposed training resources will focus on the use of the most widely available digital and social media devices such as smart-phones to ensure that the resources developed are usable by youth workers everywhere. The project will engage marginalised youth and support them on a journey to unlock latent talents. It is a project that gives voice to marginalised youth and in doing so cultivates positive attitudes towards education and training within the marginalised youth target group and raise awareness of opportunities for personal and professional development. Youth workers are the key training intermediaries in the ACTION project and partners will ensure that appropriate in-service training is provided to support their continuous professional development and build the skills and competences of those working on the front-line.- 42 youth workers will complete the in-service training programme developed building their skills and competences to use digital and social media production and digital media platforms as robust, pertinent and highly attractive learning environments for attracting marginalised youth back to education and training.- 210 representatives of the NEET target group will complete the audio-visual production training programme and build key transversal skills for personal and professional development.- 42 short films with a civic and social engagement theme will be researched, story-boarded, written, produced, edited, promoted and presented by the marginalised youth engaged as part of a skills demonstration- Short-film festivals will be held in each partner country to showcase the short films produced and to encourage the next batch of marginalised youth to engage with the training programme provided.- A dedicated Vimeo/YouTube channel will be developed to showcase all of the short films produced- A project Facebook page will be established and over the lifetime of the project over 100 articles will be posted by project partners attracting a minimum of 1200 followers- A Final Conference will be held in France to present all resources produced and this will incorporate an awards ceremony where the best short film produced will be presented with an appropriate award.

The EU's first package of climate and energy measures was agreed in 2008 and set targets for 2020 reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% (compared to 1990); increasing the share of renewable energy to 20%; making a 20% improvement in energy efficiency. By 2017, greenhouse gas emissions had been reduced by 22%, that is two percentage points above the initial 20% target. In 2014, the 2030 climate and energy framework was agreed with an even more ambitious set of targets for the period 2021-2030. By these targets, the EU is committed to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030, compared to 1990. Despite the high achievements by the EU as a whole the last two decades included 18 of the warmest years on record, and extreme weather events, such as forest fires, heatwaves and floods, are becoming more frequent both in Europe and elsewhere. Scientists warn that without urgent action, global warming is likely to exceed 2°C above pre-industrial levels by 2060, and could even be as much as 5°C by the end of the century. Such a rise in the global temperature will have a devastating impact on nature, bringing about irreversible changes to many ecosystems and a consequent loss of biodiversity.While it is widely accepted that tackling climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing the EU partners are of the opinion that using a challenge based learning approach is both appropriate and essential if today's digital natives are to think critically about the climate change issue. For today's young digital natives the internet is the most natural place to take action. It’s where they already are, socializing with their peers and exploring their identities. Young people, through their social media actions can animate and positively impact the behaviour of their peers. With the right knowledge they can play a considerable role in spreading the correct climate action message.Digital Breakouts are a trending topic in the world of ed-tech. A digital breakout uses the same concept of solving a series of clues to unlock locks as the physical breakout does (EdTechCreative, 2018). Instead of breaking out of a room, learners must work together to solve digitally presented challenges to find hidden or obscured answers and information (Mullaney, 2016). A Digital Breakout is the same escape room-type experience but uses Google Forms and digital clues instead of locks and physical clues. It is an extremely simple and rich model for dimensioning educational uses of the Web, based on cooperative and investigative learning processes in the construction of knowledge.The PLANet B project will develop an in-service training programme for front-line youth professionals to enable them integrate the new Digital Breakout resources into their everyday activities. In-service training will place a significant emphasis on challenge-based education; team based learning and the use of online resources. A key element of the in-service training will be enabling front-line youth workers to deliver the PLANet B climate change education program and develop their own Digital Breakout. The PLANet B in-service curriculum will include a PLANet B training guideline with an explicit set of Learning Outcomes for each learning unit and a tutor manual, the latter enclosing contents about each Learning Unit subject; what it is, why is it important, relation to other learning units and to the PLANet B Digital Breakouts, assessment framework.A bespoke compendium of Digital Breakout resources will be scripted, designed and developed. These resources will use an embedded learning approach to build research and critical thinking skills of young people. Resources will be developed that address 6 of the most common climate change topics. The topics to be addressed will be agreed by each partner with their local youth stakeholders but will include topics like waste minimisation; recycling; upcycling; energy consumption; travel and transport; changing weather patterns; sustainable ecosystems; ethical fashion etc. All resources will be designed for use on smart-phones which are the most popular technology platforms among the target group.A PLANet B MOOC where all Digital Breakouts can be accessed.

<< Background >>The environmental question is becoming one of the most urgent global issues that policy makers and communities need to face concretely for the future sustainability of the planet. Because of this, in the past years many international deals established new rules to overtake the actual situation: the Paris Agreement (2015) during which, for the first time, the United Nations brought into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, and the Agenda 2030 (2015) which committed almost 200 nations to reach a more sustainable development for the planet and the human beings.As established also by the European Green Deal (2019) and by the Green Deal Work Programme 2018-2020 under Horizon 2020 (Area 10, topic 2: Behavioral, social and cultural change for the Green Deal), the main challenge at European and international level is to “foster changes in societal practices and in the behaviour of individuals, communities, public and private organisations, that can be achieved through collective and participatory processes or through a sense of environmental citizenship and climate justice. To address these issues requires research and experimentation on behavioural, social and cultural change across Europe, and requires the analysis of social practices and behavioral change processes, including sharing good practice, tools and resources”.This great challenge requires deep adaptation in life styles and behaviours, by addressing citizens’ engagement and social innovation through innovative approaches, for a fair and inclusive transition.NEEDS TO ADDRESSStarting from the Green Deal purposes, GREEN Factor project aims to address the global need concerning environmental protection, which is strictly related to behavioural processes, cultural and social practices. GREEN Factor aims to approach this need by fostering a change in mentality to embrace new sustainable individual/collective actions and choices, as we all live on this planet. As the “GREEN Factor” name points out, the project's main challenge is to enhance mentality change and sense of initiative especially in young generations, as a necessary step to raise and develop their green consciousness and to empower them becoming a “real factor of change”.In fact, over time, young people become more informed and aware of environmental topics and issues, by considering themselves as active participants in the global changes. “Friday for Future” movement demonstrated that. Started in 2018, it soon became viral with thousands of young activists protesting against the governments’ lack of action on the climate crisis. Then, the movement reached meaningful numbers, by impacting 7500 cities and 14 million people across all continents (https://fridaysforfuture.org/).In this context, the needed actions are the creation of tools and opportunities to educate and engage young European citizens, in order to develop a new mindset for generating more sustainable behaviours, choices and ideas to be impactful in the short/long term. Since GREEN Factor aims especially to foster young people’s consciousness, since they will become the adults of tomorrow and responsible of future generations, the project will focus mainly on young people’s needs and attitudes (16-30 y/o) and on professionals who work with youth, in order to impact on them more efficiently and in the long term (youth workers, youth and green associations’ staff).<< Objectives >>Starting from the Green Deal purposes, GREEN Factor main challenge is to foster young people environmental consciousness and activism, by leveraging on 2 interconnected objectives:Young citizens’ engagement and participation - the idea behind the project is to strengthen young people's awareness about environmental issues, by concretely boosting their behavioural change. Greener behaviours will be the turning point to become not just more conscious citizens at individual but also, at collective level, by generating more sustainable actions and initiatives that would impact society and human lives, for example through green entrepreneurship, becoming aware and informed green entrepreneurs. In fact, in order to have a green entrepreneurial mindset and to build up an eco-oriented business, the crucial precondition is to have the practical know-how to progressively change the personal attitude in daily life. In order to achieve this objective, a Good Practice Catalogue will be produced (PR1), based on the collection of good practices from Europe and partner Countries about greener behaviours. Research will be conducted to figure out which are the young people’s most relevant behavioural gaps to be fulfilled in the everyday-life domains to reach an effective long-term impact (i.e: food consumption, shopping, cosmetics, energy use and waste etc).Youth entrepreneurship and sense of initiative - the more younger individuals acquire this ecologic behavioural know-how in their daily life as citizens, the wider range of green attitudes, ideas and initiatives will be generated by them also as green entrepreneurs, by creating a cascade effect of personal, social and economic benefits in the short and long term, definitely beyond the project duration. In order to achieve this objective, a Green Challenge Report will be produced (PR1), recording the current trends of Green Entrepreneurship concept in partners’ Countries, its diffusion in Europe and the main environmental issues to be addressed at national level in order to solve them.Starting from these two research deliverables (Good Practice Catalogue, Green Challenge Report) developed within PR1 - THE GREEN FACTOR PATHWAY FOR BEHAVIOURAL CHANGES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES, all the other project results will be designed based on those findings and discoverings, in order to provide both youth and youth workers with good practices, tools and resources specifically developed to foster and achieve the above mentioned objectives (PR2 - MY GREEN FACTOR VIDEO TUTORIALS TO BOOST CITIZENS’ BEHAVIORAL CHANGES, PR3 - MY GREEN FACTOR GAMIFIED E-COURSE FOR ASPIRING GREEN ENTREPRENEURS, PR4 - THE GREEN FACTOR REPLICABILITY GUIDE FOR YOUTH WORKERS).Of course, even though young people aged 16-30 are the main project target group, youth workers will also benefit from project results, not only in their professional activities, but also as individuals living the necessary green transition. For the same reason, this is also true for the other project target groups (youth & green associations’ staff and stakeholders in general). As a wider objective, GREEN Factor project results have been conceived to be exploited independently from the project framework and to be highly shareable and replicable during and after the project life cycle, in order to boost a real factor of change within a wider community as well.<< Implementation >>GREEN Factor is structured around 4 work packages that lead to the achievement of its objectives.Since the beginning of the project, partners will select young people (min. 10 per partner) and youth workers (min. 2 per partner) to be involved in the activities. They will be both involved in the testing phase of the project results, in the training sessions and in the multiplier events. Partners will involve youth & local environmental associations as well, especially for the communication activities.WORK PACKAGE 1: THE GREEN FACTOR PATHWAY FOR BEHAVIOURAL CHANGES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES (PR1). It represents the conceptual basis for all the following project results and it will produce:A Good Practices Catalogue based on the collection of good practices from Europe and partner countries about greener behaviours. Research will be conducted to figure out which are the young people's most relevant behavioural gaps to be fulfilled in the everyday-life domains to reach an effective long-term impact (i.e: food consumption, shopping, cosmetics, separate collection of waste, energy use and waste etc).A Green Challenge Report recording the current trends of Green Entrepreneurship, its diffusion in Europe and the main environmental issues to be addressed at national level.WORK PACKAGE 2: GREEN FACTOR EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES FOR YOUTH (PR2, PR3). This WP includes:PR2 My GREEN Factor Video Tutorials To Boost Citizens’ Behavioral Changes - a set of video tutorials will be developed to give practical tips and instructions to truly affect the mindset and lifestyles of the target groups in order to make users active participants of change. The topics will be those identified in the Good Practice Catalogue (PR1), which concern basically the fields that impact mostly citizens’ daily choices and actions. PR3 My GREEN Factor Gamified e-course For Aspiring Green Entrepreneurs - based on the Green Challenge Report (PR1), a gamified e-course specifically targeted to aspiring green entrepreneurs will be developed to test the knowledge acquired by young people and youth workers. In parallel to the e-course itself, gamified solutions will test entrepreneurial skills through a gamified approach (quizzes, small learning scenarios etc.) by fostering a more active and participative acquisition of knowledge among youth.WORK PACKAGE 3: THE GREEN FACTOR REPLICABILITY GUIDE FOR YOUTH WORKERS (PR4). It has the main scope to provide youth workers with instructions on how to guide young people in the process of becoming active promoters of their locally green-economic landscape. It is developed in 3 main phases (training sessions, My GREEN Factor Day, drafting the Guide), both as a methodological resource to be used in youth workers’ professional activity and to describe GREEN Factor experience with youth.WORK PACKAGE 4: Sharing & Promotion, Multiplier Events and Final conference in Valencia (ES). All the communication activities have the main aim of spreading GREEN Factor message and products both online and offline, within and outside partners’ networks. METHODOLOGY:All the project results will be developed taking into account an edutainment (education + entertainment) and gamified approach, to actively involve target groups and provide impactful instructions by entertaining them. This approach is winning and enjoyable not only for youth, but also for professionals and adults who will benefit from PRs as well.<< Results >>PROJECT RESULTSThe PRs have been designed taking into account the results of a survey carried out before the project submission, delivered to a sample of 107 respondents in partners’ Countries (youth & youth workers, youth & green associations, green entrepreneurs), to understand which skills young people should have to become virtuous citizens & committed entrepreneurs, and to identify the best educational approaches. PR1 THE GREEN FACTOR PATHWAY FOR BEHAVIOURAL CHANGES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES - It represents the basis for all the following PRs and will focus on:How to boost youth behavioral change - partners will produce a Good Practice Catalogue based on the collection of good practices from Europe and partner countries about greener behaviours. This Catalogue will be the base of PR2.The green challenges to be faced by aspiring green entrepreneurs - partners will produce a Green Challenge Report that analyses current trends of Green Entrepreneurship in partner Countries. This Report will be the base of PR3 and training sessions with young people (PR4).PR2 MY GREEN FACTOR VIDEO TUTORIALS TO BOOST CITIZENS’ BEHAVIORAL CHANGES - video tutorials will be developed to fulfill youth behavioural gaps and to maximize the replicability of practical behaviours. The topics will be those identified in the Good Practice Catalogue (PR1), which concern the fields that impact mostly citizens’ daily choices and actions. The aim is to give practical instructions to truly affect youth mindset and to empower them to be active participants during the green transition. An edutainment approach will be used for the creation of these non-formal learning resources as a winning educational model to engage not just target groups but also stakeholders.PR3 MY GREEN FACTOR GAMIFIED E-COURSE FOR ASPIRING GREEN ENTREPRENEURS - taking into account the Green Challenge Report (PR1), a gamified e-course will be developed to train and test the knowledge acquired by aspiring green entrepreneurs. The gamified approach will foster a more active and participative acquisition of knowledge thanks to the impactful format & layout. A project platform will be developed to contain all GREEN Factor PRs.PR4 THE GREEN FACTOR REPLICABILITY GUIDE FOR YOUTH WORKERS - it will:explain youth workers the project methodological approach on how to use properly all the PRs in their professional activity;provide youth workers with guidelines on how to work directly with young people for the creation of their own business idea;describe the direct experience with youth during the training sessions and My GREEN Factor Day.EXPECTED OUTCOMES They concern the impact within & outside the project target groups during and after the project duration:Within - through PRs youth will have the chance to change their mindset in acquiring greener behaviours and in generating greener initiatives & business ideas. PRs will also be impactful resources for youth workers, youth & green associations’ staff that can deliver them during their professional activity. Outside - a wider community will be reached thanks to the high shareability and replicability of all the PRs. They will be available in 6 languages in the project platform, to easily reach a transnational wider audience (EN, FR, IT, ES, CZ, GR).Moreover, GREEN Factor aims to highly share the project outcomes through 1 day Multiplier event at national level to actively involve youth & youth workers, associations, institutions, policy makers, educational entities, media and stakeholders. During the events all the young people & youth workers involved will receive a certificate of “Green Ambassadors”, which testify their engagement in putting into practice what they have learnt and in sharing it with other people.The intention to reach a wider audience will be also reflected by the inclusion purpose that is at the basis of the selection of target groups and of the promotion strategy (gender, social, religious, cultural).