"<< Objectives >>Since the 1980s, there has been an environmental concern in Portugal, despite the fact that in the last decade there has been a greater awareness of this problem through the implementation of environmental policies by the authorities (government and local authorities) and also by the environmental activist sector. have a large component of environmental awareness online. In spite of this, we also observed large entities with an impact on society such as Quercus, Zero, Green Peace Portugal and the National Geographic conferences on these themes in Lisbon and Porto.Youth generations, within these groups of environmental activists, should become increasingly important because it is through environmental awareness among the younger age groups that we will achieve an effective change in the current world situation. In this way we think that the leaders of the European Union should take this opportunity to improve Europe and the policies related to this subject, where we highlight the Cohesion Policy that defined 11 thematic objectives of support for growth for the period 2014-2020 and within this theme the objectives: 5. Promotion of risk management and prevention and adaptation to climate change; and 6. Preservation and protection of the environment and promotion of resource efficiency.In this sense, the Eco-Citizen project proposes something innovative, inspiring and different where we want young activists to have a future of hope in the area of ​​non-formal education, considered as an area of ​​capacity development, skills, innovation and, the domain of environmental activism.With the project Eco-Citizen we plan to give young people different opportunities that, for reasons related to their social and economic condition, life events and other issues, would not be possible.Considering the methodology of non-formal education and the use of methods that promote reflection on these moments of learning we aim to help young people to know the skills they are gifted and what are the forms (tools, instruments, contexts) that they can use to empower and value them.In this way, the project will promote activities based on non-formal education in order to reinforce skills and provide new tools to the participants so that, in this way, they achieve the appreciation of the young European generation and the personal valorization that will give them a wide range of options in the present and future.In this way, the partner network of this project is made up of 7 partner organizations, which, due to their experience and due to a relationship of cooperation and transparency, are the ideal partners for the successful development of Eco-Citizen.<< Activities >>In this sense, the Eco-Citizen project proposes something innovative, inspiring and different where we want young activists to have a future of hope in the area of ​​non-formal education, considered as an area of ​​capacity development, skills, innovation and, the domain of environmental activism.With the project Eco-Citizen we plan to give young people different opportunities that, for reasons related to their social and economic condition, life events and other issues, would not be possible.The Eco-Citizen - Youth Exchange activity will take place from 19th to 30th September 2019 in the city of Covilhã, with the participation of 52 members from 7 different international partners: Italy, Norway, Spain, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Portugal, countries that we consider to have different realities related to the topic and that will give the project different visions and knowledge.The Eco-Citizen project aims to involve environmental activists in different parts of Europe with the aim of creating a content for environmental activists and national, European and international entities.Therefore, the project does not only happen during the youth exchange, in this way Me + will have three structuring parts, first part with the preparation of the participants, second part with the youth exchange, which is the face-to-face activity that brings together all entities, and the third is the dissemination and valorisation of the results of the project, where the results of the project are expected to be delivered to the competent institutions at local, national, European and international level. In this way, the project will address environmental issues and activists.All the issues addressed are relevant to the personal growth of the participants and constitute an issue of extreme importance for the harmonization of this young European generation.Each partner of the ""Eco-Citizen"" partner network will send to the youth exchange, from 19th to 30th September 2019, 7 participants and a team leader respecting that participants must be between 18 and 30 years and that each team has to ensure a gender balance. The reason that each team must ensure gender balance is linked to the gender equality our association advocates as well as to prevent any kind of discrimination. In addition, gender balance allows for greater cultural diversity and group activities make it easier to gender equality between working groups, corresponding to one of the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy. Thus the participants will be 52, counting with 7 team leaders, one for each national team. The ratio of people with fewer opportunities in the project participants will be 3 in each team.The Eco-Citizen project is programmed to involve the participants in the three moments, the preparation, the implementation of the program and the dissemination of the results.In this way, the participants, together with the network of partners of the project, will be the ""multipliers"" of the results obtained on a personal level and transpose them into daily life and future situations as well as the dissemination of the results obtained in the creation of a conscious Europe a environmental level.<< Impact >>The Eco-Citizen project aims to have an impact and results at different levels, both directly at the participants and network of partners involved as well as external impact at local, national, European and international level through social circles and partnerships. each of the participants and international partners.It is important to stress that we expect participants to be able to value the personal skills acquired in the various types of education from formal, informal and non-formal. In addition, through the whole project we anticipate the development of skills such as sharing experiences, personal appreciation and self-esteem, communication, teamwork. The participants will be the ""multipliers"" of the results obtained during the project, the most direct means of communication for them as they are an integral part of the generation addressed during the project.Participants have a leading role within associations that impact on the remaining participants in a more personal and upcoming way. There is no doubt that today will be the agents of change and that will continue efforts to change the reality of European society and social integration in the world.After work on the project, participants will be able to promote initiatives related to the environment and environmental sustainability when returning to sending cities and organizations through the good practice guide created during the Eco-Citizen.Thus, we understand that the best learning is to be open to the opinions of others, to the ideas of others, actively listening and selecting the learning so that, through a reflection on the listener, the participants can be part of the European active society.Throughout the project, young people and youth workers will learn about European Union programs and how they are encouraged to participate in European education and the various programs and life the Union offers its citizens, especially young people.The institutional partners will also have a great impact through the results of this exchange because, through the final results of the Eco-Citizen will carry content on methods of environmental activism that will add value to partners.For the local and regional impact it also provides for a public presentation of the results of the Eco-Citizen so that the Portuguese Institute of Sports and Youth, Federation of Youth Associations of the District of Castelo Branco, Quercus, ZERO - the Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth, and the local and national media (daily newspapers and televisions) Sustainable Earth System Association, Rios Project, Environmental Fund, the results are presented and the materials developed by the participants in the course of the project are displayed, of course, with their consent.The Eco-Citizen project also foresees the dissemination of the project and its results to national and international organizations that address issues related to the environment. In addition, we will send the results to, and other institutional partners who, throughout the year, support Clube Nacional de Montanhismo Clube Alpino Português in the environmental activism project.In order for there to be a greater impact on society, all promoters will invite representatives of public and private entities to the public session to present the project. To these guests will be made available the dissemination material resulting from the Eco-Citizen project.In addition, the organization foresees a constant dissemination and publication of the information and content of the project in social networks, both existing in each partner of the network of partnerships as well as in the public page created for the project. In this way it will be possible to share results directly at international level, throughout the project and after it as a method of presenting the results obtained and for valuing the young European generation.The organization foresees that the content created during the exchange, in addition to being written in English, will be translated into the mother tongues of the partner countries so that the results of the exchange can be disseminated to all concerned, and the language barrier is not a problem.In summary, the exploitation of results and the dissemination of these are fundamental factors and represent one of the bases of the project. Therefore, after the implementation of the project, most of the time of the organizers will be used in the dissemination of this, through the Internet, media such as the press or television, posters, lists of emails, etc."