The Project Background
The Project Background
In the project of plastic matters, we organised new project idea session with youngsters. 3 Participants from Eu 'n' u Mobility, Simas Education Culture and Erasmus Free Minds of Royan specified the common problem that Recycling remains a significant challenge in France, Turkey and Greece, despite efforts to improve waste management systems in these countries due to lack of public engagement. They also stated that this problem is also common in Europe based on findings of a study published by the European Commission highlights that many countries face difficulties in achieving higher recycling rates due to inadequate public awareness and engagement of young people
They decided to design an Youth Exchange project to improve recycling skills of young people as well as raising their awareness and increased their engagement by also including one more organizations from Portugal from their network who have the same need. They decided to employ collaborative art as a tool to improve recycling behaviors of young people and increase their engagement in recycling as research shows that combining creative activities with education fosters deeper understanding and proactive participation in waste management (Morrison et al., 2020; Williams & Pritchard, 2021) as well as partner organization are expert in artistic activities.
During the development process of the project proposal, to tailor this youth exchange program to meet the needs of target groups of partner organizations, partner organizations conducted a needs analysis involving 130 young people aged 18-30 years and 20 youth leaders over 22 years old. Of these participants, 80 (53%) were from diverse cultural backgrounds. Based on the insights gained from this analysis, with the leading involvement of these 3 youngsters who developed the project idea, partners developed the project proposal to address the identified needs.
Project Objectives
- To ensure participants get informed about the fundamental concepts of recycling, its environmental impacts, and various national recycling practices, thereby ensuring they gain in-depth knowledge about recycling processes and environmental protection.
-To equip participants with the skills needed to create artistic works using recycled materials and apply different art techniques including collaborative and digital art techniques, thereby increasing their proficiency in both artistic and digital applications as well as enhancing their environmental consciousness by engaging participants in activities that highlight the significance of recycling and creative expression
-To increase participants' cultural awareness and appreciation by demonstrating how different cultural artistic expressions integrate with environmental responsibility, thereby encouraging them to value cultural diversity and improving their teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills in a diverse group setting
-To empower participants to develop and implement effective action plans for recycling and environmental initiatives by employing art, encouraging proactive involvement in promoting sustainability within their communities by equipping them with the skills to design and implement impactful projects in their communities
-To inform the participants about the functionality of Erasmus+ programs in solving the common problems of the European Union and to encourage them to take part in other projects and write projects