At the end of 2023, the activities of the Young wECO project were completed at the Burja Institute. Over the past two years, we have been combining the creativity and art of young people as a driving force for future progress in the field of ecological awareness. We promoted sustainable lifestyles among local community members from Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia.
We worked with project partners from three different countries in the Erasmus+ programme. Through multiple local and international workshops, we inspired the active participation of young people from various vulnerable groups – the socially disadvantaged, from rural areas and ethnic minorities.
We put social inclusion, environmental protection and the fight against climate change at the forefront of encouraging their innovation. We used participatory non-formal learning methods to strengthen their green and digital skills, as well as their intercultural competencies, entrepreneurship and self-initiative.
The main objective of our project is to show that young people’s creativity and art are always an inspiration for ecological progress and a tool to promote youth activation and sustainable lifestyles.
As part of the project, we developed three innovative learning products. The first is Green 3D Art, which includes a 3D app for viewing three 360-degree films, such as Divide et Impera. The second is zEKOteka, an online classroom, which includes a documentary of the same name and a sorting game. The third is the art and educational guide Green Compass, which contains a number of examples of good practices from the partners’ local environment.
Representatives from our institute ensured better recognition and dissemination of the project by producing a wide range of promotional material, mainly in the form of promotional films and unique art postcards.
Philosopher Dr Slavoj Žižek, columnist Marcel Štefančič Jr and standup comedian Admir Baltić joined us. A more than 10-minute feature about the project was broadcast on Radio Slovenia First Channel.
The project received an overwhelmingly positive response both within the target group and among the various stakeholders that our Young wECO has met and taken with it on its journey during this time.
Damir Hauptman (damir.hauptman@gmail.com), Burja Institute
