Sustainable Horizons: Youth-Led Environmental Change

ongoing

SUSTAINYOUTH is a 24-month project planned by a partnership composed by 6 partners based in 6 different countries (Italy, Romania, Serbia, Estonia, France and Greece). The idea stems from the fact that over the past 20 years, the idea of corporate sustainability has become part of mainstream business discourse. Even so, the concept still carries considerable baggage and is limited mainly to the profit sector. There are limited research and scientific publications related to sustainability impact reports in the non-profit sector. In the rare cases when there is evidence it’s related mainly to financial sustainability and little mention of the social and environmental aspects. The main aim of the project is to establish a more resilient and sustainable youth sector that is better suited to solve the environmental issues we are facing nowadays. The primary objective is to enhance the capacity of youth NGOs to advocate and implement environmentally friendly practices in their operations, their daily activities and management, and to improve their capability to positively influence the communities they serve and the youngsters beneficiaries of their actions. To pursue this objective, the partnership articulated a plan aimed at developing and providing to youth organizations innovative tools and knowledge to facilitate the mainstreaming of sustainable practices and policies in the ordinary activities they carry out at local and international level. The project has 4 lines of action: - Define key indicators of a sustainable youth work body; - Develop and pilot tools for mainstreaming sustainable policies and practices within youth work bodies; - Support the professional development of youth workers and staff of organisations to introduce sustainable policies and practices in their organisational strategies and daily work; - Articulate a cross-sectorial dialogue to strengthen commitment and foster systematic integration of sustainable policies and practices in the field.