Youth Creating Action Research on Eco-Anxiety
Research and political responses to the emotions aroused by the socio-ecological crisis among young people must keep pace with the rapid changes in the environmental health of this segment of the population.
YOU-CARE aims at creating strong links between research, policy, and practice, while fostering knowledge on eco-anxiety among young people living in Europe. It does so by setting up a participatory action research (PAR) framework and learning exchanges for youth and by youth, in order for them to be better equipped to understand and reclaim these emotions and get involved at a decision-making level.
objectives
YOU-CARE’s general objective is to allow youth to collectively examine the set of emotions linked to the ecological crisis, so as to move from ecological preoccupation to active participation, while fostering their emotional, pedagogical, scientific, and advocacy skills.
This general objective is supported by the following specific objectives:
SO1 – Providing youth-workers and educators the knowledge and tools to support youth facing eco-anxiety
SO2 – Empowering young people coming from different geographical and socio-economic realities to connect and exchange about their experiences with ecological issues
SO3 – Gathering information allowing to asses the presence and levels of eco-anxiety experienced by youth in different European countries
activities
- Training for youth workers and educators on Youth-led participatory action research, with a focus on eco-anxiety
- Youth-led participatory action research workshops and Learning exchanges, for young participants to share thoughts, experiences, and collectively envision ways to act
- A Youth Open Assembly bringing together decision-makers, broader youth communities, and other civil society players to share the project’s key outcomes.
These activities are backed-up by the following expected results:
Concrete results
- Youth-generated recommendations for politicians and other co-decided mixed-media research results
- A video documenting the research workshops in each partner country
- Mid-term/final reports summarizing the main findings
- A 2-day long Youth Open Assembly (with seminars and workshops)
Other results
- Creation of a space for cross-cultural and cross-sector dialogue around a complex subject
- Encouraging collective ownership and driving policy changes towards a better handling of environment related emotions and their causes
duration
01/04/2024 – 31/03/2026 (24 months)
target groups
- Young people aged 14-25
- Youth workers and organisations
- Decision-makers
- Education stakeholders and scholars
call
This project is under the KA220-YOU – Cooperation partnerships in youth (KA220-YOU) call 2023
partnerships
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
