Urban Green Citizenship

2014 is the IYNF’s year of Urban Outdoors. Urban Green Citizenship is a unique training course which combines non-formal learning with direct community work and active experience of open air workshop festival Give&Get. It will bring together youth workers, youth leaders and NGO workers from across Europe, providing them with an opportunity to share their experiences in the field and learn from other participants the different approaches to youth work in cities when it comes to green urban activism. By this TC we aim to: - give young people the possibility to experience sustainable living, community building, new ways of youth participation, personal expression and development; - let young people actively experience the magic of the Give&Get festival providing workshops and activities for festival participants and getting involved in community service (check the video from the festival in 2013: http://www.giveandget.lv/en/galleries/21-give-get-2013); - analyse environmental impact of living in a city and countryside, discover possibilities to reduce ecological footprint of urban living and bring new initiatives to community; - inspire and connect young people by letting them explore the ways to make their communities become liveable. The activity will be based on non-formal education principles and enable participants to share knowledge, acquire competences and hands-on skills on urban green living, tackling not only overall knowledge of green living, but also democratic competences of reclaiming spaces in cities and engaging in legal forms of activism in order to promote green values and initiatives in the cities. Participants will also gain knowledge and experience in such community building practices like gift economy, urban gardening, sharing and bartering. Trainers of the course are Ilze Jece and Stanislavs Babins. Apply for the training course, if you: - are proactive and both want to learn and share your knowledge on the course topic - have a workshop to offer for other participants and festival attendees - are enthusiastic about non-formal learning - have engagement in a local organization and experience, or have a high interest, in running urban green activities with local community - wish to act as a multiplier in your own community by introducing new concepts of urban activism - are able to understand and speak good English - are willing to live in a tent and eat vegetarian food while on the course This project is kindly supported by the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe and the Youth in Action Programme of the European Union.