This project will support Mediterranean youth organizations to develop together good models of eco-volunteering and to build their organisational capacities. That means that trainings and pilot eco-volunteering projects from a youth perspective are central in this project: youth empowerment and environment protection, guidelines for eco-volunteering projects, public awareness around active youth citizenship and environmental issues. From a learning perspective the project includes a pilar on impact research aiming at improving future projects and finding support from local policy makers for active youth leadership and eco-volunteering. The project focuses on promoting youth leadership in eco-volunteering considering climate change and environmental protection as well as youth empowering and influencing political leaders as the key issues and needs of youth organisations that were identified and addressed during the training. The aim of the project is to build strong participative youth organisations imbedded in resilient local communities to reduce the effects of climate change, give inspiration to mitigate climate change and lead sustainable lifestyles through eco-volunteering projects with a Mediterranean/international dimension. Objectives: As a learning by doing example this project will increase the organisational and project management skills of the involved youth organisations; giving young people the chance to be in charge of their own life changing projects. Young people as changemakers. As a good practice the project conducts an impact research on youth leadership and eco-volunteering, supervised by an expert, to improve the quality of future projects and to develop appropriate advocacy tools. To ensure the quality and outreach of the local eco-volunteering pilot projects young people are trained in youth leadership, bio-construction and visual storytelling. To disseminate the knowledge gained by this project to local Tunisian civil society organisations and policy makers and the wider volunteer world. The project will work directly with: The youth workers of the involved organisations, mainly young adults themselves who have had an initial training to become active leaders in their own communitiesThe local communities where the pilot projects take place including the special target groups of young people (15-30) and local policy makersA selected group of young people from the involved countries who will take part in the pilot projects. (other Tunesian youth organisations and local policy makers through the Tunesian conference)(other youth /environmental organisations through the webconference)

This innovative project seeks to go to the heart of the debate around decolonisation. We bring together 15 International Volunteering Services (IVS) organisations (5 associated partners) to improve the quality of transnational cooperation by jointly developing tools, policies, and guidelines to transform power structures, processes, and mindsets among 6 of the most prominent networks in the field.Objectives:Set up and efficiently manage a consortium of partners with the necessary diversity and expertise to guarantee a high-quality implementation of the projectCreate a dialogue and research space for the partners on how to tackle neo-colonial and racist structures in long-term international volunteeringSupport IVS organisations to examine and deconstruct colonial power structures and climate colonialism within their structures, programmes and partnershipsDevelop and implement a participatory advocacy plan to address and transform existing inequalities in international volunteering and to make sure the results of the project are widely disseminatedActivities: 3 Steering Committee meetings, 24 online meetings, 4 Think Tank meetings, 8 online dialogues, 2 online workshops, 6 in-person workshops/trainingsOutputs: 1 Self-Assessment Tool, 1 online course, 8 videos, 3 Policy Papers, 3 social media campaigns, 1 Knowledge Platform, long-term advocacy strategyDirectly benefiting: 400 youth workers, 250 young volunteers, 15 IVS organisations, 20 young activists, 23 peer researchers, 10 policy makers, 6 external expertsIndirectly benefiting: 10,000 young volunteers, 500 youth workers, 188 IVS organisations, hosting communities in 96 countriesBy promoting structural change, we ensure that IVS contributes to global solidarity and builds reciprocal relationships. The resulting conceptual framework and up-scalable outputs produced will help us transform our organisations and societies to become more inclusive, diverse, and environmentally sustainable.