Youth Glocalisers for Change — global, local, ecological!

Gaia Educations brand new face-to-face training programme for empowering Youth Changemakers and SDG Multipliers
By Peter Gringinger, Gaia Education Certified Trainer

Vision:

Youth Glocalisers for Change training programme holds the vision of an informed, empowered, imaginative, actively engaged and interconnected generation of Youth Glocalisers, able and willing to adapt lifestyles and consumer behaviours to live within planetary boundaries while achieving the SDGs by 2030.

— — —

It’s 3:23 in the morning
and I’m awake
because my great great grandchildren
won’t let me sleep
my great great grandchildren
ask me in dreams
what did you do while the planet was plundered?
what did you do when the earth was unraveling?

surely you did something
when the seasons started failing?

as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying?
did you fill the streets with protest

when democracy was stolen?

what did you do
once
you
knew?

From Hieroglyphic Stairway by Drew Dellinger

— — —

It’s 7:55 on a gloomy and cold winter morning, waiting for the 25 grade 7 students to arrive in the arts education room of the secondary school, Hanreitergasse in the 22nd district of Vienna, for the second half-day of two sustainability education workshops.

I feel some slight but usual tension, but also a bit of fatigue pops up after three weeks of back to back workshops in schools most days. My colleague and co-facilitator Eva, from Plattform Footprint, feels a bit exhausted due to an ongoing cold and has a sore throat, so I will try to do much of the talking today, but as a smoothly operating facilitation team, this comes almost naturally to co-deliver the workshop.

The students arrive, loud and chatty as usual, us providing some background music to get them into a good mood or wake them up with the SDG song “We Love the SDGs” by Alan Atkinson. They take their places in small groups around tables scattered throughout this large and light classroom. And the workshop goes on its way, first with a repetition of what is still present from the previous workshop, which was held quite some time ago, and after that heading into the many interactive activities, of small and large group dialogues, discussions, mingling, videos, music, quizzes, exercises, games, reflections and culminating in the development of small group project plans and short presentations, which they hopefully will get the chance to realise in their school environment with the help of some of the very engaged teachers. Group project examples include redesigning the school outdoor spaces to include more green, make them insect and butterfly friendly, maybe plant some veggies or changes to what is sold at the school cafeteria to organic and fair trade products, reduce waste and better waste management in the school, review of heating and cooling systems in the school, school-wide awareness raising and fundraising campaigns for environmental or social projects, upcycling of materials from derelict properties in the vicinity of the school, and many more.

Most of the students are actively engaged in the workshops, some of them loud and brush, some of them try to challenge and prove themselves, some quiet and reserved, a usual spectrum of teenagers of this age. But what becomes clear our balanced combination of playful dissemination of sustainability, ecological footprint and SDG concepts and ideas, like with the flight to planet Ganymed, the mini-hectare workshop, the SDG flashcards mingling activity, the SDG dream world map exercise, the SDG achievement estimation game, or the SDG/eco-footprint writing circle and others, but of course developing their own projects in small peer groups, all which is intertwined with complex sustainability, climate change, planetary boundaries, ecological footprint, SDG content, goes down well, with students and teachers alike.

And after four hours of highly varied activities and for their age quite challenging content they seem to be happy and grateful to have had the opportunity to participate and become active co-creators in these workshops. Of course, what will stick in their minds and change their attitudes and behaviours will need to be seen and what is on their curriculum and content they learn for the rest of their schooling, but our workshops are a valuable contribution of awakening interest and awareness, offering information and knowledge and imparting some skills and competencies for dealing with sometimes overwhelming crisis and risks we are facing as humanity. We are planting the seeds for personal and collective action and empowerment to act, locally with a global view — Youth Glocalisers!

It is 7:58 a. m. and I contemplate the words of the poem by Drew Dillinger, Hieroglyphic Stairway, which I consider one piece in the puzzle which reflects on what motivates me to do the work I do, — this is my work, vocation and fulfilment — to empower young people and other people more generally to become active changemakers and actors for a more beautiful world our hearts know is possible. It always reminds me of why I do what I do, not only to be the change I want to see in the world but my own journey from being “successful” in the corporate world to becoming an empowered change agent, facilitator and educator and designer for a regenerative future of our presence on earth, seeing education as one of the main and most powerful leverage points for systemic transformation of our lives, societies and cultures from the bottom-up.

Even in times of Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion, there is often still a disconnect between young people and sustainable or regenerative development. Not only is there limited awareness and knowledge of the impact of individual and collective behaviours on the planet, but the education system as it stands does largely not facilitate learning environments which empower young people to be confident changemakers for a regenerative future.

If we create the pathways for the young people — they want to engage and want to see what they can learn to become active agents in the reGeneration rising — the generation that regenerates the Earth and regenerates our communities and cultures.

What we have learned through the development and implementation of the Youth Glocalisers programme is that it is very important to make the structure and content very flexible and adaptable, not only to the different age groups and school types, which appears obvious, because in the age range between 11 and 18 years is a huge developmental advancement, year by year of age, which makes the option of ad-hoc adaptation to the specific abilities, skills and “culture” of different groups, classes and schools essential. Not only is the use of a plethora of transformational educational approaches, like this programme does, essential to engage various personalities and learner types and also to awaken interest in even some of the rather disengaged and disinterested students using serious playfulness and wit, but at the same time keeping the engaged ones in the fold and giving them, for example, the opportunity of micro-peer learning during various activities. The use of highly interactive, many visual, and audio tools as well as group and class activities and games have shown to largely maintain their attention and interest. The development of practical small group projects was the most challenging but also most rewarding part, particularly for the younger students (<14 years), because they were largely not familiar with how to develop a project, nor many never thought about initiating a project themselves before. Therefore, a slow and careful, easy access introduction to what a project is, with many practical examples from other schools and students, what simple steps it takes to develop a project and ideas on how to implement it, are essential. For older students, project development was largely a more familiar process, but stepping through examples and supporting the project development and the groups through discussions with the facilitator are essential to often unleash very creative and beautiful ideas, concepts and plans. Letting students freely and creativity roam for a while in their ideas, is for many an unusual experience in the school context, but with some encouragement and support showed to create some very powerful results and a number of students came into their “power” and showed great enthusiasm to become active beyond the workshops.

This program addresses these issues through an innovative, holistic, interactive, learner-centred and participatory training package “Youth Glocalisers for Change (YGfC) — Junge GlÖkos ändern die Zukunft — global, lokal, ökologisch” developed for and delivered in Austrian schools through a collaboration between Plattform Footprint and Gaia Education. Its initial development was financed through Bildünger (an initiative by Ashoka Austria).

Programmes:

The training package has adapted and blended Platform Footprint’s work on Ecological Footprint and Gaia Education’s UNESCO-endorsed, adult-focused trainings and tools for grounding the SDGs in grassroots action, into a German-language, youth-appropriate training package, starting in particular with SDG 12 — Responsible Consumption. Through the Ecological Footprint aspects of the training, youth become aware of their own ecological footprint and how their actions have an effect on the planet, recognising how they are part of the solution. This is integrated with Gaia Education’s SDG program, tailored to a youthful audience. Through the second half of the training, the youth gain awareness, information, knowledge, tools, skills and plan to harness their potential and be empowered to take action for the SDGs, implementing their knowledge individually and collectively and developing tangible local sustainability projects.

Outcomes:

Through the offering of a ‘Youth Glocalisers for Change — Junge GlÖkos ändern die Zukunft — global, lokal, ökologisch’ training package for schools and students as well as the Multiplier Training for sustainability-focused teachers and educators, this program empowers teenage students, currently disconnected from the global consequences of their lifestyles and unaware of their potential power, into dynamic SDG changemakers, in particular in relation to and starting from SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption) and SDG 13 (Climate Action) to deeply understand the tight interconnectedness of all SDGs as a comprehensive action agenda for societal transformation.

Our future picture of society is one where the next generation of youth is modelling for their communities and national power-holders how to align consumption patterns and lifestyles with the SDGs and ecological limits reflected in the ecological footprint, taking tangible action, both individually and as a collective. They will be empowered to be campaigners for greater alignment of social systems and structures with SDG targets, call for transformation within institutions, and multiplying their learning in the community, bolstered by a network of fellow Youth Glocalisers. Communities have the chance to become inspired to support and follow their youth in the transition to greater sustainability and societal regeneration.

The programme’s clear and vivid way adapted according to the age and educational background of the participants and using leading-edge, holistic, participatory education for sustainable development brings new inspiration, empowerment and vigour to the youth glocalisers including:

• Understanding the global impact of teenagers’ local and personal actions
• Examples, skills and tools for creating individual change in line with SDGs and change in national social structures in line with SDGs (both using Gaia Education’s SDGs Flashcards)
• Supporting ‘Design for Sustainability’ project development skills in the participants’ living environments
• Ability to communicate clearly to students or participants the global effects of their own lifestyle and their local actions
• Support for creating projects and networks of ‘Youth Glocalisers for Change’

The workshops deliver an innovative blend of engaging, action-oriented and interactive presentations, group games, group exercises, discussions and dialogues, group decision making, reflections on commitment for change, group project development and presentations — transformative learning at its best.

The workshops are available for delivery in schools and other youth groups or youth organisations (as well as adaptable for use in tertiary educational institutions) or as Multiplier Training for teachers and educators who wish to learn how to deliver the programme in their own context and environment.

If you are interested in finding out more about the workshops, please visit the program website on https://www.gaiaeducation.org/youth-glocalisers or contact Peter Gringinger at peter.gringinger@gaiaeducation.org.