Green Future: Developing young people’s green competences based on the GreenComp Framework

The training course “Green Future: Developing young people’s green competences based on the GreenComp Framework” provides an opportunity for youth workers, educators, youth leaders and volunteers to strengthen their competences for integrating environmental sustainability into everyday youth work.

Climate change, environmental degradation and the transition towards more sustainable ways of living increasingly influence the lives and futures of young people. At the same time, many youth workers are interested in addressing these topics but do not always have practical methodologies, structured frameworks or sufficient confidence to transform sustainability concepts into engaging non-formal education activities. The Green Future project responds to this need by introducing participants to GreenComp - the European Sustainability Competence Framework and exploring how it can be practically applied in youth work.

The training course will gather youth workers from Austria, Croatia, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro and create an international learning environment where participants can exchange experiences, explore different local realities and jointly develop approaches for sustainability education. Throughout the training, participants will explore the four main competence areas of GreenComp:

• Embodying sustainability values: understanding and reflecting on sustainability values, fairness and the importance of protecting nature;
• Embracing complexity in sustainability: exploring interconnected environmental and social challenges, systems thinking and critical thinking;
• Envisioning sustainable futures: developing the capacity to imagine alternative futures, adapt to change and explore possible sustainable scenarios;
• Acting for sustainability: strengthening individual and collective capacity to take initiative and contribute to positive environmental and social change.

Special attention will be given to translating these competence areas into practical youth work methods that participants can directly use with young people in their organisations and communities. The project particularly aims to strengthen competences related to systems thinking, critical reflection, futures literacy, collaboration and action-oriented sustainability. The training will be based on non-formal education and experiential learning. Rather than approaching sustainability only through theoretical presentations, participants will take part in interactive workshops, simulations, group work, reflective exercises, project-based learning, creative activities and outdoor learning methods. Participants will be encouraged to connect the topics with their own experiences, organisations and local communities and to critically reflect on how sustainability can become a stronger part of regular youth work.

The programme will also explore how youth workers can support young people in understanding complex environmental challenges, making more responsible choices and moving from awareness towards meaningful action. Particular attention will be placed on working with young people with fewer opportunities, including young people facing social, economic, educational or geographical barriers, and on ensuring that sustainability education is accessible and relevant to different groups of young people. An important element of the training will be the exchange of realities and good practices between EU and Western Balkan countries. Participants will have space to discuss environmental challenges in their communities, approaches already used by their organisations and differences in how sustainability and green competences are addressed through youth work. The international setting will enable participants to learn from different perspectives and build connections for future cooperation. The project itself was developed around the identified need for such transnational exchange, with youth workers emphasising the value of learning from different national realities and youth work systems.

Participants will gradually move from understanding the GreenComp framework towards designing and adapting concrete educational activities that can be used in their regular work. They will work together on practical workshop ideas, receive feedback from trainers and other participants, and explore how sustainability-related learning can be made participatory, understandable and action-oriented for young people. The training will also support participants in reflecting on their own role as youth workers and educators. Sustainability will not be approached only as a separate educational topic, but as something that can be embedded into the wider culture and practice of youth work - including the way activities are organised, how resources are used, how inclusion is ensured and how young people are encouraged to actively participate in shaping their communities.

Following the international training course, participants will be expected to transfer their learning into their local communities through follow-up educational workshops. These activities will provide an opportunity to test and adapt the methods explored during the mobility, involve young people and other youth workers, and multiply the impact of the training beyond the group of direct participants.

By the end of the training course, participants are expected to have a stronger understanding of the GreenComp framework, increased confidence in facilitating sustainability-related learning, and a collection of practical ideas and methods that can be integrated into their everyday youth work. At the same time, the training aims to create a community of youth workers who can continue exchanging practices and developing future initiatives related to sustainability, youth participation and the green transition.

The project contributes particularly to EU Youth Goal 10 - Sustainable Green Europe, while also supporting inclusive participation and quality development of youth work.

Objectives:

• To strengthen participants’ understanding of the GreenComp Framework and its practical application in non-formal education and youth work, with a particular focus on its four competence areas: embodying sustainability values, embracing complexity, envisioning sustainable futures, and acting for sustainability.
• To develop youth workers’ competences in systems thinking, critical reflection, futures literacy, collaboration, and action-oriented sustainability, enabling them to better support young people in understanding environmental challenges and taking meaningful action.
• To provide participants with practical non-formal education methods, tools, and workshop approaches for developing sustainability competences among young people, and to support them in designing and adapting activities that can be used in their regular youth work.
• To explore how sustainability education can be made inclusive, accessible, and relevant to different groups of young people, particularly young people with fewer opportunities, while also connecting environmental sustainability with the social, economic, and community realities affecting young people.
• To create space for the exchange of local realities, experiences, and good practices between youth workers from EU and Western Balkan countries, while strengthening the capacity of participating organisations to integrate GreenComp and sustainability principles into their regular programmes and longer-term youth work practices.
• To build a community of youth workers and organisations interested in continued cooperation, peer learning, and the development of future initiatives related to sustainability, environmental awareness, youth participation, and the green transition.