Greenalise

In 2015, December we have been looking for partners for Greenalise: The Eurregion Editon.

This was a one-week Erasmus+ program/youth exchange around sustainability and urbanisation leading to a transnational conference.
Where? In the Euregion, located between the Dutch, Belgian and German borders. The hosting city will be Maastricht, the visited cities will be Liège and Aachen.
For who? People between 18 and 30 years with an interest in sustainability and urbanisation. The participating countries will be the Netherlands (hosting country), Belgium & Germany (both sending countries)

A short introduction:

This project will deal with two concepts: ‘sustainability’ and ‘urbanization’. The main objective of this project is to motivate youngsters in making their city (more) sustainable.

The project will be focused on four themes.
1) A sustainable lifestyle - What can I, as an individual, do to become more sustainable?
2) A sustainable society - How sustainable are our neighbours?
The international context (Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands) will enable youngsters to get to know other perspectives.
3) A sustainable environment - What can a city do to become more sustainable?
4) A sustainable connection to the local society.
The project will collaborate with different local organizations and their initiatives. During the project the youngsters will get involved in these initiatives in order for them to create a lasting and sustainable relationship with the organizations.

In the period of 20 to 26 April, 2015, the participating youngsters will visit the cities of Aachen (DE), Liege (BE) and Maastricht (NL). The project will take 7 days incl. an arrival and departure day. The participants will stay in a central location in Limburg (NL) and will commute between the three different cities.

It is important that progress is made towards a conference that will make the local population and the local government aware of the importance of sustainability. To make this conference a success appropriated trainings/courses, workshops and debates will be organized in the days before the conference. At the conference the participating youngsters will present their ideas on the applicability of sustainable living for the local population. By for instance presenting the benefits of ‘Urban Farmer’ in the form of a small workshop, we hope to enthusiast all.

There will be a total of 30 participants (10 of each country) and aging between the 18 and 30. All the participating youngsters are from Belgium, Germany or the Netherlands and are interested in issues related to sustainability and the environment. Taking in accountability the gender balance (50/50). On top of this each country will send two group leaders.

The selection of youngsters will be based upon a motivation letter and a case study. The link to the case study and the basic questions will be online very soon. For now, you can email info.greenalise@gmail.com if you are interested!

The youngsters get the opportunity to show initiative and can decide on the content of the project. Besides working towards the end project, it will be possible for them to organize different activities. There is also the opportunity for local organizations to have a say on our program.

The international nature of the project will come forward with the cooperation between the various partner organizations, who are all active on local scale in the area of sustainability and the environment. They all have a say in the project/program and can propose or organize activities.