Simona Navadonskyte

Current occupation

Non-formal Education// Freelance project developer, coordinator & facilitator

Work experience

My experience in training work has developed through a combination of formal education, professional practice and non-formal learning. My background in Psychology and ongoing studies in Sustainability Science have given me a foundation for understanding both human learning and the wider ecological and social systems in which it takes place.

Professionally, I worked as a Sustainability methodologist in Lithuania’s national Non-formal Education Agency, where I developed educational approaches and programmes related to sustainability. This experience was important in helping me connect sustainability knowledge with practical educational methods and understand how learning can support real-life change.

I am also a co-founder of a non-profit organisation focused on creating non-formal education opportunities for young people and youth workers around ecological transition. Through this work, I have developed and coordinated international projects, built partnerships and facilitated learning processes in diverse groups.

More recently, I have been developing my practice as an eco-trainer and as a member of the EU Eco-Trainers Pool, bringing ecoliteracy into different educational contexts and exploring how ecological perspectives can become part of the learning process rather than a separate topic. This has further strengthened my interest in supporting educators and youth workers to integrate ecological thinking into their own practice.

Alongside this, I have developed my practice in holistic, nature-based and experiential learning through different trainings, ecological projects and practical experiences. These experiences are important to me because they have shaped the way I facilitate: connecting cognitive learning with embodied experience, emotions, relationships and our connection to the living world. Together, they have led me towards a training practice that is participatory, reflective, experiential and rooted in ecological transition.