Fundacja EkoRozwoju and Ladder Team are searching for partners interested in building a cross-border community to join the project called “Once upon a tree” where trees and youth are at the center of the actions.
We are looking for strategic partnerships to take part in a program announced by European Commission: Erasmus + KA2 Strategic Partnerships for Creativity in the fields of youth.
Deadline to submit grant application by 29 October at 12:00 (midday Brussels time) .
Join the team and start taking action together!
If this is of interest to you, please fill out this form: https://bit.ly/35msY6q by 4 October 2020.
About the idea of the project
ONCE UPON A TREE is an interdisciplinary project for youth (16-26) and youth workers (blended activities: online with traditional face-to-face actions) focusing on ecology and culture.
The project “Once upon a tree” is designed to encourage young participants to carefully observe the world around them and then to take action by creating personal interdisciplinary projects, focusing particularly on ecological issues with trees at the heart of the climate change response.
Trees are vital for people as oxygen itself. After all, thanks to these plants we can breathe.
The environment and forests have been severely damaged through industrial development. Trees are being destroyed, and the earth becomes further distressed from the death of each tree. It’s time for us to reconsider the effect of trees on the environment and our lives and to start to make a difference. Today, more than ever, there is an urgent need for creative interdisciplinary initiatives involving young people in the major environmental and sustainability challenges of the modern world. Climate change is a threat to the earth and the human race. And youth play a crucial role in combating climate change. The young generation will have to face complex dilemmas and challenges to save the planet. It is urgent to empower youth to take adaptation and mitigation actions on both levels – individual and social, and Youth education is one of the most effective tools to tackle climate change. It is necessary to provide Youth with the conscious mindset and right skills that allow them to stay active, creative, aware and resilient. This perspective is the starting point of the “Once Upon A Tree” project.
The aim of the project is to give Youth a chance to take initiatives that will lead to change by using their creativity. Through various creations (consisting of different forms of non-formal education, art, new technologies) the project aimed to develop a concept for a series of artistic and educational events emphasizing the role of the tree in the cultural and social field created and made by Youth.
The structure of the project (05.2021-12.2022)
The framework of the long-lasting educational program “Once upon a tree” consists of three main parts. Like a tree, it has its roots, trunk, and branches. During the 3 stages of the project (see below), we work over environmental issues, brainstorming about major environmental and sustainability challenges of the modern world (with special emphasis on trees), learning how to work on and develop ideas for our individual or group projects)
𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐈𝐓 𝐆𝐎𝐄𝐒?
𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐒 𝐏𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝟏
Roots phase #project proposal – meetings aim to develop educational, ecological knowledge and strengthen our creativity and imagination. This part gives a chance to learn how to get an idea and how to create a proposal of a personal cultural/ educational/ social /artistic project related to trees.
First, we allowed our project time to carefully grow its roots, soaking in information about the role of trees in the global ecosystem, in anthropology and arts. We make room for our creativity and imagination to flow freely and to form the first project ideas. Step by step, we try to find out how to turn a vague idea into a clear sketch, and eventually into an actual project proposal. By the end of the ‘Root Phase,’ we built a solid foundation for our project to stand on.
2️⃣ 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐍𝐊 𝐏𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝟐
Trunk phase #project making – meeting and consultation with professionals aim to create and conduct various projects by youth.
With the help of experts and the support of our group members, we watch our ideas blossom and grow into fully-fledged projects. By the end of the ‘Trunk Phase’, hopefully, we find ourselves amidst a forest of cultural, educational, social, and artistic youth projects which are just as diverse as human beings and trees themselves.
3️⃣ 𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒 𝐏𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝟑
Branches phase #project sharing– the process of sharing the projects with a wider audience.
We will start to reach out and share the beauty of what we have created. It will give us a chance to look back to the tiny seedling we had started from and reflect on the strong links to nature we developed throughout the three phases. Creating projects by youth will empower them to bridge the gap between humans and the environment that is omnipresent in modern life. In this, we hope that each participant will find their own personal way to stand up to the major environmental, societal and sustainability challenges of the modern world.
- Roles and responsibility of the partners.
We are searching for organizations who are experienced at least in one of the following fields:
- Promoting sustainable development and in linking local priorities to global challenges, with particular emphasis on the protection of trees.
- working with Youth, developing and leading the creative and innovative initiatives for young people.
The role of each partner in this project will be mainly:
- General management and implementation of the project.
- Enriching the offer of workshops related to climate change (with particular emphasis on trees ) and creativity for the youth participating in the project
- Selecting participants for all project activities and be in contact with the group (mentoring)
- Finding and be in touch with local partners, experts, and artists involved in the project
- Creating the Intellectual Outputs of the project
- Disseminating project results
You can read more about the first edition of the project here: https://fer.org.pl/en/projects/once-upon-a-tree/
Please fill out this form: https://bit.ly/35msY6q by 4 October 2020.