Good Practice - Project
Expanding environmental capacity building for young people in Lithuania
LEADER project in Lithuania teaches young people health and environmental responsibility.
General information
RDP Priority
- P6. Social inclusion and local development
RDP Focus Area
- 6B: Local development
RDP Measure
- M19: LEADER/CLLD
Summary
The social enterprise project entitled ‘I want to be healthy. So that the world can breathe more easily’ was implemented by the Academy of Advanced Cooperation in Lithuania. The organisation carries out educational activities and aims to develop a conscious, ecologically literate and responsible attitude towards the environment.
The purpose of the project was to expand the scope of activities on offer and to reach more families from a socially at-risk background, enabling them and their children to access quality training events and educational services free of charge.
Additional equipment and resources were needed for the improvements and to make the organisation more mobile for accessing remoter locations in the nearby National Park, where there is great potential for organising environmental events and summer camps.
Results
- Increased capacities of the organisation to organise longer engagements and a wider range of activities and events for socially vulnerable target groups (summer camps, creative workshops, nature science events, healthy lifestyle programmes, etc.).
- Increased intake of participants from local communities and other areas of Lithuania.
- One workplace created (one full-time position) and 1.25 full time equivalent job safeguarded.
- One workplace to be created by the end of 2024.
Promoter
VšĮ Pažangaus bendradarbiavimo akademija
Funding
Total budget 34 274 (EUR)
EAFRD 27 676 (EUR)
National/Regional 4 884 (EUR)
Private/Own funds 1 714 (EUR)
Ressources
EU CAP Network - Good Practice - Expanding environmental capacity building for young people in Lithuania
(PDF – 531.58 Ko)
Context
The Academy of Advanced Cooperation has been operating in Lithuania since 2015. It is an educational centre that provides education and development services for students, teachers, heads of educational institutions, families and other activity groups. It aims to develop a conscious, ecologically literate and responsible attitude towards the environment and how human activity impacts on it. The organisation cooperates with other learning communities across the country and abroad, promoting the implementation of educational priorities and innovations.
The Academy believes that it is important to teach young people how to take responsibility for their health and the environment and to develop relevant habits from an early age. However, for several reasons, teachers, parents and social workers can often not provide help to children in matters of healthy lifestyle and behaviour.
During a school year, education in Lithuania is generally free of charge. However, during holidays, there are usually only expensive commercial services available. This affects vulnerable and disadvantaged families most of all and the Academy seeks to support those families and their children aged seven to 14 with free services. On average, 53 children per year receive the services. However, the organisation was limited in what it could offer. There was a lack of tools and equipment to improve its services and the Academy was insufficiently mobile to access and make better use of its surrounding geographical area for the benefit of its target group.
Objectives
The project had the following objectives:
- Build the capacities of the organisation for expanding its services (tools and equipment for planning and implementation of after-school education).
- Increase the organisation’s geographical reach and mobility, thereby improving its access to the surrounding high-quality environment of the Aukštaitija National Park.
- Raise awareness and knowledge about the attractiveness of the area and to increase the quality of life for its community.
- Operate as a social enterprise conducting experiential educational programmes.
- Create two jobs.
Activities
The project incorporated the following activities:
- Developing a business plan in line with its objectives and preparing the funding application form.
- Procuring and purchasing a minibus, outdoor event tent, tables, chairs, laptops, projector, mobile screen and multifunctional office equipment.
- Recruiting staff, planning and developing education programmes, organising activities and working with the target group of socially vulnerable families.
Main results
The following results were obtained:
- Increased capacities of the organisation to conduct longer engagements and a wider range of activities and events for socially vulnerable target groups (summer camps, creative workshops, nature science events, healthy lifestyle programmes, etc.).
- More than 10 educational and training programmes for children and adults created.
- Increased intake of participants from local communities as well as from other areas of Lithuania.
- One workplace created (one full-time position) and 1.25 full time equivalent job safeguarded.
- One workplace to be created by the end of 2024.
After project implementation, the organisation also managed to achieve social impacts.
Key lessons and recommendations
- In projects involving families with children, even small and simple initiatives can have a significant impact on the community and the environment.
- Young people have a lot of creativity and initiative. It was inspiring to see the interesting and unexpected ideas of the children on how to reduce the use of plastic, where they learned how to sort and reuse various items correctly.
- There is more potential to build on the programmes further.
"In today's activities with my classmates, I realised I am also important and am a part of our class community. It doesn't matter how I look like."
Young participant