<< Objectives >>KEYS aims to link 3 European institutions working with the Earth Charter (EC), a UNESCO recognized declaration of ethical principles for sustainable development. KEYS partners will exchange on concepts for education for sustainable development, which (1) provide holistic and motivating approaches to meet the growing insecurity & frustration within the European youth due to global crisis, (2) offer practical options for action and (3) open rooms for conscious change towards global sustainability.<< Implementation >>KEYS will organize 2 trainings for at least 9 youth educators, one joint in Germany & The Netherlands and one in Portugal. The trainings will be (1) on the background, history and ethics of the EC, (2) on the visionary potential of the EC and how to practically use it to implement the SDGs, and (3) on concrete ESD formats with the EC. To successfully link the partners, monitor the progress and implementation of results, there will be two coordination meetings in Germany and Portugal.<< Results >>The partners will build a strong network rich in ESD and youth work experience. Youth workers and educators will exchange on a diverse portfolio of best practice concepts. The latter will be enabled to incorporate the learned into their own professional educational activities as well as to train other interested educators. By networking transnationally the partner organizations will become more visible at national, European and international level, particularly within the ESD community.

BackgroundCurrent global developments and crisis are creating an atmosphere of insecurity and uncertainty within the European society. We know from work experience that the Earth Charter (EC), an international and UNESCO recognized declaration of fundamental ethical principles for global sustainable development, provides motivating and solution-oriented approaches at various levels to deal with this growing insecurity. The EC educational work enables different perspectives on the world and its global challenges. It offers practical options for action and provides answers to the above mentioned insecurities and opens rooms for a conscious change in thinking and behavior towards global sustainability.In 2020 the Earth Charter turns 20 and so does the information and education work based on the Earth Charter. Around the globe education institutions and professionals felt inspired by the holistic and positive vision of a peaceful, solidary and sustainable world and embedded it into their practices in many different ways to address ESD and global learning.ObjectivesNEEDS aims to link seven European institutions working with the Earth Charter in adult education. We want to exchange on examples of our ESD concepts, which we have established in the last two decades and successfully applied within our countries. Beside the exchange on practical ESD concepts and evaluation on how to implement newly learned in our organization work, we want to address questions such as: How do we best address and transport the inherent ethics in our ESD work? What is the best way to share the strengthening and motivating vision of the Earth Charter to adults? How can we adapt our education concepts to changing global and European challenges as well as digital and societal developments now and in future?ActivitiesTo meet those objectives we plan to run three short 3-day trainings in (1) Germany, (2) The Netherlands, and (3) Portugal to which all partners will send two ESD practitioners from their organization for participation (total number of trained educators will be 14), whereas the host organizations will involve their local volunteers active in EC education and campaigning. The training events will be on (1) the background, history and ethics of the EC and how to use this to train multiplicators, (2) on the visionary potential of the EC and how to practically use it for the implementation of the SDGs, and (3) on concrete ESD and global learning formats with the EC and communication techniques.To successfully link the partners, monitor the progress of the project and implementation of results within our organizations as well as for a joint round up, there will be three transnational meetings in Romania, Bulgaria and Sweden to which each partner organization will send one national coordinator.Results, impacts and long term benefitsSince each partner organization has build unique expertise in successful ESD methods, participating organizations will build a strong network rich in experience and educators will exchange on a diverse portfolio of best practice concepts. The latter will be enabled to incorporate the learned into their own professional educational activities as well as to train other interested educators or volunteers within partner organizations or outside in community councils, cultural or educational centers, even universities. By networking transnationally the partner organizations will become more visible at national, European and international level, particularly within the ESD and global learning community.