<< Background >>Climate change and, in fact, environmental sustainability is one of the most crucial challenges in nowadays society. As stated by the EU Commission “the last two decades have witnessed 18 of the warmest years on record, and an increase of extreme weather events” (Going climate-neutral by 2050 - ML-04-19-339-EN-C). The role of youth in implementing good practices and leading sustainable lifestyles are essential to creating a change on a long-term basis and has been recognised by the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE). In particular, two of the six goals of the ACE are the main focuses of this project: education and training.We believe that professionals should play a key role in guiding young people to engage in volunteering activities as they represent the “bridge” between youth and active society.Community media are great tools to empower the young audience and vehicle important messages such as the ones related to climate change, due to their wide networking potential, sustainability, and accessibility for all; they facilitate active citizenship and enable innovative ways for e-volunteering and activism.Based on The National Youth Council of Ireland 2016’s statement “there are a lot of youth work practitioners who lack the digital skills or attitudes to fully benefit from the opportunities created by digital technologies for delivering quality youth work” and also that “many youth workers see digital media only as social media. Their understanding of the possibilities of digital media and technology should be widened” (Developing digital youth work - NC-02-18-021-EN-C). This is the reason why the main goals for this project are:Increasing digital skills and community media literacy amongst professionals working with youth, i.e. social and youth workers, mentors, trainers, tutors, school guides;Raising awareness of climate change through the engagement of youth in e-volunteering activities and activism, using community media as an innovative tool.For the above-mentioned reasons, with this project, we aim to equip social and youth workers, school guides, mentors, tutors, and, in general, professionals working with youth, with useful digital skills and tools based on community media, to promote and raise awareness amongst youth on e-volunteering and activism in the scope of climate change.<< Objectives >>One of the main innovative aspects of the ECO-Media project is its versatility: the creation of community media networks and tailored training are designed to comply with the scope of the project, i.e. climate change, but they can be adapted to any other field related to social change based on volunteering and social activities.The project aims to train professionals working with young people in using community media as a tool to enhance the quality of their work and communication as well as to raise awareness on other volunteering approaches, i.e. e-volunteering and digital activism, with a focus on climate change.The project will consist of 4 project results:R1: Descriptive map of community media approaches for digital youth workR2: Curriculum on climate changeR3: Youth work and young engagement toolkit in the scope of climate changeR4: ECO-Media e-learning platformSpecific objectives will therefore be:- To create a greater understanding of the recent situation of digital youth work around Europe, through the development of comparative analysis;- To provide the target groups with useful knowledge on youth pedagogical framework about community media and digital youth work;- To enhance the level of youth engagement through community media tools;- To create ad-hoc contents related to e-volunteering and youth engagement in climate change matters;- To support youth workers, and professional working with youth with the development of a digital toolkit on digital youth work in the scope of climate change;- To increase the motivation of youth workers on the engagement of young people in climate change and environmental challenges;- To create results that are transferable, versatile, and adaptable outside the scope of this project, to better guarantee its sustainability;- To make the partnership and cooperation of EU countries stronger, by implementing a transnational project based on common needs;- To enhance awareness of climate change through the engagement of youth in e-volunteering activities and activism, using community media as an innovative tool.<< Implementation >>The activities that will be developed to achieve the aforementioned objectives and to produce concrete project results (Rn) will be the following:- Comparative analysis on digital methodologies for youth engagement in volunteering activities (R1);- A pedagogical framework for best practices in youth work (R1);- Curriculum on youth engagement and e-volunteering through community media (R1);- Curriculum on youth work in the scope of climate change (R2);- A digital toolkit on digital youth work in the scope of climate change (R2);- 6 units for youth engagement, i.e. digital activism; E-volunteering for social challenges; networking; European opportunities for e-volunteering; community media for social responsibility; active citizenship.- 3 training units for youth workers, i.e. social media activism; engagement of young people; becoming a better youth worker/trainer/mentor.- ECO-Media e-learning platform, the means to share and make the outcomes of this project available for everyone;- Creation of dedicated social media accounts, in particular Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube;- 1 project website, with news, contacts, description of the project, its goals and objectives, useful links, and updates;- Creation of several promotion materials, newsletters, press conferences, and publications.<< Results >>Concrete results for this project will be:1. R1: Descriptive map of community media approaches for digital youth work, aiming at a more comprehensive understanding of youth work in the frame of community media and digital methodologies, through the creation of a pedagogical framework and the development of a database of community media;2. R2: Curriculum on climate change: aiming at the creation of a digital toolkit on digital youth work in the scope of climate change, to be included in the e-learning platform (R4) and to identify successful methodologies to engage youth in environmental sustainability matters;3. R3: Youth work and young engagement toolkit in the scope of climate change - the structure and the content of the e-learning platform (R4). It will involve the creation of 3 training units that will guide youth workers in their daily tasks as well as 6 units for young people engagement in e-volunteering and digital activism;4. R4: ECO-Media e-learning platform - it will include the outcomes of the other project results including - user-free registration system, divided into two separate entries, one for the youth workers (who will be able to access all of the 9 training units) and one for the young people, potential e-volunteers and digital activists (who will access their dedicated 6 units); - digital toolkit on digital youth work in the scope of climate change (R2); - digital animations, video, for the correct usage of the platform; - forum.4TPMs will be held throughout the project and each hosted by one partner organisation that will attend with 2 representatives. The meeting will be organised at key project milestones, to check on the progress, achievements, and conduct quality and evaluation controls. In this way, we can ensure a smooth implementation of the project activities, guarantee clear and transparent communication, and adjust working methodologies when and if needed.Relevant dissemination activities will be better described in its specific, dedicated section, and they will include, for example, press conferences, newsletters, social media posts sharing, and the organisation of 5 Multiplier Events.