<< Background >>The ageing of population is a worldwide phenomenon with critical implications for all sectors of society. Due to low birth rates, high life expectancy and migration flow dynamics, worldwide population is “turning grey”, and Europe is not an exception. An ageing population brings social, health, economic, and other issues. Overall in the EU, the total public spending of ageing is expected to increase by 1.7% to 26.7% of GDP between 2016 and 2070. In all countries, measures to help older people remain active and participative are a necessity, not a luxury.The United Nations and the European Commission agree that quality ageing is a responsibility of all (private, public and civic actors), and can only be created and sustained through the participation of multiple sectors. People are thus encouraged to take the lead to implement programmes addressing quality and active ageing.On the other hand, environment and fight against climate change are a lingering issue that also needs urgent action, and the involvement of all societal actors to be addressed.This project attains to vast societal needs by addressing active ageing and environmental action, but also to specific needs from partner organizations and their target audiences, which will be addressed locally, but through international collaboration.The partners’ direct needs: to be capacitated to implement senior volunteering programmes, by training their staff and associated 3rd age personnel, and through co-learning and sharing of social and environmental expertise. Target audiences needs: .senior citizens — enroll in active ageing environmental programmes, develop interpersonal and technical skills to do so; .3rd age personnel — acquire key competences to implement efficient senior volunteering programmes for climate action;.policy and decision-makers — gather evidence and support for further developing sustainability programmes addressing environmental change keeping the ageing population included and active in the process.In short, GREY4GREEN responds to the urgency of developing competences in various sustainability-relevant sectors, developing green and sectorial (3rd age) skills strategies and methodologies, as well as future-oriented training schemes that meet the needs of individuals and organizations. We will also test innovative practices to prepare senios and 3rd age personnel become true agents of change. This rationale is fully aligned with this call’s sustainability priorities for this funding.<< Objectives >>GREY4GREEN aims at:-Promoting active ageing and contribute to climate action through the involvement of senior citizens in nature conservation volunteering programmes and through the capacitation of personnel working in the third age sector to develop and implement such programmes;-Valorising the elderly and all their potential as productive citizens and as agents of change;-Support adult learners (seniors + 3rd age personnel) by providing high-quality training and international exchanges, fostering key competences and skills;-Generating environmental awareness, and promote European citizenship values such as inclusion and fight of discrimination;-Promoting environmental, social, language, literacy, intercultural and interpersonal skills in senior citizens and in the third age personnel;-Producing high quality outputs to encourage the implementation of senior volunteering programmes across the EU. These outputs are multi-media and inclusive to relevant audiences, including paper deliverables, handbooks, an online platform and videos.-Promoting and advocating for social inclusion, active ageing and environmental policies;-Support the partners’ work and missions, boosting their international dimension and their staff’s competencies.<< Implementation >>GREY4GREEN is a robust programme which activities tie together under a carefully planned sequence of events, in an organized timetable and thread.Partners will undertake research to prepare the whole work, and develop a set of 9 INTELLECTUAL OUTPUTS that will guide and support the implementation of the project and further action to be implemented by partners and associated stakeholders. These outputs include learning resources, an interactive platform that will boost engagement and international collaboration, a policy paper and a report for the general public.With the majority of the intellectual outputs developed and available, international training activities will start. We will organize 2 TRAINING COURSES (in CY and FR) for partners’ staff members and associated 3rd age personnel, capacitating them with ageing and environmental knowledge and skills to implement senior environmental volunteering programmes. We will also organize 3 SENIOR EXCHANGES (DK, IS, PT), so that each country implementing volunteering programmes can understand the logistics and challenges of hosting such volunteering schemes and train on that organization, preparing for future activities with a real-life project pilot. Also, these exchanges will allow our project-senior-community to visit different cultures/environments and foment more international contact and enriching experiences among them.Participants in all LTTs will be selected following fair and transparent processes and be properly prepared and supported. Their learnings will be validated by adequate documents.We will enhance the project’s valorization and dissemination with 6 MULTIPLIER EVENTS: 5 locals, targeted at the project’s main audiences (seniors and 3rd age personnel) and a Final International Conferences, targeted at high-level policy institutions (besides the main target audiences and the general public), advocating for the 3rd age and environmental causes.In terms of project management, partners planned 5 face-to-face PARTNERS MEETINGS complemented with monthly follow-up online meetings. Partners will produce 4 internal reports, plus the interim and final reports for the National Agency. The following fundamental documents will be produced to help manage the project and keep on track regarding milestones, quality, dissemination and impact: project management handbook, learning matrix, communication and dissemination plan, sustainability plan, risk assessment and contingency plans, outreach and impact logs, quality assessment indicators, monitoring surveys and logs, template documents for dissemination, press releases, presentations and so forth.The project implementation will be in charge of partners’ implementation teams and will be closely monitored and guided by a Steering Committee.IMPACT will be fostered through active dissemination strategies including media coverage, dissemination via Erasmus+ platforms such as EPALE, social media, presentations in large events and demonstration activities with seniors.SUSTAINABILITY will be achieved through the incorporation of the learnings in the partners’ activities, the maintenance of senior volunteering programmes, valorization and distribution of intellectual outputs, usage of the projects digital platform, and engagement of key stakeholders.<< Results >>Partners will develop a series of high-quality outputs relevant to the active ageing and green action sectors: -A collection of best-practice that will be conducted internationally to benchmark the project’s innovation and to display high-quality project references and examples to follow in active ageing and green actions. -An online platform containing the project’s website and all relevant information, hosting a repository for outputs, as well as communication and dissemination features that will allow intercultural dialogue and collaborative work among seniors and staff from other countries. It will also feature an innovative observatory for best-practice in nature conservation programmes inclusive to seniors, a directory for such projects and the seniors and listing of placements and opportunities for 3rd age institutions and for seniors.-A handbook for seniors explaining rights and duties of volunteers, safety rules, and relevant information.-A step-by-step handbook and an executive package for institutions willing to implement senior volunteer/active ageing programmes.-A training course for 3rd age personnel and partners’ staff members working with 3rd age, available in 6 languages for independent implementation.-An audio-visual inclusive package raising awareness for the topics of the project.-A policy paper stating why a change of policy approach regarding active ageing and nature conservation, and their (inter)connection to educational systems is relevant and gathering support for sustainability changes. -Collating all lessons learned and key findings, a laymen report will be made available to continue the project’s dissemination, outreach, and usefulness, especially useful for raising awareness among the general public.Additionally, GREY4GREEN will train at least 48 professionals working with third age from DK, PT, FR, IS, CY and will directly involve at least 300 senior citizens in environmental activities in DK, PT and IS, 48 of them taking part in international exchanges to DK, PT and IS. Indirectly, we estimate over 1000 senior citizens will be involved in the project’s activities.We will implement 4 senior environmental volunteering programmes in 3 countries (DK, IS and 2 in PT), aiming at increasing local nature through activities such as litter gathering, seeds collection and sowing, trees plantations, fire vigilance, removal of invasive species, instalment of fauna shelters, among other activities taught and guided by nature experts from partner BioLiving; all while promoting active ageing and participation of seniors in sustainability actions.We will organize 5 local multiplier events plus a Final Conference, aiming at having at least 300 participants in total, which can highly boos the project’s multiplier effect and impact.Thanks to the diversity of the participating organizations and the high-level quality of their respective networks, the project’s results will be disseminated to relevant stakeholders, assuring the project’s uptake and continuity. Expected outcomes, besides the explained more tangible results and impact, is to achieving institutional buy-in to the proposed methodology, and that GREY4GREEN will support social inclusion and valorization of the elderly, the establishment of green active ageing programmes, and the development of high-quality skills and competences in both the elderly and the staff supporting them. Finally we also hope to gather support and evidence to allow to achieve improvements in environmental and 3rd age policies.GREY4GREEN is a cross-sectoral project that will achieve the abovementioned results and outcomes, but mainly long-lasting immaterial results in what concerns the social inclusion of the elderly and environmental action, supporting change towards sustainability.