"<< Objectives >>The European Commission recognises that ""the loss of biodiversity has accelerated to an unprecedented level in Europe and worldwide."" It is essential that at a time when the EU's economy is shifting to reduce its impact on the environment through wide-ranging sustainability policies, including in the field of biodiversity and the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, people have the knowledge and skills to become part of that transition.<< Implementation >>To learn about biodiversity and how participants can protect it, this project will create Natural History Walks (NHWs) and Treasure Hunts (THs). Through NHWs, participants will have an opportunity to learn about the local ecosystems, including its flora and fauna, whether local species are endemic, or how the local climate impacts biodiversity. The THs will be an example of a ""serious game"" and allow participants to learn about these issues through a more informal approach.<< Results >>At the end of the project, each of the 3 partner organisations will have run 2 Natural History Walks and Treasure Hunts each, complemented with educational events or workshops where participants will have the space to discuss some of the issues in a more formal setting, while maintaining the informal education and innovative elements of the project. Participants will have learned issues about biodiversity in Portugal, Spain, and North Macedonia and what opportunities there are to protect it."

"<< Background >>The global ecosystems are rapidly deteriorating. The European Commission states: ""The loss of biodiversity has accelerated to an unprecedented level in Europe and worldwide. It has been estimated that the current global extinction rate is 100 to 1000 times higher than the natural rate. In Europe, some 42% of European mammals are endangered, together with 15% of birds and 45% of butterflies and reptiles."" In terms of global biodiversity, the WWF states that wildlife populations have declined, on average, by 68% between 1970 and 2016. With the loss of biodiversity, there will be a great loss of natural spaces, but the loss will also be cultural and economic, as many people depend directly on thriving ecosystems for food, water, shelter, local economies and others. Moreover, a loss of biodiversity directly impacts human health. By removing the barriers that have existed between human activities and the natural environment, viruses are more likely to jump from animals to people and result in pandemics such the Covid19. In these lines, the European Union acknowledges that ""protecting and restoring nature and ensuring well-functioning ecosystems is also essential to improving the health of citizens and to preventing the emergence and spread of diseases."" Consequentially, there is an increasing need for people to understand the issues and opportunities in the field of biodiversity and biodiversity protection. The European Union has created the framework for this, mainly through the Biodiversity Strategy 2030. The Strategy aims at enlarge the existing Natura 2000 areas, a network of core breeding and resting sites for rare and threatened species. The network stretches across all 27 EU countries, both on land and at sea. The Strategy also aims at creating ""a network of well-managed protected areas comprising at least 30% of EU's land and sea area"" by the year 2030, and also ""better respecting nature in public and business decision-making."" In this project, therefore, partners want to become part of this approach and create tools and methodologies for adults of the target groups to gain knowledge about biodiversity issues and skills to protect biodiversity locally at a small scale. These goals touch on other issues related to climate change. Protecting biodiversity is a key aspect of protecting the environment (Project Priority #1), and climate change has a major role in biodiversity degradation, even more so on the biodiversity of islands in Iceland and Madeira, Portugal, where two of the partners of this project are located. Islands are places that are by nature more vulnerable to biodiversity loss. The Convention on Biological Diversity states that ""The unique characteristics that make island biodiversity so special also leave it particularly fragile and vulnerable. Despite the high levels of biodiversity and the prevalence of endemism, island species are present in relatively small numbers, making them very vulnerable to extinction.""In this area, we believe that Common Values, Civic Engagement and Participation have a significant role to play when protecting biodiversity (Project Priority #2), particularly at the small-scale locally. Lastly, to increase Civic Engagement and Participation, the project will see the creation of pedagogical tools and methodologies that will result in improving the competencies of educators and other of educators and other adult education staff (Project Priority #3). Involving more people through civic participation, knowledge and skills, is essential to speed up this process and ensure that wider European policies are implemented in the medium and long terms.<< Objectives >>We want to train participants of project activities in the knowledge of biodiversity issues and the skills necessary to protect biodiversity locally at a small scale. The implementation of projects at the small scale can have a lower impact in biodiversity protection than larger initiatives developed at the national or international levels, but it also means that more people can participate and make a difference, resulting in a much broader impact in the medium and long terms. A greater involvement by people in the area also means that the national and international policies are more likely to be held to account, especially over the medium and long terms when they are more necessary and also more effective.To train participants in the knowledge of biodiversity and the skills to protect it, the the educational and pedagogical materials of the project will be structured into 2 main Intellectual Outputs: The Biodiversity Illustrated Handbook and the Biodiversity Illustrated Curriculum. The Illustrated Biodiversity Handbook will cover 30 of the world's ""key"" global ecosystems, sometimes referred to as ""biodiversity hotspots."" These are places that are relatively small in area but host the most biodiversity. Examples are the Amazon Rainforest and the Andes Mountains Tropical Hotspot. Information about these 30 ecosystems will be supported with the use of strong artistic content: illustrations, short stories and photography. The artistic elements are one of the most important innovative aspects of this project. There is growing evidence that shows that including visually appealing content when informing people about a certain subject raises a wider interest in the subject. There is also growing evidence that points to the fact that having information about a subject does not necessarily encourage people to change behaviour, including the need to reduce our impact on the environment and adopt more environmentally-friendly lifestyles. The inclusion of artistic content in this project addresses these two problems. Information about the 30 selected ecosystems will be supported with 60 illustrations and 54 high-quality photographs to make them more visually appealing. Furthermore, the Handbook will also include a series of short stories that want to engage participants through the power of storytelling in the subject of biodiversity and biodiversity conservation. Lastly, the Handbook will include 3 documentary videos that cover the main ecosystems of the places where the partners are based. These include 2 island ecosystems from Iceland and Madeira, where most species of plant and animals are endemic and only exist there, and the contrasting ecosystems of Spain, the country in the European Union with the largest national network of terrestrial Natura 2000 sites.The Curriculum is linked to Project Priority #3: ""Common values, civic engagement and participation"". Civic Engagement will complement the need to increase the competencies in the knowledge of what is biodiversity, what constitutes and healthy ecosystem, and what people can do locally at a small scale to protect biodiversity. The Curriculum will include the experience of the partners in the subject and the pedagogical tools and methodologies necessary to achieve project goals.Target groups will make use of these two pedagogical materials to incorporate knowledge about biodiversity in their activities, and also biodiversity protection at a small scale, for example, through the growing of a food forest in their local area, which has the potential to spillover to become a regional initiative. Target groups will be encouraged to develop their biodiversity strategy within the EU's Biodiversity Strategy 2030 framework, and therefore, become part of a network.<< Implementation >>The project will commence with the research of 30 ""key"" global ecosystems or biodiversity hotspots. Once the research has been completed, partners will train in Spain in the practical issues of implementing. This training will be led by ABRAZOHOUSE, who has broad experience in small scale local biodiversity protection through the growing of both a food forest and expanding the forest cover in the area with endemic trees. This training will enable the participating organisations and target groups to understand the necessary knowledge and skills to foster biodiversity locally at a small scale. Partners will work with one another to understand and define the tools that are necessary for biodiversity protection, which varies from place to place, as it is dependant on social, cultural, economic networks that are unique to each area. All partners will then train in the island of Madeira, Portugal, where partner My Madeira Island is based in documentary film-making. This training will enable each participating organisation to produce an in-depth documentary about their local ecosystem, which will be added to the Biodiversity Illustrated Handbook. Once partners have completed these activities, they will organise a call for artists. Artists from the 3 participating countries will be invited to produce 60 illustrations to represent these 30 ecosystems. They will also be invited to submit short stories that depict biodiversity and biodiversity conservation. Artists from Erasmus+ programmes will be invited to send photographs from the ecosystems where they live. The wider call for this last group will be implemented so that a wider range of ecosystems can be included and the project includes a European dimension. Once the content about biodiversity, biodiversity protection, the documentary films and the artistic elements are ready, partners will finalise and publish the Handbook and then translate it into the national languages of the participating organisations: Icelandic, Spanish and Portuguese. MMI will organise and run an exhibition in Maderia showcasing the artistic materials of the Handbook. The exhibition will be physical in Madeira and will last 15 days. Works from the exhibition will be uploaded onto the project to become a permanent exhibit in digital form.The project will continue with the initiation of the Curriculum. USOT will lead the drafting of the Curriculum. The Curriculum will adapt the information and artistic content of the Handbook to the pedagogical and educational goals and objectives of this adult education project. The development of such Curriculum will provide target groups with a structured and clear educational path, adapted and designed to be implemented to suit their needs. Partners, together with target groups, will implement and pilot the Curriculum in each partner country. Each partner will deliver 3 workshops and 2 online support sessions to support participants in any any actions regarding biodiversity conservation they choose. Each of the 2 coaching sessions will be 2 hours each. This will result in coaching worth 36 hours of support. After each workshop, participants will be asked to complete an evaluation that partners will analyse and use to improve the following workshop in each participating country. Partners will share conclusions and recommendations with one another to improve the process further. Partners will also consult with at least one expert external to the organisations on the quality of the Curriculum. Lastly, consortium will produce a final document in English in the form of an e-guide with information on the knowledge, skills and competencies that biodiversity and biodiversity conservation might offer to target groups, as well as case studies of the different adult education workshops and support sessions implemented during the piloting phase. Partners will translate the document and publish it in Icelandic, Spanish and Portuguese.<< Results >>At the end of the project, results and outcomes will have been completed around two main outputs: the Biodiversity Illustrated Handbook, and the Biodiversity Illustrated Curriculum. The Biodiversity Illustrated Handbook will include information about 30 key global ecosystems or ""biodiversity spots"". The Handbook will also include information such as:--- What is biodiversity?--- What constitutes a healthy ecosystem?--- The approach of the participating countries.--- The approach of the European Union.--- Global approaches to protect biodiversity - case studies and best examples.--- What is urban biodiversity?--- How can people protect and extend urban biodiversity?--- Opportunities to protect biodiversity around the world.Two training events attended by 10 participants from the participating countries who will train i) how to protect biodiversity locally at a small scale by growing a forest and a food forest; and ii) how to make documentary videos about the ecosystems where the partners are based. The information of the Handbook will be supported with artistic content. A call for artists organised by MMI, USOT and ABRAZOHOUSE to select illustrators, writers and photographers to produce these artistics materials that are expected to engage a wider audience in project activities. Writers and illustrators from the 3 participating countries will produce 7 short stories that will represent themes of biodiversity structured around 7 continents and 60 illustrations that depicting the flora and fauna of 30 key global ecosystems or biodiversity hotspots, respectively. Selected photographers from Erasmus+ partner countries will also submit 54 high-quality photographs to add a wider range of biodiversity outside of the participating countries and include a European dimension to the project. Moreover, USOT, MMI and ABRAZOHOUSE will also produce 3 documentary films about the endemic, volcanic ecosystems of Iceland; the laurel forest of the island of Madeira; and the dense forests of the region of Cantabria in northern Spain. This will also result in a highly creative means of communication and learning. Partners will edit and publish the final Biodiversity Illustrated Handbook in Icelandic, Spanish and Portuguese. MMI will organise an exhibition open to the public in Madeira to showcase the artisitic materials produced during IO1, which is expected to be visited by at least 50 people. Similarly, there will be a permanent online exhibition at the project website of the illustrations, photography, videos and short stories produced available for the duration of the project and for at least 3 years after the project concludes, which is expected to be visited by over 100 people. Forty-five people in each participating country are also expected to attend a Multiplier Event. The Biodiversity Illustrated Curriculum will include a draft document that will have adapted the information and artistic content of the Handbook to the pedagogical and educational goals and objectives of this adult education project, followed by a Piloting Phase that will include 3 educational events, 1 in person and 2 online delivered to 10 participants in each participating country, a total of 90 participants. Three MEs will take place at the end of the project in each of the participating countries with an expected participating of 35 people.Upon completion of the project:- Participants will have extended their knowledge and competencies of biodiversity, global ecosystems and protecting biodiversity;- Learned about the EU's Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and how European economic policy will change to adapt to environmental concerns in the next decades in accordance with the EU's Green Deal (to become carbon neutral by 2050);- Learned how adult education can offer opportunities for people to train in green skills that will enhance employability opportunities in the next decades.- Learned facilitation skills and competencies to run programmes for groups;"

"<< Objectives >>The partnership of 3 youth organisations from Romania, Bulgaria and Portugal during 1 year seeks to:- Equip young people (especially those with fewer opportunities) with competencies required for working remotely and start an online career;- Promote inclusiveness create conditions for more young people with fewer opportunities to enter the online workforce; - Update competencies (including digital) of youth workers in helping young people become more employable in online job market.<< Implementation >>3 Living Library events: real stories of people who work online shared to youngsters with fewer opportunities3 2-days events Peer Learning ""Teach Me in 1 Hour"" per country: young people learn practical skills needed for online employment3 Speed Dating events: pairing employers with young people who look for jobs1 international mobility for youth workersDeveloping a methodology for supporting online employment of youngstersDissemination<< Results >>Young people with economical, educational and geographical obstacles become more competent in obtaining a job online, improve digital skills (360 people directly + others via dissemination);Youth workers become online career coaches and improve digital competencies (3 orgs directly + more via dissemination);A methodology on supporting online employment of young people with fewer opportunities – disseminated at the local, national and European level. New partnerships."

"<< Objectives >>In Bulgaria and Spain, 32% and 28% of people, respectively, are at risk of poverty and social exclusion, whereas 22% in Portugal face a similar situation. At the same time, the European Commission states that ""Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had an immediate impact on food security for millions of people around the world."" We want to create an education card game to inform participants about what is food security and what they can do to increase food security in the places where they live<< Implementation >>To learn about food security and how participants can foster it locally using environmental sustainability principles, this consortium will create an educational game of cards that will also be available in a digital form in the project's Toolkit. The game will allow participants to explore topics related to food security in a fun, informal, and engaging way. The online version of the game will also allow participants to interact with others remotely and increase their knowledge on these topics.<< Results >>At the end of the project, partners will have created four sets of cards in English, Bulgarian, Portuguese, and Spanish using sustainable materials such as seeded paper and sustainable inks as well as an online Toolkit that will allow other participants to play the game remotely and interact with one another. Partners will also have run a workshop in Bulgaria, Portugal, and Spain where participants will have made a plan to start initiatives and projects to foster food security locally."

"<< Objectives >>The partnership of 4 youth organisations from Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and Portugal during 1 year seeks to: - Equip young people (especially those with fewer opportunities) with competencies required for working remotely and starting an online career; - Promote inclusiveness create conditions for more young people with fewer opportunities to enter the online workforce; - Update competencies (including digital) of youth workers in helping young people become more employable in online job market.<< Implementation >>4 Living Library events: real stories of people who work online shared to youngsters with fewer opportunities; 4 2-days events Peer Learning ""Teach Me in 1 Hour"" per country: young people learn practical skills needed for online employment; 4 Speed Dating events: pairing employers with young people who look for jobs; 1 international mobility for youth workers; Developing a methodology for supporting online employment of youngsters; Dissemination<< Results >>Young people with economical, educational and geographical obstacles become more competent in obtaining a job online, improve digital skills (360 people directly + others via dissemination); Youth workers become online career coaches and improve digital competencies (4 orgs directly + more via dissemination); A methodology on supporting online employment of young people with fewer opportunities – disseminated at the local, national and European level.New partnerships."