Climate Change? Claim the Change!
The project is implemented in the whole country and, as regards in-person activities, in 8 regions: Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Lombardy, Marche, Tuscany, Umbria, and Veneto.
Starting date
15 May 2021Duration
12 monthsRealized by:
ACRAObjectives
Raising young people’s (children’s and teenagers’) awareness of individual and collective behaviors that can help combating climate change.
Improving teachers’ competence in addressing the topic of Global Citizenship Education, and in particular environmental protection, with their students.
Offering innovative tools and participative methodologies to innovate and improve education in the post-COVID-19 phase.
Promoting youth’s participation and engagement in combating climate change by offering them more positive group experiences.
The general goal of the Climate Change? Claim the Change! — which received accreditation by the Italian Ministry of Education and University — is Global Citizenship Education, i.e. the empowerment of individuals who then play an active role in their local area, with a special focus on those behaviors that can combat the environmental and climate crises.
The two main actions involve:
- Supporting in-person training activities in eight regions (with at least two thousand direct beneficiaries): Emilia Romagna (Piacenza), Friuli Venezia-Giulia (Pordenone), Lazio (Rome), Lombardy (Milan and its province, Monza and Brianza Province), Marche, Tuscany, Umbria, and Veneto.
- Online training for teachers from all over Italy (at least one hundred direct beneficiaries) focusing on the specific challenges reported at local level.
The project stems from the needs expressed by teachers and school principals and aims at helping Italian schools rethink themselves after the COVID-19 emergency by offering contents, competences and tools for teachers and students. By tackling a global challenge such as the environmental one, it aims at providing high-quality training that can support curricula and include all students. Pursuant to the new guidelines for civic education and the new “Italian Strategy for Global Citizenship Education”, the project intends to make schools more inclusive and more aware of global dynamics.
The COVID-19 emergency in Italy has had a strong impact on schools: because of lockdowns and the decision to close down schools, distance-learning was widely and quickly adopted and teachers and principals were left alone in their task of guaranteeing continuity. According to the Italian Institute for Statistics, more than one third of students were excluded because they didn’t have adequate tools and skills. Distance-learning proved to be an insufficient tool and left behind those who needed education the most: students with special needs, children of migrants or coming from fragile families. Furthermore, the prolonged isolation has had and will have a serious impact on children and teenagers, including at a psychological level.
Global Citizenship Education is key in the process of training new generations. By teaching them the connections between countries and cultures in the world, we can stimulate them to become open and active citizens who are willing to interact and able to live on this Planet with sense of responsibility, respect and participation.
Further reading:
Il Nuovo Rinascimento 738, 22 dicembre 2021: “Climate Change? Claim the Change!”
