On Thursday, October 20, the final conference was held as part of the Exploring Pathways to an Ecological Renaissance project, which has been successfully running since November 2021.

This festive event was held in the Vukovar City Museum and with over 70 participants, it was a networking place for various institutions, civil society organizations, educational institutions, educators from the informal and formal education system, experts dealing with the topic of sustainable development, activists in the community, and most importantly young people and volunteers who understand how important personal action is for this topic to come to life.

Representatives of Civic Europe from Berlin, which finances this project, were also present at the conference.

More about the importance of the theme of sustainable development in the education system was learned from the lecture of Mrs. Marina Ništ from the Education Agency, an expert who connects these two areas in her work.

The ecological actions carried out in the community and the Manual for teaching about sustainable development were presented.

In addition, panel discussions were held with young people who participated in the project and with experts from this field.

In the afternoon part, it was possible to actively participate in three parallel workshops: Fresco of ecological renaissance, Creative workshop - upcycling and Activism in local communities.

On Monday, October 3, 2022, on the promenade along the Danube in the Borovo naselje district of Vukovar, the fourth and last in the Paths of Ecological Renaissance project, a community action called "Volunteer Promenade" was held. In cooperation with the company Komunalac d.o.o. from Vukovar, wooden houses for books were installed and decorative bushes and flowers were planted. Students from Marko Babić Vocational High School and Nikola Tesla Technical School from Vukovar, as well as local and international volunteers painted houses and helped with planting. The Vukovar City Library has made sure that the bookcases are full of different literature that will be available to fellow citizens for the pleasure of reading along the Danube. The goal of the campaign is to raise the level of awareness about ecology and sustainable development and encourage young people to actively participate in the local community. Prior to this event, students from two high schools in the area of ​​the City of Vukovar went through five modules of education on the topic of ecology and sustainable development, and conducted three ecological actions in the community (composting and planting, information via the web and a creative workshop). By the end of the project, it is planned to create a manual as a tool for using the implemented work methodology and to organize a final event where all the results of the project will be presented. The implementation of the project was made possible with financial resources from the Civic Europe program.

On Thursday, July 14, 2022, the third environmental action called "Creative to Smile" was held at Marko Babić Secondary School in Vukovar. The action was carried out as part of the project Exploring Pathways to an Ecological Renaissance, in cooperation with the Association of Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities Who is still afraid of tomorrow? and aims to raise the level of awareness of ecology and sustainable development and the highlighted importance of including children with developmental disabilities.

At the creative workshop, students, teachers, volunteers, children with developmental disabilities and their parents made soaps, creams and baths as environmentally friendly cosmetic products and made puzzles for children from wooden painted sticks.

Prior to this event, students of Marko Babić Vocational High School and Nikola Tesla Technical School from Vukovar went through five modules of education on the topic of ecology and sustainable development, and conducted two ecological actions in the community (composting and planting, information via the web).

By the end of the project, it is planned to carry out another action in the community and organize a final event, all made possible by financial resources from the Civic Europe program.

In mid-May, the third phase of the project began, which involves implementing community actions based on ideas defined by the needs and interests of participants, on specific topics of climate action they chose during the project's educational program.

The action of composting and planting herbs and lavender was realized on Thursday, May 12, in the school yard. Students from the Marko Babić Secondary Vocational School and the Nikola Tesla Technical School, domestic and international volunteers, professors and employees participated and thus joined forces for the benefit of the school and local community. During this action, a composter was made because this school (Marko Babić Vocational School) has a school kitchen that produces a certain amount of biowaste that will be disposed of there. Participants and volunteers painted the composter and prepared everything needed for it. In addition, raised beds were made in which herbs were planted for the needs of the school kitchen. Lavender was planted near the herbs, which will be used by the student cooperative in the production of soaps, creams, balms and other products. The compost that will be ready later will be used for growing herbs and lavender.

At the same time, a virtual action called "Awareness of others" took place. The project participants decided to create a website where they will share information on the topic of ecology. The site is not completely finished, but the participants had the task to follow the composting and planting action, take photos, interview and publish the first news when the site is ready. As part of the initial phase of this action, education was conducted with primary school students of Mitnica Elementary School who showed interest in later participation in the maintenance of this site.

The aim of these actions is to raise awareness of ecology and sustainable development, as well as encourage students, faculty and other volunteers to volunteer and develop volunteering in the community, which is provided by funding from the Civic Europe program.

At the end of March 2022, the implementation of the last phases of the educational program of the project Exploring Pathways to an Ecological Renaissance was completed. This phase included the design and implementation of a 5-month educational program focused on local action to respond to the climate crisis, forming a vision of a common, sustainable future for Vukovar and acquiring management and communication skills needed to translate that vision into concrete community action.

Students of the Nikola Tesla Technical School and the Marko Babić Vocational High School have designed several environmental actions that will be organized and implemented in the coming period.

The project is followed by a phase of implementation of at least 3 actions in the community based on ideas defined by the needs and interests of participants, around specific topics of climate actions they chose, as well as developing tools as an additional source for implementing these actions.

Students from the Nikola Tesla Technical School and the Marko Babić Vocational High School from Vukovar participated in another educational activity as part of the Exploring Pathways to an Ecological Renaissance project.

In this two-day workshop, students expanded their knowledge of ecology, the goals of sustainable development, and were introduced to applicable models of sustainable living. In addition, they worked in a team, made decisions and elaborated plans for environmental actions that will be implemented in the community.

The workshop was held at the Social Center in Vukovar on March 4 and 5, 2022, and the workshop leader was Dražen Šimleša from the Green Network of Activist Groups (ZMAG). The continuation of the learning phase, ie the next educational activity, is planned for the end of March 2022.

As part of the project Exploring Pathways to an Ecological Renaissance, and as part of the learning phase, a workshop was conducted with students from the Nikola Tesla Technical School and the Marko Babić Vocational High School from Vukovar.

The topic of this two-day workshop was the goals of sustainable development as a tool for planning integratively sustainable actions in the community, and tools for constructive teamwork.

During the educational activity, the participants nurtured a culture of communication and cooperation, and passed the technique of pair conversation, division in a circle, deep listening in pairs, free discussions, facilitated discussions with hand signs, decision making by consent, group work, presenting their work, giving concrete positive and constructive feedback and asking and answering questions.

The workshop was held at the Social Center in Vukovar on February 18 and 19, 2022. It was designed and prepared by Ana and Veljko Armano Linta, and facilitated by Veljko Armano Linta from Satelite Education.

The continuation of the learning phase, ie the next educational activity, is planned for the beginning of March 2022.

As part of the project Exploring Pathways to an Ecological Renaissance, and as part of the learning phase, a workshop The Fresco of the Ecological Renaissance was conducted with students of the Technical School of Nikola Tesla Vukovar.

This two-day workshop focused on solutions to ecological transition and the development of ecological awareness among students in order to fully understand the environmental and social challenges of today.

They were introduced to the Fresco technique, which was designed as a tool for free expression and their empowerment around ecological topics and creating opportunities to become active carriers of ecological transition.

The workshop leaders were Ivana and Maja from the Tatavaka Association from Zagreb and employees of the PRONI Center, and it was held on January 27 and 28, 2022 in the premises of the social center in Vukovar.

The continuation of the learning phase is planned for the second half of February 2022.

As part of the Exploring Pathways to an Ecological Renaissance, a learning phase has begun, which includes the design and implementation of a 5-month educational program focusing on local action to respond to the climate crisis, forming a vision of a common, sustainable future for Vukovar and acquiring management and communication skills visions into concrete community actions. For this purpose, students of the Technical School Nikola Tesla from Vukovar on November 29 and 30 participated in an interesting and educational workshop called Climate Collage, which aimed to raise awareness of the problem of climate change. In addition to providing scientific facts, this activity develops the creativity and communication of the participants. The workshop was held in the newly opened Intercultural School Center, and the leaders were Ivana and Dubravka from the Tatavaka Association from Zagreb, which is one of the partners in this project. The continuation of interesting workshops is planned for the end of January 2022.