Our home is on fire and we must act. Climate Change brings climate grief that must be transformed to meaningful activities. We empower youth by providing the opportunity to be the part of the change. Our youth, who has not contributed to climate change at all, will suffer its consequences the most. We must become leaders we need so desperately, and we need to become them immediately. We need space, tools and knowledge to build a better future.
Now!

Trnava, SW Slovakia - "Workshop" location + we provide online volunteer opportunities (Slovakia)

We address the lack of civic engagement in climate change and its intensifying impacts and provide voice to youth.

Our authorities still do not understand seriousness of the situation and thus, the responsibility for the adaptation is in our hands as citizens. Lack of relevant information, mistrust towards the institutions and not enough tools to tackle the issues are great obstacles for the public towards a positive change.

We aim to help to overcome the obstacles by creating a safe space in which we focus on providing information (scientific and legislative) and developing skills for the future, along with supporting active citizenship and participative policymaking. Moreover, we want to provide emotional support to those suffering with climate grief.

The voice of our youth must become huge part of public discourse. We strongly believe it is important to empower young active people with knowledge and skills to open and lead discussions, take a stand and vocalise demands in a constructive way. That is why our platform focuses on teaching, inspiring and motivating the youth to become active, participating and responsible citizens. We believe we can reach other members of the society as well.

As climate justice initiative, we put spotlight also on marginalised groups, people from disadvantaged and underdeveloped communities and women, these groups are more prone to impacts of climate (and every) crisis. We support also other initiatives and NGOs. Mutual understanding of our differences support quality cooperation.

The frustration and helplessness with the climate crisis, and the lack of interest from the politicians and state institutions are taking their toll on the youth.

The young generation feels the consequences of our actions as a humankind more strongly than any other generation before them. We provide the youth with meaningful leisure time and space, tools, strategies and means to battle the crisis. This includes providing not only enough information (scientific, legal), but also safe space to share their emotions, ideas, fears, hopes and plans among their peers, and provide support for the emotional trauma caused by the climate crisis.
Furthermore, we aim to motivate the youth to take action in constructive way.

1st, we want to create a physical space, “a Workshop” for community to meet and work on ideas together, but also learn various skills (mending broken things, sewing). "Workshop" has strong community character.

2nd, there is our “Green Newsroom” (news + podcast) to learn working with information (credibility, processing, legal issues,...). It also helps to verbalise demands, communicate assertively, use argumentation and gain debating skills. The "Newsroom" enables the advocacy of the climate crisis, and monitoring of legislative changes too.

3rd, created community and network of active people and organisations will lead to even more projects creation.

A. Climate grief turned into meaningful activity.

B. Youth to be well-informed, critically thinking citizens who are able to vocalise their demands in a constructive way, and contributing towards a sustainable, responsible and empathetic society that can face challenges of climate change.

C. Volunteer team-members from all over the country.

D. Raised awareness of the climate crisis and emphasised importance of the public interest in topics such as intersectionality and climate justice.

E. Participants with a set of skills beneficial in the labour market and their professional life.

F. Creation of better networking system and with other organisations and initiatives, as well as volunteers and members of the community. Because only together we are stronger.

The platform is an active member of a non-formal group of climate advocacy organisations in Slovakia. It continuously participates in providing comments to proceedings, communicates issues of climate crisis and related solutions, and actively promotes the principles of circular economy through various projects, events and activities. Our community work has been awarded numerous times and we are considered to be contributing members of the society.

We have a lot to offer and with the help of professionals from different areas we can offer even more. We strongly believe in inspiring, motivating and teaching the youth in a safe space and tools in order to engage them in active citizenship and to raise genuine interest in public service. The youth must have active role in policy making.

Our team manages the first community reuse centre in Slovakia, which aims to raise awareness of environmental and social topics, promote ideas of circular economy, provide simple solutions and alternatives to a more sustainable life and organize donations. As a community project we strive to promote ideas of sharing, charity, support, respect and responsibility through various events (swaps, workshops, repair cafes, talks, support groups). This specific project is based on the needs of our volunteers, as we would like to provide them with tools to tackle the issues they are facing.

Simona Hlaváčová - project manager, volunteers coordinator
Jana Reháková - experienced educator
Zuzana Šutová - research coordinator
Eva Hatalová - The Green Newsroom coordinator

The "Worskhop" costs - rental, preparation, equipment - 12800 EUR
"Green Newsroom" costs - reliable CRM system and website (design manual, audio and video tools, IT support) - 6590 EUR
education (lecturers’ fees, materials, handbooks, access to specialised libraries, online elearnings, Getting in the loop game) -8510
marketing costs (effective campaigns) 4900EUR
staff costs - 10300 EUR

Any feedback on our idea will be very helpful and we would also appreciate any ideas on fundraising and managing budgets. We are open to any ideas of cooperation.