In light of the events of the past few years (the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the economic crisis to name a few), environmental issues have been overlooked all over the world. The European Union is prioritising climate action to reduce the effects of global warming, which can be very difficult considering aforementioned issues. With this in mind, this project was born.
You(th) Play is a cooperative partnership project funded by the European Union, with the goal of educating young people on what they can do to help the environment. Mundus Bulgaria has taken it upon themselves to coordinate the project, as the lack of education in this sector is very prominent in Bulgarian society.
We believe in the power of Youth, and what they bring to the table as the next generation. Environmental education is crucial to create positive change in the world, but providing the right information in the right way has been proven to be difficult. In this project we intend to use the methodology of game based learning to make sure that the curriculum is properly retained by our target group.
The main results of this cooperation will be:
The established consortium is strategically scattered around Europe for optimal dissemination results and widespread impact. The exchange of good practices regarding our cultural knowledge of taking care of the environment is an additional plus of having a diverse team like ours.
Mundus Bulgaria - a non-governmental organization established in Bulgaria, specializing in developing competences in the fields of education, sport, and entrepreneurship.
Regionalne Centrum Wolontariatu (Περιφερειακό Κέντρο Εθελοντισμού) - a non-governmental organisation from Poland. They hold many years of experience in the field of volunteering, as they have been actively working on educating the Polish society on the idea of volunteering since 1997.
Innovation Hive - a private non-profit organization from Greece motivated to bring innovation to different areas of society, from entrepreneurship and education to creative industries and art.
Projects for Europe (PFE) - a Belgian non-governmental organization aiming to develop and promote a European identity all across the continent.
Instalofi Levante SL - FyG Consultores - a non-governmental organization from Spain that promotes lifelong learning in adults and youth. Their main scope of action revolves around developing the right skills to thrive in the labor market.
Quiztion LTD - a small web development studio from Bulgaria consisting of a passionate team motivated to help small and medium businesses in their online presence.
One thing we all have in common is extensive experience in working with youth. Even though the level of environmental knowledge in our respective countries varies, we can all see the same problem - that it’s just not enough.
At the end of October 2022 we held the project’s kick off meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria. During the meeting we went over each partner’s responsibilities and discussed how to proceed to reach our objectives to the best of our ability.
The first step was to structure the game. The game is going to be a competitive board game, where players will have to answer questions related to what they can do individually to improve their environment. The objective of the game is to have the most points by the time players run out of question cards.
The players move along a board divided by topics. The topics we chose revolve around low-waste living, sustainable travel, proper waste management, eco technology, and responsible consumption.
We want to encourage young people to introduce good habits into their everyday life, and empower them to take change into their own hands.
Currently we’re in the process of developing question cards and the website of the game. All information related to the project will be gathered on virtual-planet.eu, that will be coming soon.