EUROPEAN PROJECTS

GreenCitizens: Digital Empowerment for Environmental Civic Action of Youth in Schools and Communities

The project

GreenCitizens: Digital Empowerment for Environmental Civic Action of Youth in Schools and Communities

Project number: 2024-3-RO01-KA210-YOU-000287028

Programme: Erasmus+ – Small-scale Partnerships in Youth / KA210-YOU

Duration: 1 February 2025 – 31 March 2026

Partner

• ATES – Asociația pentru Transformare Educațională și Socială – Romania, coordinator https://aptes.ro/
• UN/LAB S.N.C. – Italy, partner https://www.un-lab.it/

The project

GreenCitizens is an Erasmus+ project designed to strengthen the role of young people in environmental protection through the conscious use of digital tools, online communication and civic participation.

The project involved young people aged 17–23 from Romania and Italy, with the aim of helping them become active citizens capable of identifying environmental challenges in their communities, communicating them effectively and proposing concrete solutions through digital campaigns, participatory tools and public actions.

GreenCitizens responds to three key Erasmus+ priorities: environment and fight against climate change, digital transformation, and the promotion of youth active citizenship. The project also addresses digital skills, environmental education and the creation of digital content for civic purposes.

Context

Young people live in communities increasingly affected by environmental challenges such as air pollution, unsustainable waste management, excessive water consumption, biodiversity loss and pressure on urban green spaces.

At the same time, many young people use digital tools and social media every day, but they do not always have structured competences to turn these tools into advocacy, awareness-raising and civic participation actions.

GreenCitizens was created to bridge this gap by combining digital skills, environmental education and civic engagement, offering young people practical tools to design campaigns, communicate with local communities and engage with stakeholders, schools and institutions.

Specific objectives

The project aimed to:

1. Strengthen young people’s digital skills for environmental advocacy.
2. Promote active youth participation in schools and communities.
3. Develop youth-led environmental campaigns on concrete local issues.
4. Foster cooperation between Italian and Romanian youth.
5. Create open and replicable educational tools, including the GreenCitizen Toolkit.
6. Raise public awareness on sustainable mobility, water saving, recycling, biodiversity and plastic reduction.

Target groups

Direct target group:

• Young people aged 17–23 from schools, youth organizations, student networks and local communities interested in the environment, sustainability, digital communication and active citizenship.

Indirect target group:

• Educators, youth workers, schools, families, local communities, environmental organizations, territorial stakeholders and public decision-makers interested in strengthening youth participation in environmental policies and practices.

Project activities

The GreenCitizens project included five main activities. This section presents the public and educational activities implemented by the partnership, excluding Activity 1, which was dedicated to internal project management.

Achieved results:

1. National Roundtables

The National Roundtables represented the first participatory stage of the project. The activity was designed to create structured dialogue between young people, educators, local representatives and stakeholders on environmental sustainability, digital transformation and civic participation.

The common methodology involved youth representatives and local decision-makers, with the aim of collecting needs, ideas and proposals useful for the development of the following project activities. In Italy, the Roundtable contributed to the design of the Digital Skills Evaluation Questionnaire, while in Romania the questionnaire was tested and validated with young participants.

The questionnaire analysed the relationship between young people, digital competences and environmental participation, assessing aspects such as the use of social media to communicate environmental issues, familiarity with digital tools for environmental monitoring, knowledge of online civic platforms and the ability to evaluate the credibility of environmental information.

The analysis showed that many young people feel confident in creating digital content and using social media, but have less experience with online civic tools, digital petitions, participatory platforms, environmental apps and data visualization tools.

2. GREENCITIZENS TOOLKIT

The GreenCitizens Toolkit is one of the main results of the project. It was developed as a practical, educational and interactive resource to help young people, educators and youth workers understand how digital tools can support environmental civic action.

The Toolkit was designed to transform ideas into concrete actions: from defining a local environmental problem to building a digital campaign, from creating online petitions to communicating with local authorities, and from using environmental data to better communicate problems and solutions.

The Toolkit includes five main chapters:

1. Digital activism for the environment.
2. Creating and disseminating digital petitions.
3. Monitoring environmental data.
4. Engaging local administrations.
5. Case studies and replicable templates.

Each chapter includes accessible explanations, practical examples, recommended digital tools, quizzes, exercises and templates that can be used by schools, youth groups and local organizations. The Toolkit is designed as an open, transferable and reusable resource beyond the end of the project.

3. Interactive Workshops for Youth-Led Environmental Campaigns

Activity 4 was the central educational and participatory component of the project. The five-day interactive workshops, implemented in Romania and Italy from 24 to 28 November 2025, involved young participants in a learning process based on non-formal education, teamwork, digital storytelling, environmental advocacy and transnational cooperation.

During the workshops, participants used the GreenCitizen Toolkit to develop youth-led environmental campaigns starting from concrete problems observed in their communities. The activity strengthened competences related to digital communication, campaign design, collaborative work, civic participation and the ability to transform an environmental problem into an effective public message.

In Italy, young participants developed five environmental campaigns connected to Perugia and Umbria:

Breathe Perugia

A campaign on sustainable mobility and air quality, connected to the local Bimbimbici initiative and to the promotion of cycling, walking and more sustainable alternatives to private cars. The campaign uses social media, digital storytelling, posters and a “Bike to School” challenge to engage young people, schools and families.

Ogni Goccia Conta

A youth campaign dedicated to water saving. Through social media posts, practical tips and a seven-day water challenge, the campaign invites young people and families to reflect on daily water consumption and adopt small responsible behaviours.

Riduci oggi, proteggi domani

A WhatsApp campaign on waste reduction and recycling, designed to spread simple and replicable messages through school, family and community groups. The methodology is based on four steps: create, share, engage and amplify.

Voci per la Biodiversità

A youth-led radio campaign for the protection of biodiversity in Umbria. Participants created five audio messages dedicated to forests, rivers, pollinators, urban biodiversity and the future of local ecosystems, designed for local radio stations, podcasts, schools and social media channels.

Meno Plastica, Perugia Migliore

A campaign against plastic pollution in Perugia, based on local journalism and the production of an informative article. The aim is to reach not only young people, but also adults, families, institutions and local stakeholders through newspapers, newsletters and community media.

4. Green Civic Action Days

The Green Civic Action Days represented the final public dissemination phase of the project. The activity was implemented from 23 to 27 March 2026 in Bucharest and Perugia, with the aim of publicly presenting the environmental campaigns, digital tools and civic initiatives developed by young people during the project.

During the events, young participants presented the results of their work, explaining the environmental problems identified in their communities, the proposed solutions and the communication strategies adopted. The events encouraged dialogue between young people, educators, local stakeholders, communities and organizations interested in sustainability.

In Romania, the campaigns presented focused on the protection of Văcărești Natural Park, the promotion of small sustainable daily actions, the digital mapping of recycling collection points and urban air quality. In Italy, the campaigns developed in Perugia were presented, with particular attention to sustainable mobility, water saving, waste reduction, biodiversity and plastic pollution.

The Green Civic Action Days increased the visibility of youth-led initiatives and strengthened the role of young people as promoters of sustainability, active citizenship and environmental responsibility in their communities.