Oct 01 2019
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Are you interesting in volunteering in Athens for Green and Social Innovation?

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The social enterprise Wind of Renewal (Anemos Ananeosis in Greek) is looking for European Solidarity Corps’ participants from Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherland, Sweden, Norway and Spain interesting in volunteering in Athens for Green and Social Innovation. Please, if you are interesting in participate, send an email and a letter of interest, plus your cv to windofrenewal@gmail.com

Wind of Renewal (Anemos Ananeosis in Greek) aims at promoting, innovating, and defining new forms of social and green practices adopting a sustainable approach (see our web site: https://anemosananeosis.gr/en/main-page-en-2/)

Welcommon Hostel represents our main project, through which we want to combine the social inclusion and job integration of refugees and young people in Athens, considering and raising awareness about energy and green transition (see our website: www.welcommonhostel.gr ). Our project was born as a way of facing the crises that have struck our country such as: rising unemployability, energy poverty, isolation of marginalized groups and criminality in Athens.

On the one side, the main goal of the project is to provide different activities to children in school age, teens, and adult refugees/migrants by adopting a non-formal education approach. We want to improve their soft and hard skills so that they can also contribute to their host communities. On the other side, we want to raise awareness about green economy and related innovative practices, since the lack of knowledge about these issues is connected to social problems like the social exclusion of marginalized groups.

These results can be achieved by creating a strong multicultural network to exchange best practices and by sharing experiences for sustainable solutions. In particular, the volunteers who will join the project will be the main protagonists of its success, and this experience can represent for them an opportunity to work in a multicultural environment with multifaceted needs, increasing their motivation for future engagement in solidarity activities.

What are the project’s long and short-term aims and how do they link to the objectives of the European Solidarity Corps?

Our first short-term aim is to promote social inclusion through non-formal educational activities covering a wide range of topics: environmental education, language lessons (mainly English, German, and Greek), painting, music lessons, theatre, dancing, handcraft by using recycling materials, and cooking lessons. As well, we would like to realize workshops on art therapy, gender issues, energy transition, reuse, recycling, fire prevention, and work on vocational training.Moreover,outdoor activities (e.g. visits to museums or to cultural centres) are strongly encouraged.Our non-formal approach is based on the knowledge that most of the participants are children who live in Camps in Athens and do not attend the formal school system, so this program is the only educational framework they would get.

Our second short-term aim is to provide a deep knowledge about green energy tools and push for their application through an exchange of experiences and good practices from experts, volunteers and refugees. In particular, we want to underline how all the participants in our project, refugees but also volunteers themselves, can exploit this knowledge in a job market that ismore and more oriented towards these topics, raising their employability and increasing their skills and competences for personal, civic and professional development.

Finally, in the long term, we want to gain and share experience and implement practices for societal change and support them through the creation of a strong European multicultural network. This network will create common future goalsin fighting unemployment and poverty. As well, given that the volunteers will work with vulnerable people in a multinational group, this will create empathy and solidarity, raise participants awareness and understanding of other cultures and countries while simultaneously supporting their own professional development.

The context of the volunteering activities we are planning and how these will deliver our identified results and impacts.

There is a range of activities that are already taken place at our Project. In particular, we focus on two main branches as described below:

A1: Non-Formal Education:

Language lessons, including English, German, Greek, but also other psycho-social activities, art, music, theater, photography for vulnerable groups will be based on the support given by supportive offices andsocial workers’ network we are in contact with. Besides, volunteers with experience in the educational/pedagogical field are always welcomed to share new methods and ideas in the following working field: mentoring, evaluation, job integration, consultation ofparticipants and volunteers, communication with children’s parents, creation and development of new projects on female empowerment or vocational training.

The aim of this activity is the empowering and the capacity-building of the participants. In order for this to happen, opportunities such as language lessons, art, music, theater, photography, upgrading and practicing existing or new skills in upcycling or crafts, are used as a motivation for children to prepare them to attend the national formal educational system or to help the children that already attend it. As well, we want to create the ground for adults’ access to the labour market.

A2: Environmental education and Energy transition:

We want to focus on environmental education and energy transition by combining the work of professionals on green and social innovation (we are currently working on two projects related to this, YESClima and Climate Schools Be.At, both financed by the EU Climate Initiative (EUKI) of the German Federal Ministry for Environment) with the enthusiasm, experience and fresh ideas of refugees and volunteers.

The latter, indeed, can share good examples and ideas related to energy saving and social innovative methods, practices for empowerment of refugees and social inclusion in our hosting societies. The final aim is to reduce economic/social disparities caused by unemployment and energy poverty through the empowerment of marginalized citizens by raising awareness about the potential of this field and the related green job opportunities.

Topics addressed by our project

  • Empowerment and social inclusion
  • Non-formal education and training
  • Climate action, environment and nature protection
  • Green transition, energy efficiency, green innovation
  • Co-existence, respect, collaboration
  • Inclusion

The volunteers will organise seminars, workshops and activities on social and green ivvovation topics, open to all: locals, volunteers, migrants, refugees, tourists, students.

The profile, background and needs of the volunteers involved and how they havebeen or will be selected

Participants to the project will be young people aged from 18 to 30 years old willing to express their personal commitment through voluntary service in another country within European Union.

Based on the planned activities, a volunteer will be allocated in particular activity based on the age, the experience and the interest he/she has for each one of the activities. The final selection will be in cooperation with the sending organisation and the volunteer. Furthermore, due to the multicultural and multilingual background we seek to admit applicants from both genders for every needed activity. We want all the participants to have equal rights, regardless of gender or cultural background and we will ensure equal chances to each participant. Factors like, experience, academic background and motivation will be taken into consideration for the choice of the participants.

For all participants we will ensure equal selection, confidentiality and no discrimination. The participants will be selected by reviewing the applications for the position and the cover letter from the volunteers who are interested in to participating. For volunteers with fewer opportunities or knowledge of the concept of the selected activity, relative training will be provided them before the beginning of the activity from the support of other participants and the staff of Wind of Renewal/AnemosAnameosis.

Α1 Non formal Education:

With regards to activity A1, participants should have experience in the field of education and teaching. It is very crucial for the volunteers to consider the needs and difficulties but also the challenges that will might face when teaching people from other countries. Furthermore, it is worth to be mentioned, that it is important to have people with different cultural background so that the teaching experience becomes more multicultural. Similar to teaching experience, for the implementation of the psychosocial activities, the participants need to be trained and conscious about social issues, and to use methodologies that will empower and contribute to the social inclusion of traumatised and vulnerable groups. We would prefer volunteers that have relevant studies in fields such as occupational therapy, speech therapy, psychologists, pedagogues, social workers but also people that have worked in similar institutions and have experience in working with children and/or multicultural groups.

A2 Environmental education and Energy Transition:

The purpose of this activity is for specialized volunteers in environmental studies, to make the participants of Welcommon and local community aware of the importance of the environment protection as the concept and the relevance of recycling. Moreover, to inform them about green energy or possible ideas of job integration in the green jobssector. Electric engineers, chemical engineers, and researchers on the field of energy transition, renewable energy resources, energy poverty and recycling are areas of action and education that the participants for this activity should have in order to be able to have the desirable outcomes.

Measures put in place to embed a quality learning process from the start of the project and support the volunteers in defining and meeting their learning objectives, organising their reflection, identification and documentation of the non-formal and informal learning outcomes acquired.Please remember to include the methods that support reflection and documentation of the learning outcomes in the daily timetable of each activity.

We will encourage our volunteers to send us their Europass Curriculum Vitae (CV) and Language Passport. In case they do not have it, we are willing to support them with the advice and systematically support of the volunteers coordinator and mentor.

All participants of the project approved within these frameworks are entitled to receive a Youthpass certificate, and thus recognition for their non-formal learning outcomes. It is important to participants’ employability, but also to our evaluation and for documenting and recognising learning outcomes of our European Solidarity Corps Program. The responsibility to issue the Youthpass certificates to the participants/volunteers, in case they wish to receive them, is on our organisation. Besides, a system for sharing tasks and responsibilities it has already been developed and it is described in the Regulation of Volunteers, that must be signed both by the representatives of Wind of Renewal and by the volunteers.

All the participants are provided with initial training and introduction from our volunteer coordinator. Together, they will organise their personal timetable and do any necessary adjustments. There will be continuous feedback and communication as described below and a final evaluation. On a weekly basis, meetings will be held to reflect on each activity’s group member. In addition, in the daily timetable of each activity that will be uploaded (google docs), there will be a folder for documenting the learning outcomes for the better coordination and follow-up of the teachers/ volunteers. Volunteers will have the possibility of sharing their everyday experience through a FB page created by and for them. Furthermore, there will be a special space on our website, only for European Solidarity Corps Volunteers that we will promote the actions of the Project.

We encourage the volunteers to carry out the online language course and assessments provided by the Commission but also to participate in tutoring and language lessons offered in Wind of Renewal/Anemos Anameosis. We also suggest them to carry out a self-reflection on the learning outcomes of the EVS activity (through the use of Youthpass).

The general manager and the volunteer coordinator are in charge of all the issues regarding the internal administration of Wind of Renewal/Anemos Anameosis, sharing of responsibilities and tasks between the personnel, the volunteers, the refugees, the locals and the guests/travelers hosted by Wind of Renewal/AnemosAnameosis as well as the communication with external stakeholders and partners.

Learning outcomes (i.e. knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviours) to be acquired/improved by participants in each project activity

Each planned activity of the project will focus on different skills and attitudes of the volunteers. Apart from the practical outcomes, the aim is to establish a community building using social and green innovation. Locals, Refugees, Immigrants, Volunteers from Europe will work together combining their knowledge and various experiences.  Eventually, the learning outcomes will be different according to the activity in which the participants will be involved in.

A1 Non-formal Education: Non-formal education consists one of the basic group activities that Wind of Renewal/Anemos Anameosis offers.

  • As a learning outcome of language classes, participants will gain experience in teaching to multilingual/multicultural groups and also, they will develop the ability to find alternative ways of communication given the possible difficulties that might be raised.
  • With regards to psycho-social activities, participants will gain the experience of 1-1 mentorship and will have the opportunity to create closer relationship with refugee children and adults.
  • Amongst the competences they will develop there is the participants’ capacity to use creative and innovative ideas and methods to a demanding and complex environment. Participants will gain substantial knowledge through this experience.
  • While the target group for this activity is multicultural and multinational, participants need to act differently referring not only to the psychological and social issues but also according to people’s different backgrounds.
  • Responsibility will be strongly acquired as long as good sense of teamwork.
  • During each activity participants will have the opportunity to improve their knowledge through practice, always in respect of human rights.
  • Volunteers will need to be organised, structured and self-sufficient in order to follow the institution’s daily activities.

 A2 Environmental education and Energy Transition: Participants of that activity will pass their knowledge on environmental topics, such as energy poverty and energy transition to a group of young people and refugees so for them to experience, understand and also exchange knowledge about environmental policies in other European countries.

  • Adaptability and creativity are needed.
  • The role of the volunteer will be to conduct research, collect and analyse data as well as to draft reports.
  • The participants in this activity will have the opportunity to get and exchange experience on topics such as energy transition and energy poverty by providing case studies from their countries of origin or other examples.
  • At the same time will be responsible to get further understanding about this topic and how is being implemented in Greece.
  • During each activity participants will have the opportunity to gain experience by working in a multicultural environment as well as to improve their knowledge through practice always in respect of human rights.
  • Volunteers need to be organised, structured and self-sufficient in order to follow the organisations’ daily activities.
  • Competences such as organizability, flexibility, creativity, determination, stability, respect for human rights, sense of giving, interest in refugee’s issues, love for children, dynamism are basic principles for the implementation of every activity.

Our project will make use of  

  • Youthpass Certificate
  • Europass Curriculum Vitae (CV)
  • Europass Language Passport

Number of volunteers

A1 Non-formal Education Individual Volunteering  12

A2 Environmental Education and Energy Transition 9

Activity Description – A detailed description of the activity

Non-Formal Education Program at Welcommon:

From Monday to Friday afternoon (from 14 until 18 o’clock), there is a kids-program for non-formal education at Welcommon where refugee/migrant children in school age (6 – 15 years) are able to do not only their homework but also different creative activities (max 10-15 children). The Volunteers will be providing an intercultural program covering, for example, painting, music, theatre, dancing, gardening, and handcrafts by using recycling materials.

The program must also includes Maths /Greek/ English lessons to prepare the children for the school.

These activities take place on the first and second floor of the facility. As well, we will organize regularly outdoor activities around the neighbourhood but also educational day trips (like museum, cultural centres, etc.). We are planning to find again a framework for the kids to be allowed to play in the afternoons at the schoolyard of the primary school close to the Hostel, so they can have a contact with the school environment.

For most of the participating children, our program is the only educational framework they get, so the aim is to give to the kids a stable setting and empower the kids through educational games. The volunteer will be first accompanying the activities so as to get to know the program, the participating children and the way of working. Later, they will be able to take over own activities and or create own projects.

Through network with the parents and other adult refugees of the community there is space for additional activities like sewing / upcycling clothes and other educational, creative or gender-based offers for different target groups and aims (for example women empowerment).

The volunteer will also have a interaction/network with local schools and other organisations or projects, will be able to share new methods and ideas and to create new concepts in the following working fields: mentoring, evaluation, job integration, consultation of participants and volunteers, communication with parents of participating children, creation and development of new projects towards female empowerment, vocational training, networking and building cooperation with other organisations (like Melissa, Heal into action, Caritas, …).

Language is the key to integration! We provide language lessons for teens, women and adult refugees and migrants, which want to learn a new language or to improve their language skills, to enhance their community competences and thereby increase their opportunities on the labour market, break isolation, empower themselves and promote their integration in society.

The lessons take place at Welcommon from Monday to Friday in the framework of our non-formal education activities. The main focus at the moment is on English and German lessons (opportunity/capacity for more languages). The lessons are divided into different levels to ensure similar language skills in each class and to achieve better results. The mainly focus of the lessons are on practical issues, learning useful vocabulary for their interactions and communication in daily life. We focus on one subject during each class with specific thematic e.g. ”meet and greet”, supermarket, school” etc. Learning useful vocabulary for their interactions in the country they are going. The material we use are from professional organizations, to ensure the teaching material is up to date. German classes are separated into a beginner and an advanced course.

The English class is separated into beginner or advanced and also in adults or teens, so we can provide a teaching method that is appropriate to their different needs. Also, we have a English class only for women. For new students we will also provide a literacy course twice a week if it is needed.

In Welcommon Hostel, there are specially designed teaching rooms with the capacity up to 25 students at the same time. The lessons are 1-1,5 hour each and every course has 2 or 3 times a week classis.

The courses are not certificated and are based on voluntariness, nevertheless we want our students and teacher to show continuity and stability to ensure a sustainable teaching for the community. We want to welcome everybody in the intercultural courses, they are open to all: volunteers, locals, refugees, migrants, guests/travels. Each person can be at the same time “student” and “teacher”.

The volunteer will participate in our weekly meeting and the weekly reflection/evaluation session. Also, all the volunteers are in daily interaction in person and through a group on social media.

The volunteers write reports about the progresses and used materials, methodologies, visited workshops.

Some of our participants also attend together in extra happenings of our Project like Football, cooking (international evenings), music events, language exchange evenings, board games events, to promote integration.

How many people can we host in our project

A1: Activity: Non-Formal Education

  • 5 persons  X 60 days (from Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Norway, France, Sweden etc)
  • 4 persons X 90 days (from Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Norway, France, Sweden etc)
  • 3 persons X 120 days (from Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Norway, France, Sweden etc)

A2. Activity: Environmental education and energy transition

  • 5 persons X 60 days (from Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Norway, France, Sweden etc)
  • 2 persons X 90 days  (from Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Norway, France, Sweden etc)
  • 2 persons X 120 days (from Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Norway, France, Sweden etc)
Sep 14 2019
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Young people from Greece and Spain visit Berlin to be trained in natural cooling and heating

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4 young people from Greece and 4 young people from Spain visit Berlin for 15 days to study good examples of energy saving in buildings and to be trained in natural cooling and heating techniques as well as applying renewable energy in buildings

The visit to Berlin took place in the framework of the program “YESClima: Youth work for the climate protection and energy saving”, 17/08/2019 to 31/08/2019 with the aim of educating the young people from Greece and Spain on energy and saving issues. The Greek team started the “energy” trip to Berlin where it had the ability to attend at seminars in combination with visits and return back to Athens with full of knowledge for the next months in order to be able to work for climate protection as well as for energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings. 

  

About the project YESClima

The objective of our project YESClima is to train young energy experts to carry out energy audits in primary schools, providing advice to the municipalities involved in the project. With their practice and additional training, our goal is to increase their chances of working.

Project Partners:
University of Cádiz / Universidad de Cádiz (UCA) (leader), Anemos Ananeosis / Wind of Renewal, Energía y Sostenibilidad Provincia de Cádiz – Energy Agency of Cadiz (APEC), Fundación Medio Ambiente, Sekretariat für Zukunftsstudien Berlin an der Freien Universität Berlin – Secretariat for future studies Berlin at the Free University Berlin (SFZ).

The project has the following goals:

1. to improve the indoor climate and thermal comfort for teachers and pupils.

2. to provide energy savings in the heating and cooling of buildings, and thus also economic savings for the local authorities that manage the schools, thereby reducing CO2 emissions from the schools.

3. to increase awareness among the communities involved, especially in the schools themselves, of the urgent need to save energy and to generate it in a more environmentally friendly way.

4. to step up efforts to train unemployed young people and provide secure jobs working on the transformation towards a climate-friendly energy system.They will be trained in comprehensive energy audits, including economic aspects and, in particular, how to design, size and evaluate passive conditioning techniques in schools.

This project is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). It is the overarching goal of the EUKI to foster climate cooperation within the European Union (EU) in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

           

2d study visit to Berlin

The Greek team started the “energy” trip to Berlin where it had the ability to attend at seminars in combination with visits and return back to Athens with full of knowledge for the next months. 

At the first day, took place a meeting with Mr. Hartwig Berger who presented to the team the climate crisis of today and that it is urgent to act now for climate protection. They talked about the global warming and the global temperature that is rising. At 2 degrees Celsius it will be inevitable to affect climate crisis. After that, they spoke about the “energy communities” and their role in our societies, as an example schools could produce more energy than they need so they could be the energy producers of a whole neighborhood.

  • The first visit consisted of a talk about natural techniques of cooling at the building of the Institute of Physics in Berlin/Adlershof. The growing issue of draught as forests are getting dryer as well as lakes and rivers are losing their water amounts was pointed out. The existence of low quality water was also pinpointed. The team was informed about the fact that 80% of precipitation is converted to evaporation. One important point was that almost all rain comes from the small water cycle. Specifically, at the Institute of Physics it was mentioned that 5cm water is needed at the roof top bottom. Each building is surrounded by 947 plants useful both for cooling and shading. Another way of building cooling systems mentioned was evaporative rainwater-based exhaust air cooling. It was suggested also to reuse all types of water, such as rainwater and greywater. But attention should be put on legionella in these types of water and probably use of UV radiation to avoid possible infections.

 

  •  Visit at a nursery in renovation which will be cooled without any emission by combining natural techniques of ventilation with intelligent shading. There was a glass roof, while also 14 ventilators were used for air exchange.

  • Visit at Peetzig village, 2 hours outside Berlin. There was a house where some operations were taking place for insulation of the outside of the building with natural materials such as straw and loam. Help was offered to them to build the insulation system. Afterwards, there was a visit to the farm of the property where there were some ecological practices such as composting, use of the outside toilet without using water but straw etc.

  • Visit to the nonprofit organization Ufa Fabrik, which is a multifaceted area offering infrastructure for many activities, like hostel, restaurants, cafes and bakeries. The most important is that there is a place with many eco-friendly functions. Specifically, it uses photovoltaics to save energy in combination with green roofs for the natural cooling of buildings. In addition, it collects the rainwater for minor uses, such as flash toilet.

  • Visit at the Parliament of Berlin where a lecture was held by Stefan Taschner, a member of the Green Party, on the policies pursued to save energy and especially on the management of electricity and the strategies for phase out of lignite by 2020, carbon by 2030 and zero emmissions of CO2 by 2050.

  

  • A visit to the building of the german newspaper TAZ. It’s a good example of how to heat and cool a new building only using the energy produced from the inside. Specifically, it has an adiabatic cooling system, an energy recovery system for heating and a green roof. Meanwhile, the offices have sound insulation and also there is control of the quality of air. It’s worthwhile to note that there is only use of tap water and not rainwater because of the bacteria Legionella.

 

  • The MärkischeScholle is a cooperative apartment association where tenants have shares of the association as long as they rent apartments. There is a heating system for every 4 buildings, heating is stored under 3 layers and there is insulation on tops and laterals of the buildings. Solar panels are used for heating water and storaging the heat. Adiabatic heating is used. The apartments have simple independent built-in air regulation system. Energy is used from both solar panels and Berlin grid. 80% of the energy for heating is provided by solar and geothermal systems.

     

  • At the Free University of Berlin, since 2002 exists a “Unit for Sustainability and Energy Management” and the goal for the university is to become climate neutral by 2025. Furthermore, energy management will be maintained by permanent staff and volunteer users. A non-destructive intrusion to the current energy provision system is decided. A ‘green’ IT program for the monitoring of the energy consumption is also introduced at FU as well as a “bonus system” for the departments. Specifically, the data from the university show:

         a) 26% energy consumption decrease within the decade 2001-2011,

        b) 99% reduction in heating oil usage (affecting total heat consumption),

      c) 81% reduction of CO2 emissions in electricity (due to ‘inhouse’ energy production due to photovoltaics; which affects the total CO2 emissions).

  • Visit at Low energy primary schoolHohenneudorf – Niederheide. It is a green school, with smart shade and ventilation systems, green facades and solar panels at the roof. Every classroom had its own room for wardrobe and bathroom where the ventilation was taking place through air pipes from the classrooms.

  • The last 3 days of the program included a workshop by FIAP e.V. Introduction to the design and management of educational and professional biographies. Interviews between the Greek and Spanish teams also took place. Creating responsible ‘green’ entrepreneurship has been proposed and developed. On the last day, mixed Greek-Spanish teams presented 2 business proposals using the business model ‘canvas’ to compost restaurants’ waste and to exploit rainwater to generate electricity.

 

About the team

The second greek team of 4 young people who are being trained in energy saving issues, being Iro Maria Antoniou (Physicist and MSc Microelectronic Engineer), Marianna Basoulou (Graduated from the department of Forestry and Management of Environment and Natural Recourses DUTH (Integrated Master)), Antonios Papadopoulos (Mechanical Engineer & MSc Environmentalist), Zacharoula Piralisvili (Philosophy and Social Studies, M.A. International and European Studies). 

During the implementation of the project energy audits will be carried out in schools – that have been selected – jointly with students and teachers on the basis of a participatory methodology developed under the EUKI “Climate Schools Be.Ath“ project, in which Wind of Renewal is a partner. The energy audits will be carried out by the four trainees in collaboration with the educational communities of the schools. Following the audits, low, medium and high cost proposals for the energy upgrade of schools, will be drafted.

Wind of Renewal cooperates with the MUnicipalities of Agios Dimitrios, Kaisariani and Vrilissia where the energy audits and the proposals will be implemented with the goal of  Zero Emissions Buildings (schools)

 

 

Sep 14 2019
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73 Climate Schools present their work for climate protection in Athens

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The art and environemntal works of 73 primary and secondary school students were presented during the second open event of the “OPEN SOCIETIES AND SCHOOLS IN CLIMATE PROTECTION AND ENERGY TRANSITION (CLIMATE SCHOOL Be.At)” project on 16-17 of May, 2019, at “Technopolis” of the Municipality of Athens. The project was implemented jointly by the Municipality of Athens and the Social Co-operative “Wind of Renewal“, the German citizens’ initiative “Respect for Greece” (RfG) and the German “Independent Institute of Environmental Issues” (UfU).

 

The event was inaugurated by the Mayor of the City of Athens, Giorgos Broulias. The mayor referred to the project and other related actions of the Municipality for climate change.

 

Maria Iliopoulou vice-Mayor for the child, presented the actions implemented in the schools. Maria Iliopoulou mentioned that the program is part of the general action of the City of Athens in the framework of its commitment to adapt to climate change and save energy in school buildings. Furthermore, an extended research project was carried out under the authority of the Institute for Educational Policy and until the finalisation of the project a comprehensive action plan for climate protection and energy saving for the school buildings of the municipality will be delivered to the new munic-ipal authority of the city of Athens.

The vice-Mayor responsible for the environment Eleni Myrivili stressed the fact that cities are playing a crucial role in climate change and can be pioneers in this effort.

The regional director of education in Attica, Giorgos Kosivas, noted that climate change is one of the major threats humanity faces and must be tackled now and not sometime in the future. We must take action and protect the environment with the cooperation of citizens, governments and other organisations.

The director of primary education of Athens, Anastasis Papageorgiou was represented by Maria Dimopoulou, responsible for environmental education, who underlined the importance of implementing energy saving programs in all schools, not only
those of the municipality of Athens.

The director of secondary education Ioanna Psina, was represented by Kostis Kontogiannis. Ioanna Psina expressed her belief that students, through their participation have realised in a great extent the importance of climate protection.

Hilde Schramm, on behalf of the German citizens’ initiative “Respect for Greece” (RfG), partner of the project, referred- among other issues- to RfG’s contribution in conceiving the idea of the project and promoting the cooperation between Greece
and Germany in climate protection issues.

Nikos Chrysogelos, on behalf of the Social Cooperative “Wind of Renewal” instead of greeting, called a group of children and together loudly said a slogan in favor of climate protection.

Later, Kostis Kontogiannis, the academic responsible of the program, discussed about the importance of the program and presented the implemented steps of the project.

The next part of the event included a short presentation of the implemented training of teachers, from the coordinators of Education for Sustainability, Achileas Mandrikas and Christina Papazisi.

The event concluded with a round table discussion of students and teachers, who presented their experience. In the round-table participated the students: Ilias Mathioudakis, Aggelos Asimakopoulos, Rafail Papoulias and Rania Stavrelopoulou and the teachers: Panagiotis Lazos and Vasiliki Ioakimidou.

On Friday 17th May 2019 approximately 1300 students and teachers, together with the Vice Mayor for the Child, Maria Iliopoulou and members from Respect for Greece, participated with great enthusiasm in a march for climate at the Dionysiou Aeropagitou pedestrian street, as part of the “OPEN SOCIETIES AND SCHOOLS IN CLIMATE PROTECTION AND ENERGY TRANSITION (CLIMATE SCHOOL Be.At)” project. The march, accompanied by the Municipality of the City of Athens band, ended at “Technopolis” complex of the Municipality of Athens where the students were devided according to their school class and read out loud their resolutions, which were afterwards handed to the Municipal authorities.

All participants were awarded by the vice-Mayor for the child, Maria Iliopoulou and the Mayor of the City of Athens, Giorgos Broulias. The 54th and 130th primary schools of Athens presented songs they had prepared. After the award ceremony, students and teachers visited the exhibition of the student works related to the climate initiative, while a delegation of students, accompanied by two teachers talked about their experience and the need for raising awareness at the “Dames Spathi” radio show of the Municipality of Athens radio station, Athina 984fm.

     

The project participants:
The Municipality of Athens and the Social Cooperative Company “Wind of Renewal”, the German citizens’ initiative “Respect for Greece, RFG and the German “Independent Institute of Environmental Issues” UFU.

The program is implemented under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and aims at saving energy in school buildings and raising awareness of students on climate change.

73 schools and 200 teachers of Athens Municipality schools participated in the project.

This project is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI). EUKI is a project financing instrument by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The EUKI competition for project ideas is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. It is the overarching goal of the EUKI to foster climate cooperation within the European Union (EU) in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.’

EUKI

The opinions put forward are the sole responsibility of the author (s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

The events were implemented with the cooperation of the Athens Municipal Radio Athens 9.84 & Arcoiris.

The events were hosted by Technopolis of the Municipality of Athens