About Forest Youth

The Forest Youth project aimed to improve 4 areas in the youth field:

(1) Youth Wellbeing: In a survey of UNICEF (2021) with young people across the EU, almost 1 in 5 responded that they identified as suffering from mental health problems or symptoms such as depression or anxiety. Participants described a complexity relating to their desires to receive greater mental health and wellbeing support. The Forest Youth project based on Forest Bathing methodology aimed to improve youth’s health & wellbeing, including low blood pressure, decreased stress, improved mood, reduced anxiety, increased ability to concentrate, etc.

(2) Inclusion: the activities of the Forest Youth project were focused on the main target group – marginalised youth. So, in engaging and connecting activities, they developed a sense of belonging to the community, better social inclusion via common goals and activities.

(3) Youth Entrepreneurship & Initiative taking: during the empowerment and initiative-taking sessions marginalised youth developed a sense of entrepreneurship, gained a number of transversal skills and will were empowered to take action. The beneficial outcomes to youth empowerment programs are improved social skills, improved behaviour, increased academic achievement, increased self-esteem and increased self-efficacy.

(4) Actions on Climate Change: Youth is identified as one of the nine major groups of civil society in Agenda 21, with the right and responsibility to participate in sustainable development. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Article 6 on Education, Training and Public Awareness, calls to implement educational and training programmes on climate change to educate, empower and engage all stakeholders. The Forest Youth project calls youth to act NOW and TODAY!

The following results were achieved during the project lifetime:

– Methodology for youth workers “Forest Youth: from improving Youth Wellbeing to Empowering Youth for Actions” (65 full pages / 130 pages in Canva) in English, Lithuanian, Italian, Spanish, Greek and Bulgarian;

– Project website where all produced materials are published as open source.

– 65 youth workers/trainers were trained during the piloting stage of the methodology;

– Project Facebook page & Instagram, to keep followers updated about the project (frequency once a week) with over 653 followers.

– 433 youth participated in Forest Youth activities, initiated and organised initiatives on the fight against climate change;

– Forest Youth Platform which is available in English, Lithuanian, Italian, Spanish, Greek and Bulgarian languages, with almost 400 members in our Forest Youth Communities on Facebook

– 49 initiatives by young people were organised.

– 6 multiplier events with 260 participants, ready to implement Forest Youth methodology in their organisations and their daily activities.
 

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them. [2021-2-LT02-KA220-YOU-000049110]

All resources are published under the Creative Commons License CC BY-ND 4.0.

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