BackYouth for Sustainable Living is all about increasing awareness and engagement towards sustainable living and sustainable choices among people in the Nordic countries – with a special focus on youth. The project is one out of six complementing projects within the cross-sectoral programme “Sustainable living in the Nordic Region” that runs until December 2024.
In practice, the project has initiated collaboration with a number of youth-led organisations across the Nordics that know how to get their peers to act for sustainable living and climate neutral communities. For instance, through peer-to-peer learning, inter-generational dialogue, high-school hackathons, youth inclusion in local politics, activism, and campaigning. The project seeks to have a broader public impact by also sponsoring Nordic platforms and meeting places for inspiration and demonstration of necessary lifestyle changes. Last but not least, we invite young role models to speak at panel discussions and important events promoting SDG12 (sustainable consumption and production) and we collaborate with young influencers for sustainable living.
In 2023, many project activities revolve around three Nordic youth events:
- Ungdommens Folkemøde NORD in Copenhagen, 21–22 April
- ReGenereation Week in Åland, 11-15 August
- Nordic Youth Month and Summit in Iceland in November
The project will add a sustainable living perspective to the events by supporting speakers and content presented by our partners, the youth-led organisations. We also promote collaboration between them, so they can exchange strategies and methods and boost their impact on society.
In 2022, the project initiated a study on Gender and Youth Engagement together with NIKK: Why are more women than men involved in youth organisations for sustainable living? What are the keys to more diverse recruiting? And are there differences between rural and urban youth? First results should be ready for discussion during the Nordic Youth Month in November 2023.
Other project activities include:
- Webinar on youth engagement for sustainable communities, plus policy brief.
- Youth focus group on green transition and sustainable living with NJUST project: Main messages and recommendations will be summarized in a policy brief.
- Workshop on sustainable living in rural areas with GenZ Agency project.
- Panel discussion at Nordregio Forum and MR-R meeting in Iceland in Oct.
Partners:
Important partners include youth organisations enrolled in Nordic Civ Network for sustainable development: Agenda 2030 point-persons at the National Youth Associations across the Nordics (LSU, LNU, DUF, etc.); Re-Generation 2030 network founded in Åland with Nordic-Baltic outreach; Danish sustainable food systems think-tank Frej; Future Minds Sweden running SDG hackathons in high schools; and Samfes Iceland that will manage the Youth Month together with NORDBUK and many others.
Contacts:
Project Manager Åsa Ström Hildestrand, Nordregio
Communications Advisor, Sofia Strömgård, Nordregio
Project page on Nordregio’s website
