Project Detail

"Green" skills for youth

The relationship between environment and employment is evolving, from an initial focus on pollution control toward activities that transform the economy and avoid environmental damage. Investments in climate change mitigation and adaptation measures are impossible without respective experts.

The project aims to raise interest of youth in green skills and specializations necessary for sustainable and green development of the country. The main objective of the project is to increase awareness and competences of youth about climate change issues, mitigation and adaptation measures, energy production and conservation, so they will get ?green? skills and respective tools to do energy assessments of their schools and opportunity to implement their suggestions on energy efficiency improvements.

Project activities include:
- Elaboration of educational materials for youth, including energy assessment tool in excel.
- Selection of 8 schools from 4 different communities based on criteria. For the selection it is critical the willingness of the school to reinvest the saving from energy efficiency measures in ?green? activities.
- Awareness and competency development trainings for the teachers and pupils of 8 selected schools.
- Energy assessments of the schools done by pupils in coordination of respective teachers.
- Selection of 4 schools for the implementation of demonstration projects (improvement of indoor lighting, thermal insulation, installation of solar technologies etc.) with the direct participation of pupils.
- Implementation of demonstrations projects and monitoring.
- Creation of a database and platform for young experts, mentors and field experts.
- Knowledge transfer via experience exchange events between schools.

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Women in Climate and Energy NGO

Country:

Armenia

Area Of Work:

CapDev

Operational Phase:

OP6 - Y5 (Jul 19-Jun 20)

Grant Amount:

US$ 50,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 4,000.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 30,305.00

Project Number:

ARM/SGP/OP6/Y5/CORE/YCC/2019/27

Start Date:

12/2019

End Date:

12/2021

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Project sustainability

After increased competence of teachers it is supposed that educational materials on climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, need of development of ?green? skills among youth will be included in curricula and new children will join ?Green squads?. On the other hand, targeted schools according to the initial commitment will reinvest savings from demonstrative projects in other energy saving activities. It is planned to organize experience sharing events with other schools and create ?sister? schools for promotion of creation of ?Green squads? in other schools. Obtained knowledge and ?green? entrepreneurship skills will serve as basis for schoolchildren to spread green solutions in the community. The platform of mentors, teachers and schoolchildren will be a resource for consultations, mentorship, new projects and partnership building.

Gender Focus

Energy sector is seen as a man?s domain mostly due to perceptions that certain subjects at schools and, later, certain jobs are for one gender or another. That?s why many industries remain dominated by a single gender. In Armenia, women are usually associated with childcare and housework and men are usually seen as responsible for the economic well-being of their family as the main breadwinner and ?head of household?. This is linked with stereotypical gender roles and has a direct impact on unequal access to resources and economic opportunities. Decisions about studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Math are formed early and become more difficult to change as children grow older, girls losing interest, which reduces the pool of talent to enter energy sector. The project targets involvement of girls and boys equally to the activities and trainings by creating interest in ?green? specialties. Besides the above-mentioned the teams involve mostly women specialists for creating opportunities to develop skills and gain more experience in the field.

Capacity - Building Component

It is proposed to establish an expert group, which will include UNDP respective experts, for the development of educational materials on climate change mitigation and "green" technologies for schoolchildren. The curriculum will be based on the learning toolkit elaborated for schoolchildren in the scope of ?Climate Change Education and Awareness Project ? Climate Box? funded by Russia-UNDP Trust Fund and co-funded by UNDP, as well as on ?Green Architecture: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,? textbook, published by UNDP. Within the framework of this action it is envisaged to establish cooperation with the universities for engineering and / or schools for physics and mathematics. A set of complex capacity building activities, including trainings, workshops, exchange visits, meetings etc., targeted to improve community members, schoolteachers, schoolchildren knowledge and experience. Two-day capacity and competency development courses will be held for physics teachers from selected 8 schools aiming to provide them with the materials, guidelines etc. needed for coordination and mentorship of established ?Green squads?. The courses will also include discussions on designed learning materials, demonstration of green technologies through cognitive visits. Technology demonstration tools (compact infrared intensity scanners, lux meters, solar panel displays, etc.) and an excel calculator for simplifying energy assessments will be provided for schoolchildren.

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

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Linkages gef projects

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Planning gef grant

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Planning non gef grant

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Policy Influence

N/A

Replication of project activities

Projects implemented based on energy assessments are demonstrative for other communities and schools in the regions. Outcomes of the project will encourage other communities and schools to make energy assessments and invest in ?green? technologies not only in schools, but also in other public buildings by creating demand for energy specialists and ?green? jobs.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

The main objective of the Communication strategy is to raise awareness and knowledge of community members and all stakeholders on the project and its outcomes, as well as issues and solutions that the project targets regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation activities, including energy assessments, energy efficiency and use of renewable energy. The objective is also to promote behavioral and attitude change towards renewable energy and energy efficiency. Communication channels will include information dissemination through meetings, trainings, project events, exchange of experience, announcements boards, electronic newspapers, emails, social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) regional mass media representatives (TV and newspapers).

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The project activities are targeted to improve energy consumption profile of the schools, which will create savings for schools to implement other energy related projects. Additionally, these measures will increase the level of comfort of the schools. Heating and electricity costs in schools create additional burdens on the school and the state budget, while not providing an adequate level of comfort. Projects using green technologies have shown the feasibility of investing. Savings from operating and maintenance costs incurred as a result of measures to increase the energy efficiency of school buildings can be used in other ways, including the implementation of energy efficient measures. On the other hand, it is expected that knowledge and raised awareness among community members, teachers and pupils (up to 100) will contribute to energy improvements of participants? homes and houses having an effect on socio-economic picture of their communities and households.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

The project will focus on capacity and competence development of all stakeholders, building partnership among them. Developed training materials as well as energy assessment tool will have an open access on the organization?s website and other sources. Created database of young energy evaluators and e-platform will enable involvement of these trained youth in sectoral discussions and activities, development of obtained ?green? skills, consultations and mentorship opportunities. The project results, experience and lessons learned will be shared with stakeholders and other interested bodies at regional level (regional authorities, rural communities) and national level through project reports, public events and (social) media.

Policy Impact

The project will have a bottom up influence on the policy shaping, as the findings and results of the project will change the delivery of the public services by schools and communities. Constructive dialogue among all stakeholders and interactions with policy makers can have an impact on the decision of the regional administrations to replicate the practice in other regional schools. The project is in accordance with about 10 city?s Sustainable Energy Actions plans developed in the scope of EU Covenant of Mayors initiative. In other hand, awareness and competency raising activities will have an impact on behavior of participant?s and their strategical decision in choosing specialization that will lead to the improvement of the environment.

Notable Community Participation

Young generations occupy a unique position in relation to the threat of climate change. Unlike with other environmental challenges, the most severe impacts of climate change will affect future generations, who will be forced to address the threat and make radical transformations possible. The project targets youth aged between 12 and 17, who will be involved in trainings, experience exchange events and practical activities. The project will provide young people opportunity to implement their impactful and innovative ideas using renewable and energy efficiency technologies. For this reason, schoolchildren will be involved in energy assessments of their schools, generations of ideas of for improving energy efficiency of schools and implementations of that ideas which eventually will influence on selection of ?green? specializations, youth employment and/or will support youth entrepreneurship.

Project Results

The project will produce the following results:
1. Around 100 schoolchildren involved in ?Green squads? movement from 8 schools in 4 different communities
2. At least 8 schoolteachers trained for coordination of ?Green squads? movement
3. 100 trained schoolchildren gained knowledge on EE and RES through educational materials on climate change
4. Elaborated energy assessments of 8 schools by schoolchildren
5. Implemented renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency measures in 4 select schools by ?Green squads?
6. Reduced energy bills in schools resulting from energy performance of the buildings
7. Introduced Revolving Fund concept in 4 schools
8. Elaborated educational materials on climate change, mitigation and adaptation measures and technologies for schools
9. Created tool/excel file for data collection and calculations for simple energy assessments and monitoring of buildings
10. Created database of Young Energy assessors and platform of collaboration of mentors, schoolchildren, experts and teachers
11. Created experience sharing through ?Green squads? and promotion of ?Sister? school concept.

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Indicators

Empowerment

Number of CBOs / NGOs participated / involved in SGP project 4

Livehood

Number of individuals (gender diaggregated) who have benefited* from SGP project 80

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