In a recent Eurobarometer protecting the environment and climate change was considered as the highest priority for the EU by 67% of young respondents. Youth participation in various social movements for climate and environmental protection, as well as consumption habits towards sustainable food and clothing further manifests the turn of the youth towards sustainability and alternative models of economic development. COVID-19 devastatingly also underlined the need to turn towards sustainable production and consumption and for alternative economic models in the future. At the same time, the percentage of youth unemployment is exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the unemployment is expected to soar, while young people have already been one of the most vulnerable groups emerging from the years of economic crisis and austerity (Eurofound). Projections on the full impact of COVID on youth in Europe is very dismal.

The Circular Economy Action Plan published by the European Commission highlights the importance of circular economy for achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and decoupling economic growth from resource use, while ensuring the long-term competitiveness of the EU and leaving no one behind. The new EU SME Strategy also promotes circular economy collaborations and knowledge transfer and further stresses its importance. At the job creation front, based on recent data, between 2012 and 2018 the number of jobs linked to the circular economy in the EU grew by 5% to reach around 4 million, which demonstrates the high potential for job creation and growth from exploiting the circular economy opportunities. The manifested job growth in circular economy turns even more salient in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic which risks to put European economies in a slumber, begs for new economic models and severely increase youth unemployment; in this context, circular economy and its job potential is a potential driver to increase youth participation in the labour market. The SYnC project sits at the intersection of these European realities and aims to develop an non-formal educational framework to introduce young people and youth workers to the circular economy and to unleash the innovation potential of the former.

What is the SYnC project about?

The SYnC project seeks to develop a non-formal educational framework with a two-fold aim: to forge behaviours and mindsets for sustainability and circular economy and to equip young people with knowledge and skills on building innovative business ideas fitted to the circular economy.

The educational framework will be based on a participatory approach with co-design and crowdsourcing activities to render it relevant and tailored to the target group’s needs. The SYnC project will follow non-formal and collaborative learning techniques geared towards experimenting, innovation and learning by doing.

Upon its completion, the SYnC project expects to have achieved the following results:

Project objectives