Youth Lab Food Awareness Program
KAVA Contract 23802
Project duration: 8 months
Timeline: 02.2024 – 09.2024
Field addressed: Food education
Youth Lab Food Awareness Program
The Youth Lab Food Awareness Programme seeks to address the critical need for sustainable food awareness among young adults while also piloting a career pathway program to inspire their involvement in circular and sustainable economies or ESG-related fields. By engaging beneficiaries aged 15 to 23, the programme aims to instill informed decision-making regarding consumption habits, promoting physical health, emotional well-being, and career aspirations aligned with environmental sustainability.
Need behind the project
The need is represented by a gap in focusing on holistic, long-term practices that encompass healthy eating, self-sufficient food cultivation, and circular, sustainable economic habits to foster a more health-conscious and environmentally friendly way of life.
Primary Objectives
to establish a sustainable food awareness practice tailored to youth. (lead: Equação + iEL)
to pilot a mentorship program aimed at inspiring young adults, aged 15 to 23, to consider careers in circular and sustainable economies or ESG-related fields (lead: iEL)
Target Group
- Youth between 15 and 23 from Romania and Portugal, mainly from:
- Brasov county, Romania (120 per country)
- Amarante county, Portugal (120 per country)
- 200 youth in total involved in the workshops and overall events
How to achieve the objectives
- fostering an understanding of the existing lifestyle choices in comparison to healthier dietary standards.
- creating four interactive workshops, after a thorough data collection (survey, meal diaries and semi-structured interviews). (Equação + iEL)
- Delivering four initial workshops about:
- cultivating awareness about what, how, and when they eat;
- imparting knowledge on cultivating micro-produces and plants for personal consumption;
- advocating for the EU´s Farm to Fork strategies; and
- educating about circular and sustainable economic practices within their own localities
- designing of a pilot mentorship program aimed at inspiring young adults to consider careers in circular and sustainable economies or ESG-and CSR related fields.
- (5 career pathways + roadmap) (iEL)
Youth Lab Food Awareness Program Roadmap
What will partners do
Months 1-2: Feb - March
- Kick-off Meeting EIT FOOD - 7th Feb
- Kick-off Meeting - Partners (23 Jan)
- Identification of the educational institutions (private & public) that will participate in the pilot study; iEL
- Develop a semi-structured survey to assess meal habits and awareness of circular and sustainable economies; iEL + Equação
- Design and implement an intuitive meal diary system for interested participants; Equação + iEL
- Design the mentorship program by identifying 5 possible career pathways and designing a roadmap for each, input from professionals in the area; iEL
- Design of the first two proposed workshops: What, how, and when to eat?; How to cultivate micro-produces and plants for personal consumption? Equação + iEL
- Realization of the semi-structured interviews with the target group (200 interviews); iEL + Equ
Month 3: April
- Launch the standardised survey in both public and private high schools and universities across the identified regions; iEL + Equação
- Conduct insightful interviews with schools and universities in Brasov County that offer lunch meals. (Up to 5 interviews); iEL
- Engage with representatives from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education to gather policy perspectives. iEL
- Filming of the 5 testimonials that will be used in the program; iEL + Equação
- Launch of the mentorship program + presentations realized by the mentors in selected high schools and universities; iEL
- Design of the last two proposed workshops: Presentation of the EU's Farm to Fork strategies with applicability to the local context; Circular and sustainable local economic practices. Equação + iEL
Month 4: May
- Collect and compile responses from the standardized survey, ensuring a balanced representation across economic, regional, age, gender, and ethnic dimensions; iEL + Equação
- Interview key stakeholders such as student associations and organizations involved in circular and sustainable economy initiatives and healthy eating programs (up to 7 in total); iEL + Equação
- Delivery of the first two designed workshops. Equação
- Train the Team workshops - online: The Portuguese team will train the Romanian colleagues and stakeholders on practices of circular and sustainable economy and fair trade and the Romanian colleagues will train the Portuguese team on learning design strategies and implementation. Equação
Month 5: June
- Design of a a semi-structured survey about the mentorship program. + iEL
- Recording of more interviews for the career roadmap, outside corporate. + iEL
- Application of the semi-structured survey about the mentorship program. + iEL
- Delivery of the last two designed workshops. + Equação
Month 6: July
- Analyze the wealth of data collected from the survey, meal diaries, and interviews to identify emerging trends and patterns; + iEL
- Synthesize the insights from various sources into a comprehensive report that underscores representativity and outlines critical findings; + iEL
Throughout the entire six-month span, utmost consideration will be given to ethical data collection and privacy safegua
What abilities we want to develop?
Food awareness
Micro-planting cultivation
EU Farm to Fork strategies
Circular and sustainable economic practices
ESG & CSR, sustainable economy career pathways
PROJECT COORDINATED BY:
PARTNERS:
FINANCING
Funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are, however, solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the European Union or the European Agency for Education and Culture (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the EACEA can be held responsible for this.[Project No. 2021-1-SI01-KA220-SCH-000034499]