As the project came to an end, the activities of The Future We Want (FWW) project continued in various forms even after the end of the Caravan, thanks to the engagement of participants and partners. Numerous entities were involved, including radio stations, student associations, schools, international organisations and local authorities.
Since September we have been planning advocacy meetings and interviews, to grow awareness about the issue of Fast Fashion and the aims of the campaign. Here’s how we continued contributing to increasing young Europeans’ engagement with sustainability and development issues.
- At the beginning of October, some participants were interviewed by Romain L’Hostis, speaker of EURADIO, a local radio station in Strasbourg, France. The interview was later released as a podcast on their website. The aim was to present the project and talk about the advocacy meetings but also some anecdotes that happened during the caravan.
- On October 21st, 2024, some participants met Guillaume Libsig, Deputy Mayor of Strasbourg, responsible among other things, for community life and youth. During the meeting Mr. Libsig emphasised the need to create spaces that promote the issue and contribute to generating positive, not negative, support for the campaign.
- As part of these ongoing efforts, and to wrap up the project, the FWW dissemination event, La jeunesse et la politique : vers un nouvel espace plus inclusif ? (“Youth and politics: towards a new, more inclusive space”), took place on December 10, 2024, at the Institute of Political Studies in Strasbourg. Several organisations and individuals took part in the round table, including Alter Bureau, an ecological and solidarity association from Sciences Po Strasbourg; Alexandre Godonaise, President of the association Les Jeunes Européens – Strasbourg; Thibaut Terré and Nazarena Plumb, participants in the project; and Andrea Michelini and Fedoua Bouderdaben, Project Managers at ALDA.
- On December 13, 2024, we presented the project at Collège Notre-Dame-de-Sion in Strasbourg, where we discussed the main topics of the project, namely fast fashion and sustainability, with younger students (11-12 years old). To raise awareness of environmental issues and pollution, we engaged the students in interactive tasks after an initial discussion. The students proved to be informed and curious, enthusiastically participating in the proposed activities.
These two events provided an opportunity to share the FWW project with both university students and younger audiences, fostering dialogue and engagement on themes of politics, inclusion, and environmental responsibility.
- The last (for now) advocacy meeting was held with two members of the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe advisory council on December 13, 2024. Possibilities for future collaborations were discussed between them and some participants of the FWW who are truly committed to continue the project’s campaign even after its end.
- On December 14, 2024, a presentation to disseminate the results of the project was done by Andrea Michelini (Project Manager of FWW at ALDA), for the Business Academy 2024 organised by the Center for Career Development (CERK) to equip young adults in Bosnia and Herzegovina with essential project management skills. After introducing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Andrea Michelini presented the FWW as an example of an innovative socially responsible project.
- Last but not least, the groundwork was laid for a possible collaboration between the FWW participants and youth leaders of UNODC MENA Youth Regional Network. On December 9, Andrea Michelini met with Oweis Khaldoun, UNODC Head of Office in Palestine, and a second meeting is planned soon with our two groups of youth leaders in order to further discuss future synergies.
As part of the project consortium, ALDA is proud to announce that The Future We Want project is one of the 14 winning initiatives of the GENE Global Education Youth Award 2024.
GENE – Global Education Network Europe – recognises the importance of quality in Global Education through this Global Education Youth Award 2024. This Award identifies examples of quality Global Education practice in Europe and offers recognition and disseminates learning from such examples among policymakers and other stakeholders in Europe.
We are honoured to be part of this year’s winning initiatives and we want to thank everyone who made this possible: the 8 partners from 8 European countries, the 50 volunteers with whom we set off on this journey, the public authorities who listened to us and promised us their support (whether at local, national, or European level), and last but not least, the people who stopped and participated to the activities organised during the street campaigns.
Although the project is coming to an end, we hope that this is only the first of many more successes, and that the seeds planted by this project will continue to grow and build a more sustainable future for next generations across Europe and beyond.
