Ecotourism: authentic exploration as an Educational Tool.

Needs, Goals, Expected results and project type

Why do you want to carry out this project? What are the issues, problems and needs that
you are seeking to address through this project? Elaborate on the relevance of the need.

Society cannot solve a problem without acknowledging it. That is why everyone, including young
people, has to start taking responsibility for their actions while they’re traveling or hosting. After
all, becoming sustainable is not a choice, it is an obligation and ecotourism will have an immense
impact on the life of future generations.

Nowadays people are in the epicenter of globalization almost everywhere around the globe. We
are craving to visit new countries and discover new cultures. But at the same time, we are starting
to appreciate our own cultures more and more, because globalization gives us the possibility to
better distinguish cultural differences and find beauty and uniqueness in them. Ecotourism isn’t
just about environmental protection, but about respecting and valuing the cultural heritage of local
communities as well. It should help to preserve local customs, traditions and beliefs, and promote
intercultural understanding between tourists and host communities.

Since the involvement of local communities is crucial for the success of ecotourism, within the
framework of the project, youth should be the voice of their local people by Addressing
community concerns.

Providing Adequate Infrastructure is one of the core goals of ecotourism. Lack of appropriate
infrastructure, such as roads, transportation, accommodation and communication facilities, can
limit the growth of ecotourism, impact the quality of the tourist experience and increase the
negative impacts of tourism on the environment. We should ensure that everyone, especially
young people, has information about the importance of eco-friendly infrastructure, so they'll be
able to become the voices of their communities and act accordingly in case of emergency
situations.

Ecotourism must be sustainable over the long term, both environmentally and economically.
Youth should be able to find the right balance between conserving the environment and
promoting economic development, which requires careful planning and management to ensure
that tourism activities do not harm the environment or undermine local communities.

What is the expected result of your project? How will your project change the status quo?

Nowadays, in the process of globalization, the earth has become a ‘’small village’’, people are
traveling a lot and tourism blooms (especially after covid restrictions are finally lifted off). Project
aims to create environmentally and culturally conscious travelers and hosts who are motivated to
make a positive impact through their traveling/hosting experiences and are able to spread
awareness among youth.
Ecotourism should educate tourists about the natural and cultural heritage of the destination, and
raise awareness about environmental and cultural conservation. Our goal is to create
environmentally and culturally conscious travelers and hosts who are motivated to make a positive
 impact through their traveling/hosting experiences.
Participants will learn that while traveling, not only their own satisfaction is priority, but it is very
important for them to show an interest towards sustainability, and desire to learn about hosting
culture as well so in the end, their experience will be very unique.

What type of program will you choose for your project and what kind of activities do you
want to carry out?

Erasmus+ youth exchange program.

Types of activities:
Energizers, name-games, role games, treasure hunt, workshops, brainstorming, presentations,
debates, watching videos, quizzes.

What are the themes of your project?

During the project, young people will acquire competencies for personal (maybe even professional)
development. Youth should be aware that the term ecotourism doesn’t just mean that while visiting
interesting, remarkable places, we should not pollute the environment with plastic and other waste.
This is a term with a much deeper meaning that teaches us that we can promote sustainable
development by only balancing economic, social and environmental goals all together.
Themes:
The four pillars of ecotourism: Environmental Sustainability; Cultural Sensitivity: Economic
Responsibility and Education and Awareness.

Challenges of the development of ecotourism: balancing conservation and development;

addressing Community Concerns; ensuring sustainability; providing adequate infrastructure;
competition with mass Tourism; lack of regulation and enforcement.

Benefits of ecotourism: Conservation of biodiversity; economic benefits for local communities;

cultural preservation; education; sustainable development; reduced pressure on sensitive
ecosystems; carbon offsetting.

Negative impacts of ecotourism.

Whom are you planning to organize this project with? Do you have a team, partners and
other stakeholders?

How is youth participation related to your project?

All of the project participants are going to be young people between the ages of 18-30.
Participants will have an active role in every activity. During the preparation, they will plan
activities that they’ll implement later at the parallel time with the activities carried by trainers.

● Throughout the preparation phase, during one of the pre-meetings that we’ll implement
 online, we’ll present to participants the choices they’re having regarding project-related
activities that they need to carry out during the project timeframe themselves or with
peers. List includes making a YouTube vlog, creation of reels for facebook/instagram,
Writing mini-articles, Conducting a webinar sessions, Making educational facebook live,
etc. This will ensure us that Participants are having a practical opportunity to put their
plans in action and test out their ideas and strategies.
● Within the framework of the project, change will start by developing the competencies of
the project participants and supporting their learning and interest in environmental
issues, climate change and sustainability, that may spark their interest in leading a
project addressing these issues.
● Facilitators will encourage young participants to determine what exactly the issues
regarding ecotourism is and how it affects them and their communities, so that they can
start designing the ways in which they would want to address it. They’ll gain
competencies during projects to have an influence on the world around them, starting
from family and friends, continuing with international societies. This can include a wide
range of activities from lobbying decision makers to change policies regarding adequate
infrastructure, lack of regulations or flawed enforcements, etc, to doing voluntary work to
improve conditions for the local community or becoming environmental influencers.
● During our evaluation times, we’ll always make sure to understand participants' opinions
about how a project is run and give them the stage to offer us innovative ideas on how to
shape our activities and think out-of-box to discover what their learning needs are so it
would fit perfectly to their requirements and support them emotionally. They can offer us
brand new activity ideas as well and implement them if the idea gets everyone's support.

Participants
Who are the main target groups?

Any youngster who wants to raise her/his awareness regarding the future of green,
sustainable Europe/globe and is between the age of 18-30.

What are their needs?

● Participation in a youth exchange project in order to expand the circle of

professional or human contacts;
● Participation in a youth exchange project to learn about non-formal education
methods;
● Participation in a youth exchange project to learn about themselves, their social
skills;
● Enhancing knowledge about ecotourism;
● Raising awareness of various aspects of ecotourism to promote and contribute
 to sustainable development in general or at the local level;
● Filling and deepening the information gap about European values.

What is the profile of participants (social, economical, cultural, linguistic etc) that are/will
be involved?

Young traveler enthusiasts, young people planning to become environmental lobbyists or travel
influencers or are just finding themselves as travel enthusiasts, youth who connect their future
with the tourism sector in any form (management, hospitality sector, etc.) and, of course, any
other young individual interested in the topic .

How will they be selected?

Via motivation letters

Are you planning to involve participants facing situations that make their participation in
the activities more difficult? (Barriers linked to discrimination; Barriers linked to education
and training system; cultural differences, disabilities; Economic barriers, geographical
barriers; health problems; social barriers)

It's an honor to us to create a safe space to recognise different voices and make sure that there are
opportunities for everyone to be heard, and for their experiences and needs to be considered.
Therefore, young people from all backgrounds, communities and social groups have equal access to
our project.

Impact
What will be different after the project?

● Environmental change can happen as a result of actions at all levels, as the environment
transcends them. For example, it can occur: As a result of individual actions, such as recycling
waste, attempting to become a zero waste lifestyle follower, etc. As a result of changing
politics and policies, for instance, sharpening the environmental or touristic regulations and
enforcements. The lack of clear policies might become the subject of review to ensure that
ecotourism operators are following best practices and minimizing their impacts on the
environment and local communities.
● The sustainability of the project action beyond the end of the project will increase because the
young people will continue to take responsibility and have developed their social, civic and
political efficacy further.
● Project will bring together young people to expand environmental networking which contributes
to the EU Youth Dialogue.

How will participants and partners benefit from this project?

 Participants:
Will acquire competencies for personal and professional development
Will gain practical or theoretical skills relevant for personal and professional development
Will experiment training methods
Will increase knowledge of social, economical and cultural matters of ecotourism
Will share their own knowledge and local experiences regarding the given topic
Will meet new people and build up new contacts/expand intercultural network
Will increase their future voluntary/employment opportunities
Will experience healthy and inclusive space for socialization
Will develop a wide range of knowledge skills, values and attitudes at the individual level -
this can range from learning how to run a project to learning how democracy works.

Partners:
Will acquire competencies for personal and professional development
Will gain practical skills relevant for their organization
Will become an accomplice and develop new learning practices and training methods
Will expand professional network
Will reinforce the cooperation with a partner organization
Will increase the quality and quantity of international youth projects organized by their
organization (technical knowledge and good practices)
Will improve services offered by their organization

How does this project influence/have an impact on the local, international and European
levels?

Local: facilitators will help young participants to determine what exactly the issues are and how it
affects them, so that they can start designing the ways in which they would want to address it. After
supporting them to apply competencies to have an influence on the world around them and enable
them to create change, wide range of activities will become accessible to them - from lobbying
decision makers, to doing voluntary work in the environmental sector, to improve conditions of
ecotourism for the local community, to spreading the knowledge via their social media channels.

International: young people’s interest in environmental issues, climate change, the sustainability of
the contemporary way of living or specifically ecotourism may spark their interest in leading an
international project addressing these issues. If they will have the desire to explore the issue further, it
might impact young travelers, local touristic business owners or just habitats of touristic locations.

European: the project intends to raise young people's awareness about common European values
including fundamental rights. Among human rights, it is possible to single out "ecological rights", which
are based on such human rights as: access to health, clean environment, clean water, clean air, etc,
with which ecotourism is directly related. Environmental information that will become available to
 young people participating in the project, directly makes them ambassadors of European values.

Project activities and project management

Project activities

What activities are planned at the different phases (preparation, implementation and
follow-up)?

Preparation:
● Non-formal education activity/methodology research for more variety;
● Tentative studies of participant countries (if they’re assigned to green deal, Aarhus
Convention, etc or if they have specific politics regarding ecotourism);
● Constant online communication with partners and sending organizations;
● Planning activities with all partners and collaborators, especially with trainers and
facilitators;
● Create fully sophisticated and detailed info-pack for selected participants;
● Online meeting with participants one month before the project's opening date so
we’ll understand their expectations and fears. Why are they interested in this project?
What would they like to accomplish by joining it? What kind of support would they
need to be able to fully participate? What would they like to experience, test or
improve when it comes to different participation opportunities?, etc. Besides, we’ll
use this meeting to cooperatively create ground rules to encourage them and will
develop a set of working principles to ensure successful participation;
● Online meeting with participants one week before the project where we’ll give them
some recommendations regarding traveling and make sure everything is clear in the
info-pack. We will provide them with some extra details if needed as well.

Implementation:
● Implementation of well-planned activities that will prepare participants to open their
minds for new knowledge and hearts for new acquaintances;
● Supporting participants in working together to identify collective action and
strategies they wish to implement;
● Supporting participants to successfully implement the activities they choose to carry
out;
● discussions about what might need to be improved about a given topic;
● discuss ways of increasing their own participation in the local community;
● identify the situations in which participants want their voices to be heard, or themes
on which they want to be able to take action.
● specific reflection time slots during major activities and support project participants
in discussing their participation experience.
 Follow-up:
● participants' last task will be a treasure hunt exercise that they’ll implement in their
local communities or via the internet after the project is done. This will be an activity
that will allow young people to gain more information about the ecotourism situation
in their own country, or do some researches regarding successful practices based on
other countries experiences;
● Last online meeting where we will discuss the results of treasure hunt.
● Project evaluation application;
● Feedbacks from partners and collaborators.

Partnership and quality of project management

How will you monitor and coordinate partners’ contributions?

● Coordination online meetings with the partners once a month;

● Constantly keeping in touch with partners via email;
● Getting feedbacks from the participants

How will you manage the project (agreements and communication with partners, division
of responsibilities with partners, transparency, management of the budget,
communication with stakeholders etc.)?

The logistics will be managed and implemented by the hosting organization.

How will you organize the practical and logistical part of the project (e.g. travel,
accommodation, insurance, visa, social security, safety and protection, mentoring and
support, preparatory meetings with partners etc.)?

The logistics of the projects will be managed by the project’s coordinators with the support of the
partner who will host a particular event.

Dissemination
How will you share the results of your project and with whom?

The results will be shared on different platforms, such as the website and social media
of the partners and organizations involved.
● with partner organizations social channels for their local communities (information
will be provided in their mother tongue and english as well);
● with international community via youtube vlogs, facebook/instagram reels, articles,
 etc (those will be made by participants themselves during the project)
● Webinar sessions where our trainers will present topics and activities discussed
and implemented during the exchange.

How will you make your project visible?

A) Partner organizations will constantly update their online communities regarding

news and ongoing processes during all phases of the project: preparation,
implementation and follow-up.
B) Participants will have a choice of which of the presented activities they would like
to participate in or implement themselves during the framework of the project:
● A YouTube video, covering all days of the project;
● Creating reels for facebook/instagram;
● Creating tiktoks with other participants;
● Writing mini-articles related to the topics occurred during the project;
● Conducting a webinar session related to any topic occurred during the project,
either in English (through the platform of any partner organization), or in their
mother tongue (through the platform of the sending organization);
● Making educational facebook live via partner organizations pages.
Of course, we’ll give participants the opportunity to come up with fresh/arty/creative
ideas to add some specific activity they would love to implement. This way, we would
ensure the visibility of the project and give participants the chance to transmis
themselves in a creative way.

Evaluation of the results

How will you evaluate your project’s success?

We plan to do this in different ways, in order to get the full picture.

A) We will often schedule specific reflection time slots during major and minor activities and
support project participants in discussing their participation experiences which will constantly
give us the clear picture of what we’re doing right and approaches that are needing to be
refined. Ultimately, this approach will help us manage the processes successfully.
 B) At the beginning, during the online meetings we plan to encourage participants to express
their motivation, as well as the needs, potential obstacles and fears that they might face. Via
this questionnaire we will find out:
● What would they like to experience, test or improve within the framework of the project?
● Are all the project participants at the beginning of the project aware of their own participation
needs and the possibilities offered through this youth exchange project?
● Definition of what youth participation means for them?
● Why are they interested in this project and what would they like to accomplish by joining it?

C) Then at the end of the project during the last day we’ll give them the possibility to answer the
same questions but this time in a small group of participants. It’ll help them to discover new
perspectives on youth exchange programmes, to become emotionally closer with their new
acquaintances (AKA project participants), to reevaluate their own experiences by hearing about
things they couldn't realize themselves, etc.

D) In the end we’ll present to them two flipcharts, in the middle of these flipcharts there will be the
following inscriptions: ‘’European practice, which should become worldwide practice (in
terms of environment)’’; ‘’Erasmus youth exchange project as an opportunity to…’’.
Participants must gather summary ideas around the captions.
Ultimately, these activities plus project evaluation application will allow us to evaluate how successful
our methods and project implementation was.

Programme and learning

What will the participants learn about the chosen topic of the activity?

● Participants will become acquaintance with 4 pillars of ecotourism that are minimizing
environmental impacts;
● Participants will learn that providing adequate infrastructure is one of the core goals of
ecotourism;
● During the framework of the project facilitators will explain what are the ways for travel to
become authentic exploration and an educational tool;
● Participants will learn how to respect the host culture, maximize benefits to the local community
and maximize their tourist satisfaction as well;
● Since ecotourism must be sustainable over the long term, both environmentally and
economically, during the project young people will focus to find the right balance between
conserving the environment and promoting economic development. They will brainstorm the
 ways to do it, find the best practices and discuss around it.

Which new competences (i.e. knowledge, skills and attitudes/behaviors) participants will
have by the end of the activity?

At the individual level, project participants can develop a wide range of knowledge skills and values.
This can range from learning how to run a project to learning how democracy works. They will deepen
their awareness and create new attitudes towards the world/people around them.

● For many participants, practicing communicating in a foreign language is a highly important and
thrilling possibility. During the project participants would communicate, express thoughts and
feelings, do research, which creates the perfect environment to practice and overcome fears
and shame. This will help them to refine speaking and writing skills in an international language
- English.
● As some of our activities are tightly connected to content creation for various social platforms,
during the project, participants will practice digital content creation competencies too. They will
need to make presentations and quizzes as well.
● Citizenship competence is one of the main competences we want to bring up in
participants. While speaking about environmental topics, the ability to act as a responsible
citizen and to fully participate in social life is the core goal.
● By the end of the activity, participants will have sophisticated social and learning competences:
during the project they’ll constantly work in teams with timing restrictions and specific
information to process, which will help them to discover effective ways to manage one’s own
learning process. Besides that they’ll take care of the physical and emotional well-being of other
participants and manage conflicts in diplomatic, inclusive ways if necessary.
● The main goal of our project is not only to carry out the activities, but to let participants evaluate
each of them which gives us belief that literacy competence will be one of the abilities our
young participants will gain as well. The project itself contains several activities which are
directly connected to expressing individual thoughts and feelings not just orally, but also in
diary-writing, recording, filmmaking forms.
● Hopefully, the knowledge and awareness young people will gain during our project will be
inspirational enough to transform it into entrepreneurship competence. During the activities
participants will process the ideas about how to better spread the information regarding
benefits of ecotourism, challenges of the development of ecotourism their communities
are or might face, best practices of ecotourism and how to implement them widely, etc.
Which means that they will have an ideal base for the future to take step by step initiatives,
think critically when it comes to environmental topics and be able to find out some ways to
solve ecotourism-related problems.

What non-formal learning methods will you use in your project?

All of the methods used during the project will be interactive and taking into consideration
the young participants interests.

● Name games that are gonna be provided only first day;

● Frequent energizers;
 ● Ice-breakers to overcome cultural barriers and help participants to become
acquainted with each other, understand that altho they are representing different
cultures or communities and they’re experiencing the world in very different ways,
they have a lot in common. Ice-breakers are gonna be followed by feedbacks;
● Team-buildings that will help participants to sophisticate their team spirits, to
understand what is their comfort-role while implementing teamworks. In the end,
they are gonna be followed by feedback;
● Quizzes based on participants touristic experiences;
● Video projecting;
● Presentations are gonna be held by trainers but at the same time participants will be
encouraged by facilitators to come with different ideas and opinions on the different
themes and make presentations themselves if they’ll have desire to do so;
● Intercultural evenings
● Treasure hunt is the activity that they’ll implement in their local communities or via
the internet after the project is done. This will be an activity that will allow them to
gain more information about the ecotourism situation in their own country, etc.

How will you support participants to be aware of what they have learned and which
competences they have developed or improved?

A) During the first day of training we’ll ask participants to write a three parts letter to
themselves about expectations which they're having towards:
● project topic
● themselves
● other participants.

We'll keep the envelopes, and at the last day of the training will return them so they can
read it again and have the possibility to compare and evaluate their predictions and
expectations to the reality and final results.
B) We’ll have feedback sessions after activities. Participants will have the opportunity
to share their feelings, ideas and conclusions after implementing each and every
non-formal education game. They’ll evaluate the knowledge gained in teams as
well as separately.