Atlantis V: “youth on the move”

The fifth edition of the youth camp Atlantis was held from the 1st to the 8th of August 2009 in Mehdia, Morocco. This edition was organized by the Centre for the Cooperation in the Mediterranean (CCM), together with the Moroccan Red Crescent, and with the support of the MENA zone, the firm Abertis and the Spanish Red Cross - Environment Department and Youth Section. Atlantis V was carried out in the frame of the European Year for Creativity and Innovation and as a follow-up of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (RC/RC) World Youth Encounter “Youth on the move” held in Solferino (Italy) in June 2009.

The 2009 edition of Atlantis was mainly devoted to subjects regarding climate change, environment and sustainable consumption. Given all these premises, the specific objectives of the fifth edition of Atlantis were the following:

- Reinforce knowledge about global warming and sustainable consumption from the theoretical dimension;

- Develop practical instruments for the dissemination of the acquired knowledge, such as the edition of an awareness video or the organization of a public awareness campaign;

- Allow the sharing of information and the exchange of best practices coming from existing national programs in the targeted subjects;

- Reinforce the ability of youth volunteers to identify the needs of their local communities and to prepare an adequate response;

- Empower youth to be agents of behavioral change for their National Society and local community, taking as a starting point the fundamental Principles and Values of RC/RC Movement.

Sustainable Consumption, a CP/RAC issue

For this edition, consecrated to climate change, environment and sustainability themes, the CP/RAC was invited to share its experience and knowledge in the field of Sustainable Consumption and Production. In accordance with the theme of the United Nations’ International Youth Day 2009, dedicated to “Sustainability. Our Challenge. Our future”, the CP/RAC taught two workshops on sustainable consumption and production(one in French and one in English), which addressed a new field of work for RC/RC young Mediterranean leaders. Participants were trained on how to integrate sustainable approaches in their lifestyles and in their work, in order to spread this constructive impact in their communities and positively influence them.

The workshops, in each of which 27 young volunteers participated, lasted 10 hours and were facilitated by an international team. The youth camp was composed also by other 4 workshops: How to make a video on climate change, Disaster Risk Reduction, How to carry out an awareness campaign, RC/RC Principles and Values: Youth as Agents of Behavioral Change (YABC).

Attendance and organization

The camp was attended by 69 participants, being 53 volunteers representing 14 Mediterranean National Societies (Algeria, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Serbia, Spain, Syria, and Tunisia) and IFRC_MENA Zone, and 16 international facilitators and speakers.

The agenda included 6 workshops both in English and/or in French (Sustainable Consumption, How to make a diffusion video on climate change, Disaster Risk Reduction, How to carry out an awareness campaign and Youth as Agents of Behavioural Change). The methodology of work was comprised of mainly interactive and practical activities, with the addition of some very useful theoretical lessons. The tem of facilitators consisted of RC/RC peer youth educators - coming from the Spanish Red Cross, the Egyptian Red Crescent, the French Red Cross, the International Federation of RC/RC Societies, the Climate Centre, the Moroccan Red Crescent and the Centre for the Cooperation in the Mediterranean) and field experts of other international organizations – the United Nations Environment Program and the Regional Activity Centre for Cleaner Production.

The evaluation of Atlantis V was extremely positive. Participants concluded that in the whole their expectations had been achieved and their evaluations were completely positive. The percentage of participants that considered the general content of training as excellent or good is 92%.

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