NEWS
Introducing CliVEx – Climate Virtual ExChange: Enhancing climate awareness in Europe and the Southern Mediterranean Area
Enhancing climate awareness in Europe and the Southern Mediterranean Area (CliVEx) is an EU-funded Virtual Exchange Erasmus+ project which aims to enhance intercultural dialogue between students from Europe and the Southern Mediterranean on the topic of climate change. Using digital technologies, critical thinking is enhanced by counteracting disinformation and extreme narratives surrounding climate change. In the process, students develop core skills such as active listening, intercultural communicative competencies and digital skills. Participants jointly design climate action projects, developing their teamwork skills and leading them to become active citizens in their societies.
The CliVEx project will run for 3 years (July 1st, 2023-June 30th, 2026) and is coordinated by UNIMED, the Mediterranean Universities Union, a network of Higher Education and Research Institutions, active in promoting academic cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean region and in Sub-Saharan Africa, in the Middle East and in the Western Balkans.
CliVEx foresees two main actions related to Virtual Exchanges (VE):
- Implementation of the Climate Justice Virtual Exchange. This will involve at least 1500 participants (Higher Education students) distributed across five Virtual Exchange “Climate Justice” iterations taking place within the three years of the project duration. This activity will be managed and coordinated by Sharing Perspectives Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation with more than 10 years of experience in online learning and virtual exchange experiences.
- Implementation of online training for online dialogue facilitators to facilitate the dialogues between participants at this and other VE projects. This activity will involve at least 1000 participants overall (which can be HE students and/or academic staff and/or youth organisation staff under the age of 30) distributed across 5 rounds (three rounds of introduction and two rounds of advanced training, leading to certification). This activity will be managed and coordinated by Soliya Tunisia, an organisation with more than 20 years of experience in Virtual Exchange and online facilitation training.
Participants will take part in the Virtual Exchange through one of the 16 HEI partners coming from 14 different countries across Europe and the Southern Mediterranean area.
The project strongly invests in the evaluation of the skill development of participants through the Virtual Exchange, focusing on the assessment of core skills as well as using the GreenComp European sustainability framework to assess the participant’s development of environmental sustainability competencies.
Finally, this project will do a Life Cycle Assessment of the costs of the Virtual Exchange for the environment. The course manuals, training outlines, and evaluation handbooks will all be made available to allow replication of this Virtual Exchange methodology by other HEIs in the future.
If you would like to join our network or take our courses, contact us.