We envision a Greek society where everyone has a role to play in achieving the sustainable development goals.
Our education program offers an opportunity for intergenerational connection, whereby our cohort members are trained to facilitate meaningful educational workshops for children that are centered around the intersectionality of civic engagement and sustainable development. Our aim is to empower younger children, our future leaders, to be active climate-minded citizens. We believe our cohort members, Greece’s youth, can be the ones to empower the younger generation to realize this vision.
We offer a nontraditional approach to education that is inspired by best practices from abroad, whereby we train teams of young people (ages 18-30 years old) and equip them with the skills to effectively engage even younger generations in meaningful educational and empowerment activities. We believe that this approach is innovative and encourages a unique opportunity for intergenerational exchange that can be very effective and inspiring.
Our team of education and civic service experts developed a unique curriculum, which we call Local Green Heroes. Wanting to honor and acknowledge the existing work and best practices from the field, our the curriculum incorporated material from the Lambrakis Foundation’s Νοιάζομαι και Δρω Program, In Action for a Better World, Planet Agents, and Climate Fresk.
The Local Green Heroes curriculum, which the cohort team executes is centered on the following impact areas:
So far, the curriculum has been successfully adapted and facilitated by our cohort members in various settings: a multi-week after school program; large scale public events; in-classroom workshops; alongside other organizations’ program offerings; etc. We are eager to continue to test the various applications of our curriculum in nontraditional educational settings in order to engage as many Local Green Heroes as possible for maximum impact.
The benefits of our program are threefold.
Promote sustainability at the local level; help municipality materialize local targets to accelerate sustainable development in addition to opening the schools for enrichment activities
Offer young Greeks a unique opportunity to work with children, with paid professional and skills development with an emphasis on practical green skills, collaboration, and youth engagement.
Promote sustainability and citizenship through after-school enrichment curriculum and customized in-classroom workshops, adapted to the needs of the teachers and administrators. Develop the soft skills of the participating students – i.e. teamwork, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, leadership etc. - all while having fun!
We offer our programs in communities that have a long-term vision but need additional support with resources and cohort power to get there. Learn more about our past projects and the communities we work in through the impact reports below. In addition, we invite you to check our our blog posts and media features.
Check out our open positions. Sign up to join our mailing list to be informed of upcoming opportunities and be sure to follow us on social media!
Have an idea for a future Ecogenia ecotourism project?We invite you to get in touch with us through our contact form to tell us more about your idea. With your help, we can identify a pipeline of projects across the country in areas that need the most support. Together, we can uplift communities and ensure they are at the forefront of sustainable tourism for the country.
Would you like to sponsor a future project?As a nonprofit organization, we rely on the generous financial support of our donors and sponsors. If you feel inspired to contribute to our work, we invite you to get in touch with us either via our contact form or by reaching directly out to [email protected].
Ecogenia is the first NGO in Greece that promotes sustainability through civic engagement, training and employment opportunities for young people. Through a service year model, Ecogenia connects Greek youth with organisations dedicated to creating sustainable solutions to environmental and societal challenges.
