Blue Horіzons: Youth-Led Solutіons for a Water-Secure Future

We wanted to benefit from several aspects of this Erasmus project. On the one hand, we wanted to promote the cultural exchange of our students and offer them the opportunity to make international...

We wanted to benefit from several aspects of this Erasmus project. On the one hand, we wanted to promote the cultural exchange of our students and offer them the opportunity to make international friends and familiarise themselves with the linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe. They should have the opportunity to socialise with students from other countries and get to know other school systems and their everyday life. On the other hand, we wanted to give space to the topic of ‘water, drinking water, water utilisation, etc.’, as water is a vital resource. Due to climate change, this resource will become increasingly scarce and therefore more precious in the coming decades. We would like to prepare our pupils for this dynamic by creating an increased awareness of this now, through this project. At the same time, we want them to learn about ways in which they can actively contribute to sustainable water management.

We promoted the exchange of pupils through activities such as familiarisation games, sports activities and joint activities. The latter also contributed to a broadening of personal horizons, as numerous sights were visited and an insight into everyday life in the respective partner countries was given. During the mobilities, the focus was on drinking water and sustainable water use. The students worked out ways to save water and discussed the situation in their everyday lives in group discussions. Excursions to water treatment plants, springs and mineral water factories gave the students additional hands-on experience on this topic. In addition, contact and reference to the topic of drinking water was maintained between the mobilities through virtual meetings. The focus here was on deepening the knowledge acquired during the mobilities through presentations by experts. The students also benefited linguistically from these meetings, as the expert presentations were held in English. The meetings were also used to prepare the students for the other mobilities and to give them the opportunity to give presentations in front of an ‘international audience’ and gain initial experience.

As part of the project, the pupils worked out ways to save water and use it sustainably. These ideas were visualised in three posters, with each partner school designing its own. Furthermore, the results were recorded in three ‘action plans’ for each school. In both cases, care was taken to keep the results as short and concise as possible so that they could actually be read and implemented. In order to give interested pupils who were not directly involved in the project the opportunity to follow it, a website was created on which regular newsletters on the mobilities were published. The mobilities were also publicised on the school website and social media. Further results of the project were the development of a personal network for both pupils and participating teachers. The pupils gained an insight into the lives of people living in other parts of Europe. The teachers were able to gain experience and exchange ideas about teaching methods and opportunities as well as establish contacts.