Eco factor judged to be a real winner
From blast – to lift-off! I have just finished working on a project called the Eco Factor – a scheme involving more than 20 young people in a Birmingham inner city area pitching ideas on how to tackle climate change - and it’s been a blast.
I am a co-director of First Class Youth/ E.ngage, which specialises in engaging with young people and local communities. For this project we teamed up with Family Housing Association (FHA) and Urban Living (Pathfinder).
This was the first project I have worked on based around the eco-agenda and I was so pleased with the results and level of commitment from everyone involved. None of us wanted the project to end so we are now working with the FHA to look at ways that the project can really take off in the wider Birmingham area.
Hopefully, the ideas and innovation that came out of this Eco Factor in South Lozells – a culturally diverse area that has been the focus of significant regeneration and development activity – will be a springboard for other areas in our region and beyond to follow suit.
I work a lot with young people so I know they have strong thoughts on issues that affect their lives. The Eco Factor gave them a chance to express these thoughts in a creative way and this is something that should be encouraged.
During the six-week project young people, aged 12 to 18, attended workshops to develop their presentation skills and knowledge of climate change so they could put together performances to inform an audience about the steps we need to take to reduce environmental damage.
Four teams battled it out at the final in front of a panel of judges with presentations involving dance, music, singing, and acting, to educate the audience about the green issues they wanted to raise awareness and the profile of.
The end results were fantastic, with not only outstanding levels of creativity, but also some really insightful ideas about how they view climate change and what our approach should be to tackle it.
Some participants compared our usage of energy with that of people living in third world countries, while others demonstrated how reliant we have become on technology to communicate rather than speaking to each other.
The winning team, Young Evolution, took home £500 prize money after the five girls spent a lot of their own time researching climate change. Their engagement with the audience was definitely their crowning attribute.
Their presentation involved an impressive mix of drama, singing and dancing to encourage people to make everyday small changes around the home, such as turning lights off and setting the washing machine at a lower temperature.
At the Eco Factor final there was a great community atmosphere with friends and family attending to support the young people taking part.
It has been great working with FHA and Urban Living. They are both working on some exciting environmental projects in Birmingham so the Eco Factor worked really well with other environmental messages they are promoting to tenants and community groups.
Projects like the Eco Factor are vital to nurture young people’s confidence and abilities – a perfect platform to develop skills and make their voices heard so they feel they can make changes and have a positive environmental impact.
Visit the New Start news section to read more about Eco Factor.
Posted on Thursday, 26th November 2009 | This entry has 0 comments
