YouthXChange

YouthXchange works with young people, educators, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), trainers, policymakers, the media, and youth leaders around the world through national partners in more than 45 countries. At the national and local levels, partners conduct YouthXchange training and capacity-building activities, supported by YouthXchange publications including the YouthXchange training kit on responsible consumption and thematic and regional YouthXchange publications, as well as the interactive Youth X Change website.

Specifically, at the centre of this initiative are a number of YouthXChange publications, such as a training kit on responsible consumption, which is a train the trainer tool that provides statistics, case studies, games, examples of real companies going more sustainable, and direction on how explain sustainable lifestyles to a young audience. The topics are tackled under youth-oriented headings: clothing, leisure, travels, underground culture, experiences of other young people, etc. It has been translated into 22 languages and is being promoted in many countries. For example, YouthXChange in the Mediterranean is working to adapt the global initiative to the Mediterranean realities. The Arabic guide includes case studies from the region that are designed to appeal to young people and that can be used by educators, youth leaders, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) representatives, etc. who wish to inspire a new consumption ethic.

This guide has been the inspiration for some of the YouthXChange capacity-building and awareness-raising activities, all of which are detailed here. These activities range from media campaigns involving national celebrities in the Philippines to regional youth workshops on sustainable consumption in Latin America. Click on the different regions for more detailed information on some of the YouthXchange activities:

• Africa - example: In 2011, UNEP conducted a 2-day training workshop with more than 100 youth leaders in Mauritius to train them on sustainable consumption and YouthXchange and encourage them to undertake projects on sustainable lifestyles.
• Asia and the Pacific - example: A textile factory in Sri Lanka decided to implement YouthXchange as a way of empowering women working in their factories and the children in the community. MAS Holdings (Pvt) Ltd launched programmes to develop entrepreneurship skills and educate school girls on the basics of sustainable consumption in line with YouthXchange. The women and children exhibited their work at various schools to share their lessons learned.
• Europe - example: The Agenzia Regionale per la Prevenzione e Protezione Ambientale del Veneto (ARPAV) developed the YouthXchange training kit on responsible consumption in Italian in 2006. They have widely disseminated the guidebook and have continued to expand the project since then through the realisation of short films and photo exhibitions.
• Latin America and the Caribbean - example: In Colombia, Organización Juvenil Ambiental (OJA) has been very active in promoting YouthXchange through capacity-building workshops, conferences, and arts workshops relevant to sustainable consumption and production.
• West Asia - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates: Each country used the YouthXchange training kit on responsible consumption in Arabic, which they contributed to in terms of its development, as a key tool in educating young people and the general public on sustainable consumption. This involved developing media partnerships with several national newspapers that included weekly columns on sustainable consumption/YouthXchange as well as clean up campaigns and school campaigns on environmental education. Countries were involved in conducting educational outreach and capacity-building activities in formal and informal education sectors designed to reach public school teachers, youth leaders and government officials.

The Youth X Change website, currently available in English, French, and Korean, is designed to connect youth around the world who are interested in sustainable development. It aims to provide facts, explore the world of sustainable products, and unearth stories of people who are actively engaged in making this world more sustainable. The site is organised around topics including: "respecting our bodies, looking for a place, social belonging, packaging yourself, carrying the torch, pay the right price, awakening your soul, clean up your fun, and looking ahead." By visiting the site's thematic rooms, one can learn about the "over 130 examples of organisations, innovative ideas, funny stories and motivated people active in making day to day life more sustainable."

Environment, Youth.

According to the Youth X Change website, humanity's total ecological footprint increased to 13.2 billion global hectares, growing by 147 million global hectares between 1999 and 2000. The United States (US) now has the world's largest footprint at 9.57 hectares (23.7 acres) per person, while developing countries like Bangladesh and Mozambique have ones of 0.53 hectares (1.3 acres) per capita - barely 1/20th of the US footprint. A sustainable footprint would be 1.88 hectares (4.6 acres).