Up to €32,000 available under: “Green to School Sustainable Commutes” Project

Deadline: 8-Sep-23

Are you engaged in an NGO or civil society organisation aiming to increase the uptake of sustainable mobility options in a real-life peripheral school context? ACCTING is funding 10 innovative projects on specific topics that have high potential to reduce or prevent inequalities and negative impacts related to the Green Deal on poorer, marginalised and vulnerable groups.

ACCTING (AdvanCing behavioural Change Through an INclusive Green deal) is a HORIZON 2020 funded project aiming to understand the impact of Green Deal policies on vulnerable groups, prevent inequalities, and produce knowledge and innovations to advance behavioural change at individual and collective levels for an inclusive and equal European Green Deal.

Objectives

• The objective of this call is to launch pilot actions to prototype and test promising approaches to address behavioural change, which have emerged during the ACCTING project. The implementation of the pilot actions will inform ACCTING on how to improve European Green Deal policies, anticipating behaviour and avoiding increases in inequalities.
• The call herewith seeks to launch Pilot Actions that make the ACCTING results more visible and concrete, and allow the authors to demonstrate their potential impact, while at the same time engaging policy makers and civil society organisations in real-world implementation and testing of ACCTING results.
• The objective of this call is to award 10 applications for the implementation of 10 Pilot Actions (the entire technical specification for each Pilot Action is in Part 2 of this document)
  • Next time better and more inclusive
    • The main aim is to co-create a scenario for handling a disaster. This would be done as a pilot project in a region that recently faced a sudden disaster, using a bottom-up approach, involving all stakeholders including citizens. The underlying principle is the co-creation of scenarios for the future to inform and trigger a behavioural change in actors from local communities as well as from authorities. The aim is reducing the risk of similar disasters in the future as well as improving disaster preparedness.
  • Wild Eyes – Biodiversity crisis knowledge
    • The main aim is to start a citizen science engagement and awareness campaign to activate and encourage participants for collecting evidence of biodiversity change and preparing fact-based solutions that are positive to biodiversity, the inclusion of vulnerable groups is expected.
  • Awards for inclusive energy communities
    • The primary objective of the awards for inclusive energy communities is to provide a valuable platform for energy communities to exchange their experiences and knowledge, fostering collaboration and learning among them. By recognising and celebrating inclusive and innovative approaches, these awards aim to inspire energy communities to adopt similar practices and principles.
  • Hands-on small-scale support for vulnerable micro-entrepreneurs
    • The pilot action is intended to encourage vulnerable micro-entrepreneurs to make their businesses environmentally conscious and support them in achieving environmental sustainability through (i) dissemination and raising awareness actions, (ii) vocational training, (iii) tailored assistance, (iv) the connection with other businesses to share competences and practices, and (v) the recognition/reward of successful participants.
  • GardenBnB
    • This call for a pilot project proposes the constitution of a network of urban/community garden actors and the setting up of an exchange platform to facilitate this, based on existing digital tools. The aim is to improve visibility, access, connections and practices in the field of sustainable and inclusive urban agriculture, involving vulnerable groups, existing and new actors, while creating and developing a shared repository of knowledge.
  • F.E.T. (Food Everywhere Toolkit)
    • The Food Everywhere Toolkit is about shaping the food choices of future generations by making healthy and sustainable food available everywhere in schools. The main objective of this pilot action it to develop a set of tools and resources to inspire, motivate and assist all relevant stakeholders in schools to launch initiatives in which healthy and sustainable food is available everywhere in the school and becomes part of its DNA.
  • Green to school: sustainable commutes
    • Sustainable commutes is about encouraging civil society organisations, schools and parents to make the school journey more sustainable. The main objective is to increase the uptake of sustainable mobility options in peripheral school context. This is done by encouraging a civil society organisation to work with school(s) to develop and test concept idea(s) to initiate a process of change amongst its pupils and families. One of the expected outcomes is the development and implementing of one or several concept idea(s) to increase the uptake of sustainable mobility in a peripheral school context.
  • Wheels for Justice
    • Wheels for Justice is about cycling and how it can contribute to improving mobility, health and general well-being for all, with a focus on vulnerable groups. The main objective of this pilot action is to support the connection between cycling activism and social justice struggles by identifying creative ways to expand the reach and impact of cycling and make it more accessible and inclusive.
  • Series-V: Kickstarting Volunteering
    • The pilot action is about creating a platform that connects individuals and organisations who have projects and ideas for efforts to advance socio-ecological transformation with volunteers who are ready to contribute to those efforts. The voluntary contributions can be through time commitment and provision of any kind of resources (e.g., expertise, tools, money). The main objective is to facilitate and activate volunteering efforts and behaviour change especially among people from vulnerable groups, to ensure that everyone has a chance to contribute to society.
  • Cultivating Changemakers: Youth Empowerment through activism
    • This pilot action aims to engage adolescents between the ages of 14 to 17 in activism related to Green Deal issues. Recognising the challenges of inspiring behavioural change within the formal school system, this action emphasises on the importance of relatable role models, peer influence and structured frameworks in encouraging youth activism. By collaborating with schools and offering internships with NGOs, this action seeks to provide adolescents with valuable experiences, personal growth and opportunities as well as a platform to contribute to sustainable choices, social justice and a healthier lifestyle. Through this approach, the project aims to empower young people as catalysts for positive change contributing to a more sustainable society.

Funding Information

• In total a minimum of 10 Pilot Actions will be selected.
• Each one of the pilot actions number 1-9 will receive a budget in the range of between 20,000 – 32,000 euros. Pilot Action number 10 will receive a budget between 12,000 – 16,000 Euros. (Please refer to the Technical Specification of Pilot Action 10 in Part 2).

Duration

• Pilots’ actions can have a duration up to 12 months
• Estimated start of implementation of Pilot Action is the 1st of December 2023.

Why run and participate in an ACCTING pilot project?

• Contribute to the implementation of an inclusive and socially just European Green Deal
• Create and strengthen relationships with your community and local institutions
• Benefit from learning outcomes that can be adopted as part of your or your local stakeholders’ own processes
• Become part of a movement. Together with others across Europe, collectively act to address real social and environmental issues, and concerns

Eligibility Criteria

• Geographic eligibility
  • Applicants must be located in the European Union or one of the Horizon Europe Associated Countries
• Thematic eligibility
  • Application needs to be made to one of the ten attached thematic technical specifications, that are the detailed descriptions of each of the 10 Pilot Actions.
  • Given the specific nature of these actions, it is unlikely that a single organisation will be successful in applying for multiple technical specifications. Accordingly, it is strongly recommended not to submit multiple applications
• Organisation type
  • The applicants should be either:
    • Local or regional authorities (including municipalities, cities, towns, villages and their local municipally owned companies and agencies);
    • Not-for-profit organisations (e.g., NGOs, civil society organisations, associations etc); or
    • Collective representation bodies (i.e. business associations, trade unions etc)
• Note: If more than one organisation is involved in a Pilot Project proposal, one organisation / legal entity will have to submit the application on behalf of all the participants and will have the legal responsibility to sign the relevant contract and interact with the ACCTING project for reporting, monitoring and evaluation purposes. This organisation/ legal entity will receive the grant finance on behalf of all the involved participants.

For more information, visit ACCTING.