“Watt’s in the socket?” – Youth Exchanges on energy and sustainability 

The project “Watt’s in the socket?” was implemented from June 2024 to January 2025. It consisted of 2 Erasmus+ Youth Exchange mobilities, and was created with 5 partners: GAIA Germany e.V., GAIA Kosovo, SCI Poland, Volunteers’ Centre of Vojvodina (Serbia) and Cooperative Oasis (France). 

The project took place under the umbrella of “Yes to Sustainability”, as we had a YTS mentor support us with giving feedback and helping us shape our idea in the application phase. 

The objective of the project was teaching and exchanging knowledge on the topic of energy and electricity, and connecting it to sustainability, which we achieved through diverse non-formal methods including discussions, presentations, inviting expert guest speakers, incorporating visits to energy production facilities and talking with activists who are fighting against coal mining, and much more. We managed to provide space for youngsters to experience both sides of the energy story, and understand the challenges in the field of energy, as well as identify solutions and opportunities to create a change. 

The project was implemented through realizing 2 Youth Exchanges, which took place in August 2024 in Koblenz (Germany), and in September 2024 in Bozevce (Kosovo). During both Youth Exchanges, we have involved 47 individuals (25 participants per activity), and few of them joined both activities. 

You can find a few testimonies from the participants and videos from the first and the second Youth Exchanges, which show parts of the experience – the learning, exchange and skill gaining, as well as living together as a group. 

It was an important aspect of the project to motivate participants to stay connected to the topic of electricity, and as the activities have finished, we created online follow-ups together with participants. Experts in the energy topic from their countries were contacted and we organized online presentations with them, which was open for all participants of the project to join and continue learning. 

The group bond was strong during the project, and we have decided to create a new Youth Exchange project together, this time on the topic of food and sustainability. It is currently being prepared by the project team of “Watt’s in the socket?” together with 9 participants who took part in the YEs. We are looking forward to the next Youth Exchanges!