Game On for Climate Action
Young leaders of change
The goal is to create a new generation of aware, prepared, and motivated citizens ready to confront the climate crisis. This is achieved through innovative methodologies and a strongly collaborative approach. The ambitious objective: build a European network of young people committed to tackling climate change.
CLIMATIC: a role-playing game to understand climate
With CLIMATIC, students engage in a role-playing game that guides them through the dynamics of global climate systems. Through simulations, strategic choices, and realistic scenarios, they develop critical thinking and decision-making skills related to climate change.
Training those who teach: a program for educators
A dedicated training program for teachers aims to innovate environmental education and bring more experiential and participatory approaches into the classroom.
From theory to action: co-designing sustainability at school
Students and teachers work side by side to implement concrete sustainability actions within their schools: initiatives that improve spaces, change behaviors, and strengthen the role of the school community.
Connected with Europe: transnational exchanges
International exchanges offer students valuable opportunities for dialogue, alliance-building, and experience-sharing, strengthening collective action. They also transform schools into hubs of innovation, participation, and experimentation with sustainable practices.
2025-1-IT02-KA220-SCH-000357540
Women, guardians of the rangelands
Around 50,000 hectares of land at risk of desertification are being restored thanks to the commitment of the Rangeland Guardians: 420 Maasai women trained to remove invasive species, rehabilitate pastures, and restore soil fertility. Alongside them, 70 young people learn to monitor ecosystem health using digital tools, collecting data for more sustainable land management.
Women and herders are also gaining new economic skills through marketplace literacy courses, which help them manage livestock and natural resources more effectively — linking environmental protection with financial independence.
Clean energy for a new form of independence
Resilience also comes from innovation. In collaboration with local and international partners, the project supports the national agency RUWASA in its accreditation process with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and in establishing a technical unit for the management of sustainable water projects.
At the local level, five multifunctional solar plants are replacing diesel pumps - a small revolution that brings clean energy and safe drinking water to more than 8,000 people while powering small-scale businesses. To fight deforestation, 5,000 families have received energy-efficient stoves distributed by a network of 30 local ambassadors: a simple yet powerful action that improves health, reduces emissions, and creates new economic opportunities.
Resilient education and institutions
Resilience is also built through knowledge and participation. RESTORE trains 328 local representatives on climate risk and sustainable ecosystem management, while 72 teachers and 18,000 students take part in environmental education and global citizenship programmes. An investment in the next generation, helping them understand that sustainable resource management is the key to their future.
Tools for resilience
Through City-to-City Cooperation, we support the Municipality of Maputo in strengthening its institutional capacities. We share expertise in urban planning, water and waste management to reduce climate vulnerability.
Infrastructure that protects
In the heart of the railway district, we contribute to the development of innovative infrastructure that improves daily life. We test Nature-Based Solutions to reduce flood risks from heavy rainfall and build a multifunctional community center for local residents. At the same time, we plant 6 hectares of urban green spaces—living areas that bring breath and vitality back to the city.
Hygiene, health, and economic opportunities
Improving public health is essential: we invest in the construction and rehabilitation of latrines and handwashing stations in key locations such as schools, markets, and health centers. At the same time, we promote a circular economy by supporting the women’s association ComSol, which collects and recycles waste. Through technical training and market access, waste becomes a resource—generating income for women and offering an environmental recovery opportunity for the entire neighborhood.
Education at the heart of change
Students and teachers from five KaMavota schools learn about the impacts of extreme weather events and how to respond with sustainable behaviors. Climate education programs and the innovative Climate Smart School model integrate climate change topics into the school curriculum. Over 1,200 citizens participate in awareness campaigns, clean-up activities, and care for local spaces: concrete actions that strengthen the bond between community and institutions, transforming urban areas into shared public assets.
Flooding and soil and coastal erosion are just some of the most severe consequences of climate change in the Mecufi and Metuge Districts. Small farmers and rural communities in the area are suffering from the heaviest damages. Mangroves, key allies against coastal erosion, are being cut or poorly managed. This exacerbates the effects of sea level rise. Therefore, small fields, cultivated also by women who see in these activities the only possible economic opportunity, are seriously compromised.
To deal with this emergency we trained local technicians, providing them with all the necessary equipment for the sustainable management of rivers and mangroves. We involved 40 local and national agencies and institutions.
The training was dedicated to 60 people from the 5 local disaster risk management committees of the villages near the rivers. They undertook pilot actions in mangrove cultivation and protection areas, being spokesmen for the new techniques to be used to prevent disasters due to climate change. At the same time, we are supporting 200 farmers from the District Union of Farmer Associations (UDAC) to help them find effective solutions for adapting to the new climate context in agriculture.
Our efforts are particularly focused on women and youth, the groups hardest hit by the climate crisis. Together with 80 women who live in coastal areas, we are seeking alternative activities to working in small fields. We are also engaging 160 young people from the Province's hinterland in housing rehabilitation programmes. It is essential to create an important network between young people and the private sector engaged in post-cyclone Kenneth reconstruction
Rebuild after Cyclone Kenneth
On the 25th of April 2019, Cyclone Kenneth hit the northern part of Mozambique and destroyed whole villages of the Quirimbas archipelago. From the beginning, we have been working on the frontline to support local communities, who lost their homes, and to provide them with drinkable water, food and personal hygiene products. On Ibo District's four islands (Ibo, Quirimba, Matemo and Quirambo), our local operators have assisted 800 families in the installation of plastic tarps on their houses' roofs and helped 200 families to repair their damaged homes.
Thanks to our consolidated presence in Ibo District since 2014, finding a team of volunteers, masons and carpenters was quick and easy.
The second biggest challenge was to provide access to drinkable water, fundamental to avoid the spread of diseases. We collaborated with members of 29 water management committees to restore and monitor 161 wells. Meanwhile, thanks to the collaboration with the District Health Services, we provided 3,000 families with free certeza, a product apt to disinfect the wells' water, so that they could drink it and use it to cook.
To decrease the risk of contagion, it was also necessary to build adequate toilets in the shelters for displaced families. At the same time, we organized awareness-raising campaigns and door-to-door visits, especially in schools, in order to teach people how to avoid the spread of diseases linked to water quality or poor hygiene.
Public infrastructures, such as childcare services, are crucial for the islands' social and economic functioning. To allow children to go back to school, we designed some intervention plans to rebuild 5 schools in Ibo and Matemo Islands. We particularly focused on making buildings and roofs as secure as possible. The maternal and child healthcare center on Ibo, which is very important for pregnancy and birth assistance, was also restored and equipped with medical supplies. Moreover, we helped repairing the hygiene services of 11 buildings—schools, a hospital and a maternal center—which had been badly damaged by the cyclone.
It has been difficult, but thanks to teamwork and because of the fact that those people needed our immediate help, we have been able to tackle all these challenges. Despite our intervention, the emergency hasn't ended yet: what was destroyed in a night by the cyclone will need much more time to be rebuilt.
The reconstruction projects were made possible thanks to the support of International Organization for Migration, UNICEF and private donors.
We have been working with the community of Ngarenanyuki and Oldonyo Sambu Districts for four years in order to ensure access to renewable energy, creating commercial activities and parallel services. Starting from training: together with the staff in charge of energy policies in the two Districts, after specific training courses, we created two Committees who have the task to develop a territorial action plan for resources regulation and management. We also set up two Community Energy Resource Centres (CERC) to which people can refer to identify the most adequate technologies, learn how to use them and gain access to other services — like the Internet or technical assistance.
The installation of Renewable Energy Technologies (RET) like small photovoltaic systems and energy-saving heaters now provide electricity, hot water and Internet access in the local schools. It’s a true investment in the future of today’s and tomorrow’s students: improving the quality of education helps reduce overall poverty in the long term.
Sanitary services are more efficient today too, because the same interventions have been made in the infirmaries. The health standard has been therefore significantly improved, also due to the reduction of smoke in the houses, that was a consequence of the use of charcoal slack, main and only source of energy to cook and heat the rooms.
Awareness campaigns played a crucial role in the project: with our “Energy Minibus” we visited the villages of the Districts to show people, especially to women, the advantages of new technologies even for household activities.
Thanks to a better knowledge spread throughout society and to the training courses, new economic opportunities have grown in the energy sector, ncluding the production and sale of food dehydrators, energy-efficient heaters, and the cultivation of jatropha and other biofuel crops.
Inclusive and participatory interventions, that take into account the needs of the environment together with the ones of the people who live in it, are an effective response to the challenges of environmental problems and poverty. Renewable energies are also an opportunity to make the whole community willing to take on a collective commitment for the well-being of everyone.
In the wide rangelands in Northern Tanzania, climatic phenomena are no longer predictable: long-lasting droughts and the severe reduction of water resources are a serious threat to the survival of the Maasai community and its livestock, still the only income resource for the inhabitants of this territory today. Local economy, in fact, is almost entirely based on pastoralism and rangelands are overexploited, as it is used as grazing land for more and more bovines and ovines.
In this environment it is crucial to find sustainable and effective ways to improve the well-being of hundreds of thousands of people. Within the TERRA project, that enhances the initiatives of our project Ecoboma, we aim at overcoming a huge challenge: to implement concrete, replicable and low environmental impact solutions that could improve the livelihood of the Maasai community and the health of the environment in which they live.
We respond to the problem of desertification with an ecological monitoring plan that can be useful to identify the most exposed areas to environmental degradation. Then, we develop maps and land use plans in collaboration with the communities, which are actively involved and personally commit to the conservation of rangelands. We work to reduce deforestation through the installation of domestic bio-gas systems – a mixture of natural gas that replaces wood as primary energy source – and the planting of Commiphora trees, perfect substitute for the acacia trees used for boma* fencing. The introduction of drought-resistant cereals, like sorghum and millet, will allow to gradually replace corn, a species that is not suitable for this territory.
In order to offer sustainable economic alternatives to the local population we decided to invest in the vegetable leather tanning sector and in leather manufacturing: in collaboration with Italian experts we launched an inclusive and sustainable social business, managed by 30 Maasai women, to turn what until now has been considered scraps in an income source for the community, honouring local traditions and respecting the environment.
Yet, there will be no change without education: through a broad awareness campaign we make local institutions and students both in Arusha and in Lombardy aware of the issues of climate change. Because everyone contributes to the increase of global phenomena severity and it is important to be aware of it from a young age.
*Boma: a cluster of huts made of mud and dung, set in a circle, with a large space for the cattle and all protected by a common shield of live fence or dried acacia branches.
Clean energy among school desks
In the Arusha Region more than 100 Secondary Schools have no access to electricity services. Classes and dormitories have no illumination and students use kerosene lamps which are harmful to their health and dangerous due to fire risk. There is no electricity for external lights, that makes it easier for felons and thieves to break in at night. Electronic devices, when available, cannot be used because of the lack of electrical power.
An affordable and sustainable energy source is essential for the security of the students and in order to improve the educational standards. This is why we decided to invest in solar energy, by installing photovoltaic systems in 20 secondary schools in the Arusha Region: a more sustainable and cheaper solution compared to diesel and generators supplied by the Government, that produce energy just for a few hours a day.
Photovoltaic systems are supplied by Solar Wave, a social enterprise for rural electrification which contributes to strengthen the skills of local technicians. Today, thanks to this project, 15,000 students can rely on light and energy power that guarantees equal educational standards and therefore the opportunity to build a better future. The access to energy also makes educational tools such as internet available and, consequently, important information on crucial issues: gender equality, HIV prevention, environmental protection.
An innovative and sustainable solution, that can guarantee long-term benefits for more and more people. An investment for the students of today and the ones of tomorrow.
The population of Mozambique is overtaken by serious climatic events: in Northern regions rains are condensed in increasingly short periods of time, often causing floods, while the South cyclically goes through prolonged droughts. The consequences on food security, agricultural production and livestock are clear: in 2015, 62,000 ha and 4,000 herds were lost only in Maputo Province.
In such a precarious background, adaptation is essential to survive. We work with small producers communities in Cabo Delgado, in the North, and in Maputo, in the South, in order to find concrete and sustainable solutions to these changes.
Hydrogeological analysis was the first step, that allowed us to understand what small infrastructures to build in the two areas for soil protection (eg. dams and barrages) and avoid water waste (eg. drip irrigation). We also aim at improving the production, conservation and selling of the products.
Furthermore, updated climate data will be collected thanks to the installation of two meteorological stations, allowing us to plan agricultural activities with local communities, select the most appropriate vegetable varieties based on land conditions and the most effective cultivation and conservation techniques.
2,300 farmers will be trained to improve their competences, such as conservation of grains and vegetables, and 22 farmers associations will be strengthened through training in order to improve their access to local markets.
Through moving cinema and rural theatre we are going to tell all the inhabitants of the target villages what climate change is and how it can be tackled to improve the conditions of one’s life, the one of the community and the environment we all live in.