It’s Time
It’s Time was an Erasmus+ funded project implemented in four European countries: the United Kingdom, Malta, Poland, and Romania. The project aimed to involve young people in the fight against the climate crisis by providing them with tangible ways to take action. “It’s time for this generation of young people to have a platform to do this.”
Together with our partners, we worked to build the world’s largest conservation network, placing young people at the center of decision-making to represent both their generation and the environmental issues they face.
We incorporated teaching, learning, and training activities into the project’s structure, which was developed across three distinct stages.
The first stage of the project consisted of a transnational meeting to define the project’s overall structure. This meeting set the terms of reference for the BirdLife International Youth Leaders, and marked the start of their journey within the programme.
During this phase, young participants took part in a structured training programme built around two core modules:
An induction and introduction to the work of BirdLife International, and
A leadership-focused module, with a strong emphasis on developing communication skills.
The second stage of the project focused on implementing the ideas developed during the initial phase. This stage included the selection of young participants, aged 18–24, to become members of the Youth Council.
In September 2022, the selected young leaders took part in a learning, teaching, and training activity, hosted by BirdLife International in the United Kingdom.
As part of this stage, BirdLife Poland, in collaboration with the Council and other BirdLife partners, created a volunteer brochure offering practical ways for young people to volunteer and take meaningful action to protect nature across Europe.
During the final stage of the programme, the young participants designed and implemented a communications campaign with the support of Station Europe. They learned how to engage young people with fewer opportunities in environmental issues and also delivered multiplier events with guidance from their local project partners.
In addition, the youth provided recommendations to BirdLife International on effective engagement methods and shared their insights into the environmental priorities that matter most to their generation.
The project debuted in September 2022 at the Birdlife100 World Congress. Held in Cambridge and London, this event gathered conservationists and renowned advocates for the environment to work together and save nature from its downfall. As part of such a great moment for the BirdLife network, +30 young people from all over the world came there to form a Youth Council as part of the It`s Time project. Station Europe worked to teach the Young Leaders how to use social media for social good in pursuing their aim as advocates for climate and biodiversity problems. There were four days full of learning activities for the Young Leaders, accompanied by some recreational and nature-connected moments.
Between the 2nd-7th of April 2023, Station Europe’s team was at the second international meeting of the It’s Time project, in Smida, Romania.
Here, our Young Leaders gathered with their fellow members of the BirdLife Youth Council to discuss and establish the next steps of their nature conservation actions.
Station Europe delivered a Social Media Engagement workshop to help the Young Leaders reach their target audience better online.
The result? Great teamwork, outstanding presentations and post plans, topping it with eight ingenious and funny TikTok challenges, part of our First in a Lifetime Experience method.
Through the BirdLife International Youth Leaders, the project offered young people a platform to represent their generation and countries by sharing their environmental priorities and concerns.
As a result, the BirdLife Network was able to address these important matters more effectively and began to spark a wider movement within the conservation community—one that aims to place young people at the heart of conservation efforts over the next decade.
This project took shape through a consortium of five partners from across Europe: BirdLife International (United Kingdom), BirdLife Malta (Malta), Ogólnopolskie Towarzystwo Ochrony Ptaków (Poland), Societatea Ornitologică Română (Romania), and Station Europe.