URBACT good practices easily transfer across the cities and networks
To implement the green agenda into the “Residents of the Future” IAP, City of Šibenik relies on its experience gathered through the previous URBACT III network called C-CHANGE. As a part of good practice transfer from The City of Manchester, employees of the city-run organizations went through The Carbon Literacy and The Climate Fresk trainings, two relatively new and unknown programs in Croatia at the time.
Nikolina Gracin, project coordinator of the Lead Partner in “Residents of the Future” was also involved in C-Change and organization of climate literacy workshops back in 2020. She decided to continue with the good practices transfer and, three years later, organize climate literacy workshops for ULG members in actual network.
“That’s the best thing about URBACT. You can use solutions from past projects and apply them today. You can also use good practices from other cities and transfer it to your local community. There is a huge base of knowledge, everything is connected, and everybody’s work benefits others”, says Nikolina.
City of Šibenik was the first in Croatia to introduce The Carbon Literacy workshop, simultaneously with the British Embassy in Zagreb. Also, Šibenik was the first local authority in Croatia to organize The Climate Fresk workshop for the employees of city–run organizations. Since then, both workshops spread across the country, becoming a kind of educational standard. The Climate Fresk was translated to Croatian language and presented to over 4 thousand people, including the national Government and Committee of the Environment and Nature Protection of Croatian Parliament. The Climate Fresk was included in the agenda of the national Croatian URBACT Campus, organized in October 2024 in Zagreb.
“When we first introduced the workshops, we had no idea how important they will become. Today, we’re proud to see how the programs spread on Croatian civic bodies, public organizations, NGOs and educational sector.”, concludes Gracin.
Climate literacy represents a “must have” set of skills for decision makers
Both programmes were adapted to Croatian audience by the team of experts including Ivana Kordić, co-founder of green activist NGO called “Tatavaka”:
“Climate literacy represents a “must have” set of skills and knowledge for decision makers of today. It ensures informed decisions, addressing environmental challenges, promoting sustainability, and safeguarding the planet for future generations. Thanks to forward-future-thinking cities like Šibenik and programmes like URBACT, organizing the training of climate literacy for public workers became a common activity. Just a few years ago, it wasn’t the case.”
The Climate Fresk: In order to take action and build solutions, we first need to understand the problem.
“Climate Fresk” is a powerful tool for providing a quality climate education. It is accessible to anyone and can be scaled quickly within an organisation or community. This simple and fun card-based workshop was designed by French engineer Cédric Ringenbach. Almost two million people in 160 countries participated the climate fresk workshops that has been translated on 45 languages. In just 3 hours, the collaborative Climate Fresk workshop will teach you the fundamental science behind climate change and empower you to act.
The Carbone Literacy Trust: Certifying people and organisations and setting standards in carbon literacy
The Carbone Literacy is an awareness of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organisational basis. It was defined by the UK based organization called The Carbon Literacy Trust, that set international standards and educational programs for climate change literacy. It’s a one – day training that makes a huge impact.
