EGAT Czech Republic (Akumulátor): ’23-’24 edition

About the event

Sign up for Accumulator and become one of 15 young activists! You don’t need a CV full of experience. What’s important is the motivation to change things around you .During this programme, you will explore different aspects of politics and activism with experts in green issues, including journalists, academics, experts, and politicians. We will awake your sense of initiative and support your skills in advocacy, teamwork, campaigning, and work with the media. Together we will go through a whole range of approaches and tools that will help participants do their bit to change the world for the better. It is important for us to connect theory and practice. Besides practical skills, we will focus on important cross-cutting themes such as climate change, education, feminism and more.

In addition, you will become a member of a wide alumni network, which includes all former participants who today are often engaged in activism, politics and other exciting projects. Together we organize a big alumni weekend every summer where we get together to share our experiences.

We are starting this year’s Accumulator with a weekend at the end of October 2023, in the spring of 2024 we will meet in Brussels with young people from Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Spain, Poland and Croatia who are delving into similar programmes as the Accumulator.

Participation Requirements

• You are between 18 – 24 years (recommended)
• You live in the Czech Republic (but you do not have to have permanent residence in the Czech Republic or Czech citizenship)
• You are willing to be proactive and participative
• You have to participate in ALL phases of the training: please check details below.

If there is any obstacle (for example financial, or regarding health or language) that could prevent you from participating in the project, let us know and we will adjust the program and conditions so that you can still participate. The accumulator is an open and inclusive space and all young people are welcome to apply despite their background.

Apply HERE by August 27!

Cost

Our goal is that all selected applicants are able to participate in the Accumulator, regardless of financial possibilities. Nevertheless, we ask for a solidarity fee to be able to fund all the activities. Please consider what your personal financial contribution possibilities are for the realization of the Accumulator. You can let us know the amount of your contribution when filling out the application form HERE. Please note that the amount of the contribution you are able to provide won’t influence the selection process.

Program

The EGAT Akumulator consists of two weekend trainings and separate preparation for these trainings. It also includes a one-week study trip to Brussels, which is preceded by the EU for Beginners e-learning course and a preparatory meeting that will take place over a day the week before the visit to Brussels.

1. Accumulator, 20 – 22 October 2023, Veronici Centre, Hoštětín

SYSTEM ERROR: How to change it?
During the first weekend, we will get to know each other and decide how we want the entire Accumulator to work together. We will share our expectations, fears, experiences, and motivations. In short, we will try to create a safe environment for everyone to feel good and positive about the training.
We refer to the time in which we live in different ways. However, the common denominator is often the word “crisis”. We are talking about a climate, economic, global, energy crisis, but also a crisis of imagination. During the first weekend training, we will cover a little bit of all of the above. Through formal and non-formal education methods, we will try to think together about how individual crises are related to each other and try to examine problems at system level.

With a focus on deepening the ability to think systemically, we will try to understand the basic concepts that we will work with during the following weekends. We will talk, for example, about capitalism, but also globalization and colonialism.

At the end of the weekend, we should have a unified level of knowledge, clarified shared values and a deepened ability to think systems.

2. Accumulator, November 24-26, 2023, ČSOP Hostel, Vlašim

ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT: From where and where?

From theory to practice. First, we will clarify the theoretical roots of political ecology, then we dive into activist political practice. Who are the green actors? What and who is involved in the environmental movement? How to become part of the change? We will solve all this during the second weekend together with specific actors from environmental organizations and platforms, for example Greenpeace, Fridays for Future or Re-set. In addition to activism, we will also explore the waters of politics with members of three political parties – Pirates, Greens and Future.

Finally, we will focus on creating campaigns. What to watch out for? What is the good practice of well-known environmental organizations?

3. Preparation for a study stay in Brussels, March 2024, one day (online or offline)

The main topic of the third weekend will be the European Union. The Impact Europe e-learning course will allow us not to have to deal with how the EU works all weekend, and we can then go straight to a critical discussion about its pros and cons and the relationship between its policies and the policies of the Czech Republic. We will talk about how political processes at the national and European level can be realistically influenced. At this meeting, which will take place online or offline, we will share practical information about the study trip to Brussels. At the same time, we will open here some of the topics that are dealt with at the European level by experts, MEPs and activists that we will meet in Brussels.

4. (BST – Brussels Study Trip) Study stay in Brussels, spring 2024

EUROPEAN GREEN ACTIVIST’S TRAINING – EGAT

Accumulator takes place in various forms simultaneously in Finland, Croatia, Spain, the Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Participants from these countries will meet for a one-week excursion in Brussels to share knowledge from individual trainings and take a look behind the scenes at the activities of the institutions of the European Union. We will visit the European Parliament and meet people who work in various positions in Brussels. Even with several members of the European Parliament.

But Brussels is not only about the EU, and we will have the chance to learn about local initiatives and how grassroots activism is done in a place where European politics intersects with Belgian politics.

Who will train me and how?

Non-formal education lecturers Zuzana Kašparová and Miriam Macurová will guide you through the training and excursion to Brussels. Both have been active in the field of alternative education for several years and educate young people to take an active approach to public affairs. They themselves are socially engaged in the topics that will be discussed at the trainings. Both were members of the non-profit educational organization Be International. Zuzana is dedicated to the feminist project Vyhonit dábla, she is the author of the program “Na zachodce” for CT, she is involved in the activist crip collective and lectures on a freelance basis, for example sex education or intercultural competence. Miriam works as a campaigner and expert on European climate policy at Greenpeace, where she is also part of the environmental education program. The program is thus created on the basis of real experiences from the public space.

The program itself is based on meetings with people from practice, i.e. politicians, journalists, experts and activists, who will introduce the participants to politics and public events based on their experience.

In addition to workshops and guest lectures, the program is based on informal education. His methods are based on working in groups with an emphasis on individual initiative. So what you get from the Accumulator depends on how much you put into the training. An important part of the educational process is the sharing of experiences and reflection.

In informal education, they learn by experiencing and trying new things, which not only leads to new information, but also to the acquisition of practical skills and thinking about values. It is not graded, it does not know the role of the teacher, it is voluntary and the participants are themselves responsible for what they learn.

Developing the ability to work in a group is essential for the Accumulator. Although everyone takes away newly acquired skills and knowledge, we believe that the ability to collaborate collectively is crucial when trying to change the world around us and when involving other people in future activities.

This EGAT programme is organised by Green European Foundation with the support of Institute of Active Citizenship and with the financial support of the European Parliament to the Green European Foundation.