This article is part of a three-part series focusing on the successes, challenges and lessons learnt from ACCTING’s pilot projects.

Three years ago, the ACCTING project set out to explore how to make the European Green Deal more inclusive and just, especially for communities often left behind. Alongside research activities, ten pilot projects across Europe were funded. The context in which pilots were implemented however vary greatly – this includes the sectoral (from fire resilience to cycling) and geographic context (from rural Zagori to urban Palermo), as well as the primary target group (from Roma communities to disadvantaged youth). Nevertheless, there is a range of shared successes and achievements, challenges and obstacles as well as general lessons learnt that can be identified as cross-cutting.

Lessons learnt by the ACCTING pilots

• Many pilots stressed the need for increasing investment in approaches grounded in resilience and dialogue, given environmental variables and increasingly volatile climatic conditions. While some successes were seen in this regard, the lack of response and top-down approach taken by many public authorities towards the pilots is at odds with the need to engage and co-create with the public. As conditions on the ground become increasingly unstable and prone to sudden changes, traditional planning approaches become less fit for purpose and an approach of regular monitoring and dialogue is instead needed.

• We also see that there are different ways municipalities can support the work of CSO actors. These might be simply uptake and scaling (as in the case of Dialogue & Action Against Wildfires’ fire resilience planning), but they could also take the form of enabling or complementary actions (as in the case of the Municipality of Kamëz building new bike lanes to support the cycling advocacy work of EduMove; or various Czech municipalities engaging with Mapko on ways to include community gardens in urban planning processes).

• The involvement of educational actors was commonly cited as a promising approach. This could be in terms of stakeholder recruitment generally (for instance, EduMove noted that working with students had the benefit of involving a lot of young, open-minded potential participants). Or as seen in Success #3, it could be involvement of respected academic institutions to provide legitimacy to the project (see Echoversity). The strong potential “ripple effects” of working through educational policy was noted in a number of instances, a way to reach less engaged individuals such as parents through their children (School goes green), or to test systems change in a smaller, more controlled environment (schools), before seeking to roll out similar changes at a city-wide scale (Food4Schools ).

• Educational policy is seen as a particularly crucial enabler of “locking in” learnings from pilot projects, – influencing generations of students through inclusion of project outputs in school curricula and thereby driving long-term behavioural change (EduMove). The incorporation of sustainability goals into educational curricula can also help to develop a more nuanced and systemic understanding of the issues at hand, with Food4Schools for instance citing the need for a Whole School Food Approach that recognises food education and food policies as inherently interlinked.

• Certain topics are particularly worth addressing through CSOs because they tend to have a bottom-up ethos yet have translocal relevance and are perhaps less limited by country-specific rules and regulations. Food gardens are one such community practice that is found across Europe and globally.

• In many instances, we see trade-offs between formalisation and flexibility / informality with the work of CSOs. There is a risk that positive avenues of dialogue and co-creation will cease, once projects are taken up and formalised by public actors. Resistance can also be raised by local communities to such formalisation attempts – for instance Supporting Roma micro-entrepreneurs in Albania noted the project’s aim to support vulnerable micro-entrepreneurs was met with resistance to change due to perceived risks of formalisation. Informal groups can be a valuable conduit for volunteering and activism, but these actors tend to still require support due to limited recognition and capacity, pointing to the potential value of umbrella / framework organisations like Supporting Roma micro-entrepreneurs in Albania and Uključi se! (Get involved!).

• This links to an important point about the complementarity of different actors. It is clear that there is real value in having different kinds of CSOs with complementary skill sets. Some might be more locally rooted, trusted by their communities, and activism-oriented. Others might be more institutionally rooted, experienced and well-organised and -capacitated, able to provide a link between public actors and/or business and community groups on the ground. PA9 for instance notes that they “provide mentors through local partners that are “hands-on” support for each informal group. They can support them in project writing, financial, communication and reporting aspects of the project.” Finding a balance between these types of CSOs is key.

• Even at the bottom-up level, there is evidence of an urban-rural divide, with initiatives in rural areas having a harder time obtaining the required institutional support. For instance, in Mapko it was noted that community gardens in urban areas like Prague benefit from greater institutional support, while rural regions struggle with limited access to resources such as funding and training for community garden leaders.

• Pilots can help make higher-level policy processes more tangible – creating localised findings and deliverables. Pilots can also likely benefit from greater institutional support if they make these links, i.e. helping policy-makers to solve a policy-problem that they already have. Food4Schools’s example of hoping to replicate their school food policy in Greece by noting how food systems transformation is entangled with climate resilience, and seeking to link to the work of Greek Mission Cities – Thessaloniki, Ioannina, and Kalamata.

• However, in relation to behavioural change particularly there are real shortcomings to a piloting approach. The experience of the ACCTING pilots shows that behaviour is often enabled or restricted by broader systemic conditions – especially for vulnerable groups. You cannot pilot your way out of structural challenges, and behavioural change is thus inherently linked to systemic change through structural policy. Dialogue & Action Against Wildfires went to great lengths to increase inclusion in their participatory work (e.g. improving gender balance) but noted that while targeted activities can help bring underrepresented voices to the table, more comprehensive mentorship programs or policy interventions may be required.

• In Dialogue & Action Against Wildfires, deeper structural issues (cultural norms, time constraints for caregiving, and limited familiarity with civil protection roles) also continued to hinder many women from taking on formal leadership positions in particular. For school food systems, Food4Schools similarly notes that behavioural change needs to be examined and pursued in the context of broader systemic change that cannot exclude public institutions, authorities and the market. Similarly, their Local Action Plan notes that transition towards more sustainable school food systems in nurseries cannot be ventured as a pilot. Instead, change needs to be incremental and applied gradually across all nurseries.

• In this regard a holistic, multi-dimensional approach is usually needed to enable sustainable behavioural change. This needs to consist of various factors including a) awareness- / motivation-raising activities, b) support for skills / capacity, c) advocacy to change structural conditions, and d) influencing social dynamics in communities. EduMove uses the example of lack of safety as a central barrier for a modal shift to cycling. They argue that this multi-dimensional phenomenon can only effectively be tackled as such through actual infrastructural change to increase road safety, awareness campaigns for drivers and other transport users, and training and equipment for would-be cyclists to improve skills and subjective feelings of safety.

• To support ongoing sustainability of pilot work, there is potential in using graduates and/or former participants as multipliers for ongoing CSO work. This can keep the project running in its original location and help to ensure buy-in of local (vulnerable) communities – creating role model figures. A clear example is seen in School goes green, where a past graduate of the school volunteering programme is employed in the project co-ordination team, allowing future volunteers to more easily see themselves in the project.

• Finally, it is worth highlighting that the success of projects does not depend only on the quality of the project put forward, but also that it is simply the right project at the right time (see Success #7). InclusivECs awards’ challenges with many energy communities (ECs) not registering for the inclusive award ceremony, arose because many existing ECs did not know how to design inclusive actions.
  The topic of inclusive energy communities was simply too new in Spain, requiring a partial shift in approach to providing more practical guidance. It might have been more useful to have a project that from the start builds capacity for inclusive actions, instead of one that sought to celebrate such actions prematurely.

Conclusion

The ACCTING pilot projects were successful in promoting inclusive, collective action towards sustainability foremost through their direct engagement with the target community. Through their efforts in promoting inclusive co-creation and community ownership, they successfully empowered vulnerable groups to play an active role in transition processes. Collective behavioural change was furthermore promoted through engaging and fun methodologies, breaking down EGD priorities to the lived realities of target groups and ensuring that communities derive tangible benefits. Pilots were able to build sustainable impact by building platforms for ongoing collaboration, bringing diverse stakeholders together as intermediaries, promoting the public institutionalisation of the piloted approaches, and facilitating translocal learning and multiplication.

These successes provide evidence regarding the value and effectiveness of the approach, trusting CSOs and community-led initiatives to drive place-based transformations in line with EGD policy goals. On the other hand, the successes serve as valuable source of insights and inspiration for similar projects, and of policy recommendations to strengthen such work.

At the same time, the pilot projects encountered a range of challenges and barriers that served as a bottleneck for sustainable impact. Two major clusters emerged: On the one hand, CSOs struggle with the lack of secure and sustainable funding mechanisms. Financial constraints, “projectism” and competition for funds also leads to other operational challenges, like capacity constraints, the lack of personnel continuity and exclusionary practices. On the other hand, the PAs struggled with collaborating with political and administrative authorities, leading for instance to difficulties in obtaining government permission for project activities. Reasons are top-down administrative cultures and intransparencies, but also limited capacities of (local) governance to pursue in-depth partnerships.

Pilots highlight that a shift in perspective is necessary, so as to prioritise investment in (community) resilience and social infrastructure in times of increasing uncertainty. Civil Society Organisations can play a key role in providing this, especially in partnership with local governments and supported through sustainable funding arrangements. The learnings also point to the importance of education in promoting behavioural change, targeting educational actors and policy makers as key actors. At the same time, behavioural change is often enabled or restricted by broader systemic conditions, especially for vulnerable groups. This includes infrastructure, cultural norms and the individual socio-economic situation, limiting the capacity to engage. Holistic, multi-dimensional approaches are needed that consider individual capabilities, structural conditions and social dynamics.

This article is part of a three-part series focusing on the successes, challenges and lessons learnt from ACCTING’s pilot projects.

This article is part of a three-part series focusing on the successes, challenges and lessons learnt from ACCTING’s pilot projects.

Three years ago, the ACCTING project set out to explore how to make the European Green Deal more inclusive and just, especially for communities often left behind. Alongside research activities, ten pilot projects across Europe were funded. The context in which pilots were implemented however vary greatly – this includes the sectoral (from fire resilience to cycling) and geographic context (from rural Zagori to urban Palermo), as well as the primary target group (from Roma communities to disadvantaged youth). Nevertheless, there is a range of shared successes, challenges and obstacles as well as general lessons learnt that can be identified as cross-cutting.

What were the challenges that pilots faced?

Challenge #1 Lack of secure / formal funding mechanisms

Arguably the greatest challenge was the lack of long-term funding for the work of the pilots, making it difficult for them to plan or commit to medium- to long-term actions. Given the fixed, one-year nature of the ACCTING funding, the ACCTING project team were repeatedly approached by the pilots, asking about possibilities for further ACCTING funding or knowledge of other funding opportunities. It is clear that this is part of a pattern of ad-hoc, short-term funding, which likely contributes to the high turnover rate of personnel and indeed CSOs themselves (see Challenge #7). Indeed, not all organisations involved in the ACCTING pilots will necessarily be able to continue running in and beyond 2025.

Regarding the specific work of the pilots for instance, Dialogue & Action Against Wildfires noted in its final report that despite clear plans to continue the pilot work, that it has not yet secured any formal funding mechanism that would guarantee ongoing support for work such as training, equipment upgrades, or scenario-refinement exercises. Food4Schools noted similar difficulties in relation to its work on sustainable food in Greek schools.

Challenge #2 Financial constraints excluding certain demographics

The funding constraints mentioned above have implications not only on the sustainability but also on the inclusivity of the initiatives. For instance, some initiatives, like the Urban Gardens in Mapko have to collect a membership fee for their functioning, which serves as an access barrier for participation of lower income groups. Similarly, many initiatives cannot pay compensation for engagement of participants, which similarly serves as a barrier for deeper engagement.

Challenge #3 Ensuring equitable distribution of benefits and recognition

Regarding the tangible benefits discussed, such as infrastructure, equipment, and awards (see Success #6), equitable distribution and clear explanation of criteria is essential, with a number of pilots noting tensions in this regard. EduMove noting frustration by participants as regards to sub-par and/or differing quality of the bicycles donated.

In the case of Supporting Roma micro-entrepreneurs in Albania towards better environmental sustainability, they noted that vulnerability is not a self-evident concept, and the criteria for who qualifies as “vulnerable” was challenging during the implementation of project activities. This is also the case in relation to awards and prize ceremonies to recognise good work. Again, the selection process can lead to similar disagreements and perceived bias from those not selected.

Challenge #4 Difficulty obtaining government permission

While a few pilots had success engaging municipal actors (see Success #7), many faced significant delays or lack of responses from government actors at various levels. This often significantly held up their ability to progress with their planned projects.

While Mapko was able to conduct their own project work of mapping and supporting community gardens, they noted that many gardens struggle to secure operational permissions from municipalities, and others even face displacement due to land being repurposed for other projects (e.g. real estate development).

EduMove noted challenges to receive approval to conduct bicycle riding and safety training in schools. While they had good relationships with the local municipality, the school curriculum is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education. They note that while videos and other materials can be produced and delivered to school libraries, they risk gathering dust unless actively included in curricula. Thus, “The key to making this initiative successful is to create a clear structure, training schedules, and ensuring ongoing access to the materials.”

Todas en bici’s work to advocate for a safer and more inclusive cycling city for all Barcelona residents ran into difficulties engaging the municipality with a variety of policy proposals. With no clear contact within the municipality, plans to influence the city’s plans and infrastructure development were stillborn. This is clearly more crucial for some topics (e.g. cycling), where infrastructure and other top-down support is so necessary for influencing long-term outcomes.

InclusivECs awards similarly noted that the competencies for regulation of energy communities are shared across three levels of government – local town councils, regional state actors (the autonomous community) and the central government. While support was obtained from the former, lack of dialogue with the latter two created challenges. Better multi-level governance is required.

At other times, even where (local) governments wished to support, capacity issues sometimes arose. Thus, for instance, Food4Schools noted that pressing professional commitments and time constraints created difficulties in engaging local policy-makers who might otherwise have participated more actively.

Challenge #5 Top-down administrative culture

In the process of seeking institutional support for their work, some PAs noted difficulties with hierarchical, top-down administrative cultures. While Dialogue & Action Against Wildfires had some success working with their municipality of Messina, they noted challenges for multiplication across Greece owing to the “top-down administrative culture of most regions in Greece and may slow the adoption of bottom-up planning.”

This unwillingness to give up centralised control can sometimes make it hard for “outsiders” looking to support the work of public actors. Thus, for instance Food4Schools work on sustainable food procurement was made challenging from the start by a lack of consistent documentation on how this is dealt with in the Greek context, compounded by a very low response rate from ministries and regional authorities on requests for information. This required additional unexpected research work – the third part of the project’s final research report.

Challenge #6 CSO time-constraints

Many pilots worked to tailor support and/or project outputs to specific geographical contexts or (vulnerable) target groups.  Here it was noted that any work to this effect was enormously time-consuming. Supporting Roma micro-entrepreneurs in Albania for instance, had challenges tailoring their business support and tools to vulnerable Roma micro-entrepreneurs, especially owing to the beneficiaries’ limited experience with formal business planning.

Challenge #7 Lack of personnel continuity

Finally, as repeatedly hinted at, changes in leadership create substantial challenges for CSOs. Thus, for instance, EduMove noted that any work and communication with schools and students depends entirely on the subjective personal engagement and reliability of the contact point at that particular school.

Mapko in particular noted a trend of leaders in community gardens moving or reducing engagement for personal reasons after around three years of involvement, substantially impacting long-term project goals, community cohesion, and the kinds of fruitful personal relationships previously discussed. They cite a number of specific policy recommendations in Section 4 of the report to overcome this (in addition to the need to simply provide more funding for CSOs).

This article is part of a three-part series focusing on the successes, challenges and lessons learnt from ACCTING’s pilot projects.

This article is part of a three-part series focusing on the successes, challenges and lessons learnt from ACCTING’s pilot projects.

Three years ago, the ACCTING project set out to explore how to make the European Green Deal more inclusive and just, especially for communities often left behind. Alongside research activities, ten pilot projects across Europe were funded. Each one was a real-world experiment, shaped by the local context, contributing to ACCTING’s core mission: to understand how Green Deal policies affect different communities, and to find inclusive, practical ways to support sustainable behaviour and reduce inequalities.

The specific objectives of each pilot project as well as the context in which they were implemented however vary greatly – this includes the sectoral (from fire resilience to cycling) and geographic context (from rural Zagori to urban Palermo), as well as the primary target group (from Roma communities to disadvantaged youth). The strong engagement with the specific context of the target groups is one of the strengths of the pilots. At the same time, they make a synthesis of results challenging.

Nevertheless, there is a range of shared successes (and enabling factors underlying these successes), challenges and obstacles as well as general lessons learnt that can be identified as cross-cutting.

What made the pilot projects successful?

Success #1: Community ownership

“Projects may start and end, but people remain”.

Many of the pilot projects succeeded in ensuring the involvement and ownership of local communities in the planning and implementation of their projects. This was highlighted as instrumental for the project’s success, particularly in relation to ensuring long-term buy-in and project sustainability – by remaining relevant and adaptive to community-needs.

Specific examples include the village coordination committees established in Dialogue & Action Against Wildfires at the very outset of the project (and continuing right through all project stages). The School goes green project engaged a group of high school students (‘Sindacato’) from the onset in the design, implementation and peer-to-peer facilitation of the volunteering experience. According to their experience, this was a key factor for the high turnout and satisfaction of participating students and distilled a sense of ownership and self-actualisation in the Sindacato students. Similarly, the project Todas en bici decided to set-up a multi-organisational steering team with decentralised and collective decision-making processes. According to the organisers, such collective ownership increases the likelihood of continuing beyond the project’s timeframe.

Success #2: Inclusive co-creation

“Nothing about them, without them.”

Here, a strongly related point is the commitment to involving affected / vulnerable stakeholders as much as possible throughout the pilot process. As highlighted in Dialogue & Action Against Wildfires, this was not only a question of justice but also served as a valuable source of insight. The implementation team highlighted the decisive role of local knowledge in shaping effective disaster management strategies, with community mapping scenario-based worksheets unearthing a wealth of insights regarding local terrain, water sources, and historical fire patterns. These had not been considered in previous official fire prevention strategies. The Echoversity project took a similarly inclusive approach throughout the project’s design and implementation phases, seeking the active participation of a diverse group of stakeholders, farmers, artisans, educators, and residents, in the design and implementation of the project activities.

Success #3: Empowerment of marginalised groups

“Pride in my heritage, strength in my traditions, harmony with my land.”

Through their continued consultation and involvement, a noticeable change was observed in many of the marginalised communities included in the pilots. This relates to an increased sense of self-efficacy and -empowerment in relation to the topic at hand. Through the project, communities understood the value they bring to the achievement of larger goals.

For example, the inclusion of local villagers in Dialogue & Action Against Wildfires’s fire prevention strategies through interactive workshops, including identification of different roles for individuals in emergencies, related training programmes, etc. This workshop methodology (rather than relying on the usual top-down public information campaigns), contributes substantially to imparting both knowledge and confidence.

At other times, this also contributed to wider social goals beyond environmental protection, boosting a community’s sense of identity and self-esteem, and instilling a sense of pride for one’s own cultural and natural heritage and traditions. The importance of the Zagori region’s transhumance practices in Echoversity, linking to protection of the area’s strong biodiversity, maintenance of local trails, and wool-crafting heritage, was a clear example. This was made evident to local communities through the project as a whole, and particularly through the participation of prestigious local organisations, such as the University of Ioannina.

Success #4: Making climate protection fun and engaging

Piloting the party method

There has been widespread societal discussion on the need to make environmentalist activities fun and exciting, as opposed to an additional burden. Failure to do so can lead to the disengage of the public from sustainable lifestyles and activism, despite climate change remaining a real and present concern. In this context, a number of the Pilot projects presented a genuine alternative, grounded in a sense of playfulness and community co-creation.

For instance, the educational programme of Echoversity was successful in linking the topic of biodiversity protection to positive experiences through direct interaction with their natural environment. This connection of children with their natural environment and awareness raising about the links to cultural heritage, creates meaningful memories for future decision-makers, fostering a lasting appreciation for heritage and sustainability. Similarly, School goes green highlighted the importance of informal moments, or the “party method”, into the project experience to build relationship and foster engagement.

Success #5: Raising consciousness around vulnerability and inclusivity

Local communities and stakeholders were at times challenged to think about their own positionality and how they too could maximise inclusivity. In Uključi se! (Get involved!), for instance, a question was added in the application form relating to inclusion of vulnerable groups. This motivated the youth applying to the project’s volunteer programmes to think about which demographics and social groups were still missing from the project, providing the project organisers with a clearer overview on shortcomings to address.

Success #6: Translation of Green Deal policies to lived realities

ACCTING’s pilots successfully translated high-level concepts of the Green Deal to the lived reality of their target groups – an explicit rationale for the ACCTING project’s overall motivation regarding work with bottom-up organisations.

For instance, School goes green made a conscious effort in linking the high-level policy priorities of the European Green Deal with the lived reality of the students through participatory and reflexive methods during the initial workshop, the volunteering experience and the final event. As a result, students reported a considerably higher level of understanding of the European Green Deal and its principles.

Supporting Roma micro-entrepreneurs in Albania towards better environmental sustainability had significant success supporting participating SMEs by providing them with equipment and materials valued at €1,000 per enterprise. This proved highly labour-intensive, owing to the beneficiaries’ limited experience with formal business planning. Nonetheless, the results were highly effective in ensuring real value for the day-to-day business realities of each enterprise, leading to cost savings and reduced environmental impact. The main effect being the effective change in management – budgeting makes it feasible to take decisions on how the business is managed and ensure environmental impacts are minimised.

Success #7: Ensuring communities derive tangible benefits

Other success factors point to the project’s legacy and longer-term impact. Plans, strategies, worksheets and other typical deliverables can be valuable from a policy and replication / multiplication perspective. Yet several Pilot projects cited the importance of also linking the project outcomes to tangible benefits for participants and the wider community, making it easier to position the project as successful from the perspective of local communities.

One example is creation of new and/or increased opportunities for employment and income-generation. Echoversity established a foundation for eco-tourism and regenerative tourism by mapping and marking the transhumance trail – creating opportunities for local communities generally, and breeders in particular to generate income. Supporting Roma micro-entrepreneurs in Albania listed an ability to stimulate local economies through increased employment as one of the evaluation criteria for selecting which micro-enterprises to support.

Other tangible outcomes could be infrastructure (such as the development of a new bicycle lane and bicycle parking in EduMove) or equipment (€1,000 tailored support for local SMEs for Supporting Roma micro-entrepreneurs in Albania; bicycle donation to local school children for EduMove). Here, and in awards and prize ceremonies to recognise good work (InclusivECs awards and Supporting Roma micro-entrepreneurs in Albania) it is important to consider equitable distribution to avoid promoting tensions and further inequities, as discussed under challenges.

Success #8 Providing platforms for ongoing collaboration

In a number of cases, the pilots as a whole, or specific project outputs, provided an important networking role with other CSOs. (Usually online) platforms were thus provided for collaboration and networking, resource-sharing, and highlighting the work of different CSOs. This platforming helps to provide peer support and inspiration between CSOs, but also to provide visibility of their good work to potential future funders.

Thus, for instance, Supporting Roma micro-entrepreneurs in Albania established an informal Coalition of Roma Green Micro-entrepreneurs group for meetings and mutual support. As part of the project, an online platform was also developed to serve as a central hub for resources, opportunities, and communication among coalition members.

Mapko also conducted a comprehensive revamp of its community garden map, adding a host of new community gardens and documenting the closure of others, which significantly enhanced its usability. New features were introduced, including an interactive menu, a comprehensive knowledge bank, and user recognition through special badges, confirming the entity’s status on the platform. In today’s version, the badges are divided into four categories depending on the status and level of maturity of the given garden, providing a superb overview of the state of play in Czechia.

Something similar was done in Uključi se! (Get involved!), where the project team developed a website “Get involved!” that connects informal groups with donors to implement climate projects in local communities. The positive feedback of both companies and informal groups led to a decision to maintain this website after the project ends for at least the next three years – “We see great potential to activate many more young people with more companies and donors that would then open more calls for support.”

Success #9 Public institutionalisation of pilot approaches

What are the crucial conditions making such institutionalisation successful?

Many pilot organisations noted that the long-term sustainability and scaling of impact depends on the engagement of institutionalised actors, like public administrations and policy makers. Pilot projects had some success in engaging municipalities towards the institutionalisation of their approaches (albeit to varying degrees). For example, Dialogue & Action Against Wildfires notes that:

“Local stakeholders have begun discussing ways to integrate the project’s bottom-up approach into municipal civil protection plans, which could lead to greater institutionalisation of community-led disaster risk reduction. These early signs of official endorsement suggest that even though formal budget lines have yet to be established, the pilot action’s methodologies and ethos stand a good chance of being recognised and sustained in future, supposing that some of the community members continue to continuously push forward the political agenda.”

Similarly, Mapko had success engaging not only local communities but also municipalities and developers to establish a collaboration regarding community gardens in the Czech Republic. This resulted in agreements to include community gardens in urban planning, with a memorandum of understanding facilitating green spaces in new residential projects. EduMove, meanwhile, benefited from good relations between the implementing organisation and the local municipality to implement actions like permanent bike lanes and a public campaign with permanent banners.

In contrast, other Pilot projects faced significant difficulty gaining public support, including municipalities (e.g. Todas en bici) and national actors (InclusivECs awards). The burning question from a policy perspective is: What are the crucial conditions making such institutionalisation successful? The following success factors are posited:

• Public priorities and consciousness:

Bottom-up innovations are more likely to be picked up and supported if they are in line with current public priorities and political pressures. It is no surprise, for instance, that the topic of wildfires in Greece found resonance with local politicians, given the level of discourse around the topic. Vice versa, InclusivECs awards clearly struggled simply due to the level of maturity of energy communities in Spain generally, meaning that less public support was forthcoming.

• Windows of opportunity:

Some projects clearly benefit from being the right topic at the right time in relation to current policy agendas (and vice versa). To have political impact it is crucial to link on-going policy processes and priorities, i.e. helping policy makers solve problems they are currently concerned with. Thus, for instance, Food4Schools have done well to link their project (nominally about food in schools) to the highly publicised 100 Climate Neutral Cities Mission, noting how food systems transformation is intimately linked with climate resilience, and linking this to the work of Greek Mission cities – including Thessaloniki, Ioannina, and Kalamata.

• Leveraging existing relationships with political actors

Some of the projects were able to leverage positive relationships between the pilot contacts and the municipalities to push for joined projects (Messinia in Greece, and Tirana/Kamëz in Albania, respectively). Vice versa, the projects are then opportunities to build dialogue and trust for future collaborations. This is compromised whenever there is a lack of personal continuity, as outlined in challenge #8.

Success #10: Facilitating translocal learning & multiplication

A number of Pilot projects had success developing plans & templates that are modular, generalised and process-oriented. This approach supports replication and multiplication, allowing projects and planning to be adapted and/or tailored to other contexts and account for distinct legal frameworks, cultural practices, or geographical constraints – an essential element for translocal learning. Dialogue & Action Against Wildfires ’s Forest Fire Risk Reduction Toolkit is one great example of this and is currently translated to English.

Others explicitly began the hard work of identifying promising NGOs and CSOs who would have interest in collaborating on similar projects in the future. Mapko did this in the context of food gardens in and beyond the Czech Republic (Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, and Bosnia). The project leads suggest starting with regional groupings such as the V4 (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia). Doing this through a unified platform such as the Mapko site, will allow for a better understanding of the varying approaches to urban agriculture, legislative frameworks, and socioeconomic conditions, nonetheless fostering collaboration across borders.

Success #11 CSOs as mediators

Lastly, the role of CSOs as mediators between diverse stakeholders was repeatedly emphasised, indicating their value in building trust and lowering transaction costs. This networking role could be with individual stakeholders, but in other cases it was between organisations – a network of CSOs (illustrating the importance of similar organisations like ECOLISE at the EU-wide level).

Supporting Roma micro-entrepreneurs in Albania and Mapko thus for instance helped to provide recognition and a voice for smaller organisations (SMEs and community gardens respectively) who would not have had the size or capacity to do this on their own. Dialogue & Action Against Wildfires similarly acted as a single broker and contact between small, isolated villages with fluctuating populations (summer versus winter) and the public authorities responsible for creation of disaster planning (fire departments, municipalities generally).

In some cases, this was an explicit aim of the project. Thus, Uključi se! (Get involved!) had the core objective of acting as a broker between companies and volunteers/informal groups. The organisation, Young Researchers of Serbia (YRS), thus established a methodology for mentorship and financial support, giving many companies to plan their own CSO work. This was a safer way for the companies to support individual climate ideas because YRS’s co-ordination provided the institutional credibility and organisational skills to lower the risk of working with fully grassroots actors. Through the application and selection methodology, companies could also be sure that selected projects had been adequately vetted.

This trust and brokerage relate not only to reputations but also to legal and financial capacity. For instance, Uključi se! (Get involved!) noted that replication in countries beyond Serbia would require “an umbrella association that can handle the financial weight and be the contact point for smaller organisations on [the] local level that would work directly with the local community.” They highlight that their methodology is invaluable for the involvement and support of informal groups who, as individuals, cannot be supported or held accountable for financial spending through projects and donations. “YRS has therefore created a system that enables them to still do projects and YRS would cover the costs through invoices provided by them in our name. This is due to the legal framework in Serbia, but also in many other countries.”

In other cases, the careful involvement of key multipliers to further this networking potential. PA10 had success in also involving individuals with high multiplier potential in their school volunteering project. For instance, 14 teachers, many of whom will be moved to new schools in Palermo in 2025 – boding well for replication of the project ethos in further regional schools in the future.

This article is part of a three-part series focusing on the successes, challenges and lessons learnt from ACCTING’s pilot projects.

It’s not just about business, it’s about community: Empowering Roma green entrepreneurs in Albania 

In Albania, a quiet transformation is taking root. One that weaves together sustainability, entrepreneurship, and community empowerment. At the heart of it is the Institute of Romani Culture in Albania (IRCA), which, through its ACCTING pilot project, has helped Roma micro-entrepreneurs take bold steps toward environmentally sustainable business practices. 

Marsela Isaku, project lead at IRCA, has witnessed this transformation first-hand. “Our project empowered Roma micro-entrepreneurs in Albania to adopt environmentally sustainable business practices through training, equipment support, and community networking,” she explains. And the results are already tangible. 

One of the most striking outcomes? The creation of an informal coalition of Roma Green Micro-Entrepreneurs, now connected through a newly launched online platform that facilitates peer learning, visibility, and continued support. 

But behind this structural achievement lies a powerful human story.

“A standout moment was awarding the first prize to a young Roma entrepreneur who runs a medicinal herbs business — not only is he creating green income opportunities, but he’s also revitalising his rural community and offering employment to others.”

This moment captures the spirit of the project: sustainable practices as a vehicle for autonomy, dignity, and shared progress. 

Yet, the path was not without challenges. Many participants, often excluded from formal education systems, initially struggled with the complexity of business and financial concepts. 

“We addressed this by using interactive, hands-on training methods and simplifying the content into practical exercises,” Marsela says, making it not only accessible but empowering.” 

What also surprised the team was the emergence of strong female leadership. “Over half of the supported businesses [were] led by women or girls — this exceeded our expectations and highlighted untapped potential in the community.” 

Sustainability as a mindset shift
One of the most profound impacts of the project wasn’t just economic, it was ideological. 

“At the beginning of the project, many participants viewed environmental sustainability as a distant or secondary concern—something more relevant to larger companies, not micro-enterprises like theirs.,” Marsela reflects.

“However, through practical training sessions and tailored support, they started to see the clear link between sustainability and business success. [They] began to understand that integrating eco-friendly practices (…) could improve efficiency, lower costs, and attract more customers.”

What was once abstract became concrete, relevant, and achievable. Participants began to see that sustainability wasn’t a burden, it was a smart, strategic choice. 

What’s next? Scaling up a community-led model
As the ACCTING project draws to a close, IRCA isn’t slowing down. Plans are underway to strengthen the coalition, expand the online platform, and offer new training in digital and financial literacy. 

Marsela believes this model is scalable. With context-specific adjustments and culturally sensitive facilitation, it could thrive in other regions and among other vulnerable groups. 

This project is a reminder that inclusive green transitions are not only possible but powerful when built from the ground up. It shows that when people are equipped with tools, trust, and space to grow, they become agents of change not just in their businesses, but in their communities. 

This initiative is one of ten pilot projects funded by ACCTING to support the reduction of social inequalities in relation to the Green Deal.

From hand-me-down bikes to a city-wide shift: How EduMove is changing how Tirana’s kids get to school 

In the suburbs of Tirana, where cycling was once seen as a sign of poverty or a relic of the past, a quiet revolution is taking place. A non-profit organisation is helping schoolchildren reclaim the streets, not with flashy campaigns or expensive equipment, but with donated bikes, grassroots training, and a bold belief in change. 

Launched by Active Mobility, the EduMove project has one goal: to get kids moving safely, confidently, and sustainably. And it’s working.

“EduMove enabled school-age children from outer communities in Tirana to cycle to school through bike donations, trainings, and safe infrastructure (bike racks and bike corridors),” explains Iden, a cycling activist turned project lead.

In just a few months, five schools went from having no students cycling to school to 18% making the journey on two wheels. 

”One key achievement we’re most proud of is increasing the number of students cycling to school from 0 to 18% across five schools — marking a cultural change toward active, independent mobility.”

It may sound like a small number. But in a city where bikes are often dismissed as outdated or low-status, that shift reflects something bigger: a reimagining of what’s possible for youth mobility and for the city itself. 

Among the many students impacted by the project, one story stood out.

“One moment that really stayed with me was seeing Migena, a shy girl who had never ridden a bike before, not only learn to cycle during our training but later become our first student to be hired by the organisation — proof that empowerment through mobility can lead to real opportunities.” 

The project wasn’t without challenges. Delays in receiving approval from the Ministry of Education caused early setbacks. “We overcame it by using the time to build stronger relationships with school staff and prepare high-quality training materials.”

Another hurdle came when students discovered the donated bikes weren’t brand new. “Many were disappointed… but with a very limited budget, we provided the best quality used bikes available and offered free repairs to ensure they felt valued and supported.” 

What surprised the team most wasn’t the resistance, it was how quickly things turned around.

”Once a few confident kids started biking to school, it created a ripple effect, inspiring their classmates, siblings, and even parents to reconsider bikes as a real transport option.” 

Over half of the participants were girls, many of whom had never cycled before. Their growing confidence began to shift long-held perceptions about gender and mobility within their schools. 

Collaboration was at the heart of EduMove. “Partnerships with schools, the Municipality of Kamëz, local bike shops, and community members allowed us to deliver training, install infrastructure, and create a support system that made cycling both possible and sustainable for the students.”

Some of those students became more than just participants. “We chose to focus on the ones who caught the ‘cycling spark’. We kept in close contact with them, invited them to events, gave them opportunities to speak up and lead.” That enthusiasm proved contagious. 

”In more than one case, we saw hesitant peers become curious, and parents begin supporting cycling as a daily routine.” 

Looking ahead, EduMove’s momentum shows no signs of slowing. “We see EduMove continuing through two main paths: integrating cycling education into the national school curriculum — starting with grades 4 and 5 — and expanding the model to other schools and even universities, with support from local partners and new funding opportunities already in the pipeline.” 

The team believes the model could work well beyond Tirana, especially in other areas where young people face mobility challenges. “But the bike donation component is quite unique and emotionally impactful,” Iden adds. “Any replication would need to ensure a strong local commitment to sourcing bikes and maintaining that personal connection with each recipient.” 

During the project, the team observed a sharp divide in students’ attitudes. “Many associated bikes with poverty or saw cycling as unsafe and unfashionable — a mode of transport they felt society had outgrown.” Others, however, embraced the experience with enthusiasm.

”The sense of freedom and confidence it gave them was transformative.”

By focusing on this group, and helping them become visible within their communities, the project created a ripple effect that continues to grow. 

EduMove is proof that with the right mix of trust, tools, and training, a second-hand bike can carry a child much further than just to school. It can lead to independence, leadership and a cultural shift on wheels.

This initiative is one of ten pilot projects funded by ACCTING to support the reduction of social inequalities in relation to the Green Deal.

Where are the Women in Forest Fire Response? Women Firefighters and Village Heads of Izmir, Turkey

Esin Düzel, Ayşe Gül Altınay, Burcu Borhan Türeli

Forest fires are becoming an increasingly urgent crisis, threatening ecosystems, livelihoods, and communities worldwide. But when we think about those on the frontlines—preventing fires, responding to emergencies, and leading recovery efforts—women’s contributions often go unnoticed. How do women prevent and stop forest fires, and how do they contribute to the recovery process? Where does women’s labor stand in forest fire intervention? Over the course of our three-and-a-half-year research, we have identified that women take on significant responsibilities and play critical roles in forest fire prevention and response. However, public and civil society institutions working in this field often overlook the work that women are already doing. Yet, it is possible to build a more effective forest fire response system by drawing inspiration from women, positioning them as key actors in the process, and developing a gender-responsive approach to fire prevention.

As the ACCTING project, we have been researching the impact of green transition policies on vulnerable groups since 2022.  As the Sabanci University (Turkey) team, our focus has been on forest fires within the broader disaster research stream. In the study, while our colleagues in Portugal have studied the impacts of floods and fires on vulnerable communities, in Italy the focus has been on floods, and our colleagues in Sweden have investigated wildfires and the broader impacts of the climate crisis unfolding as “slow disasters.”

All of these studies point to a common finding: institutions responsible for disaster response recognize the growing importance of preparedness as natural disasters increase in frequency and severity due to the deepening climate crisis. However, the measures they implement often overlook or only minimally engage with local knowledges and experiences, failing to involve local communities in the process. Too often, disaster preparedness strategies are implemented through a top-down approach and overly focused on technological solutions. Local groups—such as villagers, neighborhood residents, or migrants—are framed solely as vulnerable populations and thereby passive victims, rather than as active contributors to disaster resilience. This framing not only prevents them from contributing to disaster response mechanisms but also leads to the erasure of their existing knowledge and wisdom developed through generations and diverse lived experience. Yet, our research shows that despite being among the most affected by disasters, these groups have a strong capacity for resilience, informed by their lived experience and historical knowledge that make them invaluable assets in disaster preparedness and response.^[1]

Looking at examples from Europe and Turkey, we have identified that the lack of collaboration between disaster-related authorities and local communities also renders women’s labor invisible. Women and children are often defined as the most vulnerable groups in disasters, reinforcing a misleading perception that they cannot actively participate in disaster response. To create new and more effective disaster response mechanisms, we must rethink these structures through a gender lens and address the following questions:

• Why are women excluded from disaster response structures?
• In which areas is women’s labor deemed “unnecessary” or “insufficient”?
• How is the relationship between women’s participation and disaster prevention understood?
• Which social mechanisms and natural resources can be better seen and transformed through women’s involvement?
• In man-dominated fields, what ideas and ideals about masculinity are normalized?
• What assumptions or biases hinder women’s contributions to fire prevention and firefighting?
• How do these mechanisms change when women take on leadership roles?^[2]

As we pursued these questions, we came across a unique unit in Turkey that, to our knowledge, has no equivalent elsewhere in the country: the Forest Villages and Rural Area Fire Response Branch Directorate. This unit was established within the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Fire Department after the devastating 2021 Manavgat and Muğla mega forest fires. Recognizing that urban and rural areas are increasingly intertwined and that wildfires also impact cities and urban populations, the municipality took on direct responsibility for combating fires at the (forest) outskirts of the city for the first time. In Turkey, the General Directorate of Forestry, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, is the primary government agency responsible for forest fires and forest villages. However, the involvement of a municipality in this issue has set a promising precedent for taking responsibility for forest areas and rural communities.

This unit now has a woman branch director: Şerife Güzel. Together with her predecessor, Yaşar Korkmaz, who is now the Head of the Fire Department, they have initiated a remarkable effort to support villages on the outskirts of Izmir and in forest-adjacent areas. They modified the existing water tankers by adding sprinkler systems, allowing them to function like firefighting vehicles, and distributed them to villages. They have also conducted regular follow-up visits to maintain and repair the tankers.

During our research, Şerife Güzel explained that they use these visits to strengthen ties with villagers, exchange ideas, and establish long-term collaborations on fire prevention. Since 2022, using their own resources as well as additional support from the Provincial Special Administration and district municipalities, they have delivered 460 tankers to villages in Izmir’s rural areas. These tankers have enabled villagers to respond to fires immediately upon detection, significantly slowing the spread of flames. “Whatever we provide, the villagers want to take them. They are incredibly motivated and eager,” says Şerife Güzel. Since the 2021 devastating forest fires, villagers’ determination to protect their forests has only grown stronger.

Operating as a dedicated unit has allowed them to conduct their work more effectively. Additionally, their continuous and structured communication with village headpersons (muhtars) has ensured that the local communities take ownership of the initiative, creating an active feedback and response mechanism.

Officials from the İzmir Municipality Fire Department’s Forest Villages and Rural Area Fire Response Branch Directorate meet with the village head and villagers of Yerlitahtacı village in Bergama to discuss forest fire prevention efforts. February 11, 2025. Photo: İzmir Municipality Fire Department Press Unit.

Yaşar Korkmaz, Şerife Güzel, and their teams have taken significant steps toward recognizing and valuing women’s labor. They have gathered important insights, such as how women shepherds possess deep knowledge of the land, how women village heads can mobilize all segments of their villages, and how rural women contribute daily by clearing dry grass around their homes to reduce fire risk.

Officials from the İzmir Municipality Fire Department’s Forest Villages and Rural Area Fire Response Branch Directorate meet with the village head and villagers of Bergama Yerlitahtacı village to discuss forest fire prevention efforts. March 5, 2025. Photo: İzmir Municipality Fire Department Press Unit.

During our conversation with Sevil Duman, the village head of Urla Birgi village, we learned that, thanks to the water tanks they received from the municipality and the General Directorate of Forestry, she and her husband Kemal Duman, along with other concerned villagers, have been operating almost like an informal fire coordination center. We saw the water tanks, kept just behind the muhtarlık (village administration office), ready for an immediate fire response—even in February. They told us that during the summers, instead of attending weddings or going fishing—a pastime they love—they stay on fire watch duty. They regularly patrol fire-prone areas with their water tanker, sometimes conducting preventive watering to reduce fire risks.

Sevil Duman has also been a pioneer in developing fire prevention methods. For instance, she invited shepherds from other villages to bring their cows and sheep to graze on the grass along the roadside. This natural method of fire prevention helps reduce dry vegetation that could fuel wildfires. She actively shares this practice with neighboring villages and fellow muhtars.

“In the past, fires spread more slowly because animals used to graze on dry grass. Now, there are far fewer animals and shepherds, but we stay in close contact with those who remain,” she explained.

Having grown up in the village and maintaining strong ties to the region, Muhtar Sevil has extensive knowledge of the names and exact locations of around a hundred wells scattered throughout the area, as well as the local names used for different parts of the forest land. She emphasized that this local knowledge is crucial for quick fire response and effective communication. Together with her husband Kemal Duman, they have frequently relied on this knowledge to reach fire sites and water sources quickly. Over the past two years, they have managed to contain nearly fifteen fires before they could spread.

Urla Birgi Village Muhtar Sevil Duman and her husband Kemal Duman in front of the water tanks provided by Izmir Municipality Fire Department and the General Directorate of Forestry. February 23, 2025. Photo: Ayşe Gül Altınay

Şerife Güzel, Head of the Forest Villages and Rural Area Fire Response Branch of İzmir Fire Department, states that collaboration with women village heads creates a mutual space for empowerment. As a testament to this, on Friday, March 7, 2025, they held a joyful March 8 celebration with the women village heads to whom they had distributed water tanks.

Plaque Ceremony and March 8 Celebration for Women Muhtars by Izmir Fire Department
Standing: Fire Department Head Yaşar Korkmaz and Head of the Forest Villages and Rural Area Fire Response Branch, Şerife Güzel. March 7, 2025. Photo: Izmir Fire Department Press Unit.

March 8 Celebration at Izmir Fire Department, featuring Branch Manager Şerife Güzel and Güzelbahçe Çamlı Village Head Ebru Gün. March 7, 2025. Photo: Izmir Fire Department Press Unit.

Whether this event, reminding women villageheads who play an active role in firefighting that they are not alone, will pave the way for the establishment of a solidarity network that enables more effective intervention in fires, only time will tell. What we can say, based on our research in Turkey and beyond, is

that the active participation of women, who have deep knowledge of their local geography (and all its human and more-than-human inhabitants) l and have the will, experience, and potential to establish strong collaborations across different sectors, is an important step toward making fire prevention and intervention mechanisms more inclusive and effective.

The Turkish version of this text is published here.

About the authors

Esin Düzel is a Project Specialist for the EU Horizon 2020 project ACCTING, at Sabancı University´s Gender and Women´s Studies Excellence Center, and an anthropologist with a PhD from University of California, San Diego. Her work is concerned with affect, morality, and body in wars and conflicts, feminist and everyday peace, and future studies (with a focus on utopias, disasters, and biodiversity). She lives in Helsinki, Finland.

Ayşe Gül Altinay is former Director of Sabancı University Gender and Women’s Studies Center of Excellence (SU Gender), Istanbul. Having published extensively on militarism, gender-based violence and gendered memories of war and political violence, Altınay’s current research focuses on feminist+ solidarity and transformative activism.

Burcu Borhan Türeli is a researcher and project specialist for the EU Horizon 2020 ACCTING project and works at Sabancı University. She has worked at various national and international universities. Her research interests include children’s literature, education and pedagogy, rural gender transformation, agri-food relationships, food security and sustainable food systems. She lives in Çanakkale, Turkey.

We are thrilled to invite poster abstract submissions for ACCTING’s Final Conference, “Empowering Change: Building a Fair and Inclusive Green Deal”, taking place on 29 April 2025 in Brussels.

This is a great opportunity for projects and initiatives to gain visibility, connect with policymakers, civil society organisations, and researchers, and contribute to discussions on tackling inequalities in environmental policies. The poster exhibition will spotlight initiatives that engage marginalised communities, helping to build a fairer, more sustainable Europe.

We particularly encourage submissions from EU projects and initiatives working on inclusivity, sustainability, and the inclusion of vulnerable groups. Poster spaces are limited, and submissions will undergo a peer-review process.

Interested in presenting? Find out more, submit your poster abstract before 19 March and register to attend via the links below.

This week the ACCTING team gathered in Vienna for two days of in-depth discussions and workshops as we approach the final phase of the project. A big thank you to all partners for their contributions and to the Centre for Social Innovation for organising this meeting. We look forward to be sharing new publications soon, including a new set of policy recommendations and research agendas for a more inclusive future!

Highlights from the workshops

The first day of the meeting focused on refining key outputs, including recommendations for inclusive, sustainable policies and research agendas that will shape future studies, identifying key gaps across all research lines.

These outputs will be published soon, sign up to our newsletter to be kept informed!

During the second day, partners reviewed past advocacy efforts, reflecting on successes and challenges. These reflections will inform the project’s new strategy for impact, ensuring ACCTING outputs are shared widely. Another key focus was on exploitation, led by a main goal: how to ensure ACCTING’s results continue to be used and have a lasting impact beyond the project’s end.

What’s next

ACCTING Final Conference: Empowering Change – Building a Fair and Inclusive Green Deal
29 April 2025 | Brussels, Belgium

Our final conference will bring together policymakers, researchers, NGOs, and civil society to explore strategies for a fair and inclusive Green Deal, featuring key research findings, pilot actions, policy recommendations, and more.

More details & registration

The Right to the Cycling City, is a collection of inspiring stories published by aquí, a Barcelona-based cooperative advancing urban research, spatial strategies, and community resilience. This collection is part of the pilot project funded by ACCTING.

The publication showcases how bicycles are being mobilised globally, from Nairobi to Marseille, as tools for social and climate justice. These stories offer a fresh lens on cycling as a vehicle for justice, celebrating grassroots innovations that reimagine cities as inclusive, liveable spaces.

By documenting efforts to connect cycling activism with inclusivity, aquí aligns with our mission to inspire action through real-world examples. ACCTING has mapped bottom-up initiatives across 34 countries, highlighting the powerful role of communities and vulnerable groups in driving meaningful change in response to climate challenges.

Read The Right to the Cycling City collection to discover how bicycles can transform urban futures.

© Pictures: ICLEI Europe

In June, ACCTING had the opportunity to take part in the 11th European Urban Resilience Forum (EURESFO) in Valencia, Spain, the 2024 European Green Capital. EURESFO is a collaborative initiative by the European Environment Agency and ACCTING project partner ICLEI Europe. The 2024 edition, held during the Valencia Cities Climate Week, brought together representatives from cities and regions across Europe to discuss climate resilience and sustainable urban development. 

Co-creating Inclusive Climate Adaptation Solutions: An Interactive Workshop on Citizen Engagement

The interactive workshop explored citizen engagement in climate adaptation through real-world case studies from Malmö, Dresden, Rome, Messinia, and Utrecht. The discussions were facilitated by local experts and supported by insights from related projects Adaptation AGORA and Urban ReLeaf.

The workshop emphasised the need for communities most affected by climate change to participate in decision-making, an approach which leverages local knowledge for better adaptation solutions. Key takeaways were highlighted:

Vulnerability

• Recognize the multifaceted nature of vulnerability, considering factors like age, health, socio-economic status, and more.
• View vulnerable communities as valuable sources of knowledge and solutions.

Trust

• Foster trust through early involvement, transparent communication, and shared decision-making.
• Meet people in their environments to lower engagement barriers and involve them in collective actions.
• Use intermediaries such as NGOs, community initiatives, and social services to connect with vulnerable populations.

Resources

• Partner with existing community-led groups to leverage on-the-ground knowledge and resources.
• Equip municipalities with the resources and training needed for meaningful and long-term citizen engagement.
• Ensure inclusivity by offering childcare, fair compensation, and addressing language barriers.

The workshop underscored the importance of participatory and deliberative democratic practices in enhancing local climate resilience. It highlighted the need for continuous exchange and learning among practitioners.

By embracing these inclusive and collaborative approaches, we can build more resilient communities capable of adapting to the challenges posed by climate change.