Thanks to the technical and financial support from the EU DEAR Program and all partners involved in the Mindchangers Project, La Rioja (Spain) managed to finance in late December, 2021, three interesting projects at local level to increase youth engagement with the current global challenges of climate change and migration.

Gobierno de La Rioja and CONGDCAR are the entities based in La Rioja Region who are in charge of coordinating the sub-granting scheme at their own level as proposed by the Mindchangers Project. Both entities belong with a pan-European partnership led by the Piedmont Region (Italy) in which all partners support each other, share best practices, collaborate to design and implement the communication campaign of the project, and they all take part in a pan-European research on how to increase youth engagement with the SDGs at each regional level.

Now, KAIPACHA INTI, FUNDACIÓN PIONEROS and MEDICUS MUNDI LA RIOJA are the lead entities of the sub-granted projects in La Rioja.

On the one hand, they all have proven experience in implementing projects within the areas of international cooperation and global citizenship education, while on the other hand they belong with different networks made up of educational centres and civil society organisations at regional level.

On the same line, the three sub-granted projects present some other common ground as follows:

• year of implementation: 2022.
• types of activities: create HUB-modeled spaces for exchanges, organise communication activities, identify potential risks of climate change and then discuss them during municipal plenary sessions…
• associates: educational centres, civil society organisations, local entities…
• protagonists of the activities within each project: youths from La Rioja, including in some case the participation of youths from the Global South.

When it comes to the differences, each project addresses one or both of the core topics of Mindchangers (climate change and migration), as well as they have different fields of expertise. However, they are all in the same boat and they want you to take part in promoting climate justice and diversity! Please, feel free to ask for further details, the time has come for you in La Rioja!

Finally, CONGDCAR, with the collaboration of Gobierno de La Rioja, will be holding a start up seminar in early March, 2022, for the local sub-grantees. This is going to be the first meeting between the regional partners of Mindchangers and the coordinators of the projects, not only will we discuss strategies and technical guidelines, but we will also listen to each other and aim for the best collaborative work! It is certainly key to success, we want to support youths in La Rioja and give them a voice. Of course, we will let you know. Stay tuned!

Mindchangers is ready to start in La Rioja. Are you ready to become a Mindchanger?