The sustainability challenge: are you a witness or an activist? Become a Gazte Ekolider

• The registration deadline for the Gazte Ekoliderrak programme is the 20th of October.
• A total of 30 young people will have the opportunity to participate in this 6-month training.
• Those who register before the 29th of September will receive a 10% discount.

Registration is now open to take part in Gazte Ekoliderrak, a training and life itinerary that seeks to train young people aged between 20 and 35 in sustainability and leadership. The initiative is promoted by Kutxa Fundazioa in collaboration with the UPV/EHU Summer Courses Foundation (UIK). The deadline for registration is the 20th of October.

The training programme is composed of 3 main dimensions: learn, act and
become. In addition to being a programme that deepens knowledge, it seeks to empower young people to become active agents. This year, moreover, the project will be developed in collaboration with different organisations in the field of sustainability so that young people can get involved in real challenges.

As explained by the director of the Kutxa Fundazioa, Ander Aizpurua, "We want to offer young people who want to be active in the transformation towards sustainability skills and knowledge that will help them to embark on the journey. On this journey, we are working to offer them tools and networks that will help them to fulfil their purpose".

This year's slogan "Egin bidea. Eragin aldaketa” (Live the process. Cause change) focuses on the knowledge and skills that young people will develop in order to be agents of change. The climate emergency and the social crisis are being talked about. We know that a sustainable future is a top priority. But where do we stand in this situation? Do we want to be witnesses or activists?

Gazte Ekoliderrak | 2023-2024 edition

The Gazte Ekoliderrak training programme will last 6 months and a total of 120 hours from November to April. This year, the contents of the programme have been organised into 5 large blocks of knowledge so that the young people can work on a topic each month.

01 Context: Climate crisis

02 People: Social Justice

03 Economy: Analysing green capitalism

04 Planet: Biodiversity loss

05 Participation: Witnesses or activists?

In addition, participants will follow 3 itineraries: they will deepen in a holistic vision of sustainability, addressing different topics and contents; they will work on conscious leadership, adopting 15 commitments as a guide; and they will focus on the development of the project. In this last phase and as a novelty of this edition, participants will have the opportunity to collaborate with reference organisations in the development of projects to respond to real challenges.

The training programme will comprise a total of 12 face-to-face sessions, 2 per month (first and third Tuesdays); 3 weekend trips of one and a half days; and an online space aimed at contextualising the contents. Personal work is also envisaged to deepen the training received and give shape to the projects. The whole process will be carried out with the help of a guidance team and the collaboration of professional experts in sustainability and leadership.

Itziar Alkorta, academic director of the UPV/EHU Summer Courses Foundation (UIK), stressed that "this project is fully aligned with the UIK's commitment to sustainability. Our mission is to raise awareness, train and disseminate knowledge about climate change. Our commitment to society is to encourage participation and transformation. This training, which is part of the Donostia Sustainability Forum (DSF), has been empowering and transforming young people for 8 years. Based on the accumulated experience, as well as the teachers and teaching material that participate in them, we can assure that this is a quality programme and we encourage all interested young people to participate in this training".

Limited access

A total of 30 young people will have the opportunity to participate in the Gazte Ekoliderrak project. The training is valued at 300€. In addition to the lectures and the mentoring of 120 hours of training, the registration fee covers full board for the 3 stays; travel expenses on trips; insurance; financial aid for the development of the project and group activities; and the accreditation diploma. Young people can pay in two parts. Those who register before the 29th of September will receive a 10% discount.

Participants must meet the following requirements: they must know Spanish, be able to understand Basque and attend 80% of the sessions.

You can register on the Kutxa Foundation's website: https://kutxa.eus/es/ekoliderrak