Think twice! – Ecological sustainability in project management Erasmus Project

Project Title

Think twice! – Ecological sustainability in project management

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Environment and climate change; Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions

Project Summary

How green is the management of my project? Is it okay to travel to project meetings by plane? And what is the ecological footprint of using online tools? These are just some of the questions we are approaching in the project “Think Twice! – Ecological sustainability in project management” with partners from Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia and the UK.

Achieving sustainability of business activities, intertwining social, economic and environmental perspectives, is one of the most challenging objectives for organisations and companies all over the world. Also projects funded through European programmes should be examined carefully regarding their ecological sustainability. This does not only concern the content and its development, but also the overall organisation and management of a project. Making easily accessible and practical information and tools on ecological sustainability available to experienced project managers as well as newcomers is therefore of vital importance. Every project manager should Think Twice! and take decisions consciously, considering all relevant aspects. In this way, project managers will be able to take on an exemplary function within the field of education in Europe.

The project aims to enhance ecological sustainability in European projects, raise awareness on the possibilities of a green project management and establish good practices by developing the following outputs:

1) A Curated Treasury of good practices in ecologically sustainable project management pointing out ecologically sustainable ways in all kinds of project management activities based on collected good practices

2) A Stress Test of current practice leading to a personalised Learning Pathway, where project managers can test “How green is the management of my project?” and extend their knowledge, skills and competences by following their individual, work-based, interactive learning pathway.

The primary target group are experienced and new project managers working or wanting to work in European funded projects. They are an integral part of all partner organisations and therefore all organisations involved are able to implement and test the project results directly by themselves. Nevertheless, the goal is to develop results, which are flexible and easily adaptable to different contexts and therefore accessible, informative and beneficial for all kinds of project-based organisations, VET providers and companies. The transferability of the project results to other circumstances will be emphasised from the beginning by involving project managers in a more general and diverse sense in the project activities. The project results will be tested and evaluated by at least 80 project managers (10 per partner) including internal staff from the partner organisations as well as external partners and stakeholders, among them project managers outside the participating countries.

The desired impact is to develop sustainable and transferable tools for making project management in general more ecologically sustainable. Project managers will be more aware regarding the consequences of their actions and enhance their ability for conscious decision-making, critical thinking and for the practical application of ecological sustainability in everyday working procedures. Project managers can influence the way their organisations work and take on a role model function in view of other organisations as well as for the various target groups they are working with on a daily basis within their projects. Organisations on local, regional, national and European level will be enabled to critically analyse their own work practices and routines and reconsider them taking into account green alternatives, establish good practices and by this set an example of sustainable management for other organisations.

The need for ecological sustainability is a common issue in all European countries and green project management is therefore extremely relevant for all project-based organisations. A common approach developed by a variety of organisations represented in the partnership, including NGO’s, non-profit organisations, VET providers, private companies, a university and a chamber of commerce, will enhance the adaptability and transferability of the project results.

All products created in the framework of this project will be freely accessible through the project website and a link on the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform and the EPALE platform, since the results are relevant for all kinds of organisations managing European funded projects. The content of the Treasury, the Stress Test and the Learning Pathway will be put under the creative common licence CC BY-SA 4.0, which allows the sharing and adapting of materials with an attribution and under the term that remixed contents need to be distributed under the same licence. All interested parties can therefore make use of the results without limitations.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 246628 Eur

Project Coordinator

WISAMAR BILDUNGSGESELLSCHAFT GEMEINNUTZIGE GMBH & Country: DE

Project Partners

• edEUcation ltd
• Taste Roots Società Cooperativa
• Associacio Programes Educatius Open Europe
• UNIVERSIDADE DE AVEIRO
• G.G. EUROSUCCESS CONSULTING LIMITED
• GOSPODARSKA ZBORNICA SLOVENIJE
• C.M. SKOULIDI & SIA E.E.