ESN Italy: let’s green our network!

The initiative consisted in implementing environmental sustainability as the core value of ESN Italy. Three main strands can be identified: 

• Collaboration with NGOs: 

1. Legambiente (the leading environmental voluntary association in our Country): we implemented the memorandum of understanding realized last year. This includes: ESN Italy's participation in Legambiente's national training event; Legambiente's participation in our national platforms and in our national training event; our participation in the Clean Up the World Campaign and Clean Beaches and Seabeds; writing and applying to a call for proposals in collaboration.
2. Plastic Free: we made contacts with Plastic Free, a national association that aims to  raise awareness on plastic pollution, and we laid the foundation for a future collaboration. More specifically: we mapped the already existing local collaborations and types of activities; we shared contact persons on the local level; we planned an online meeting in which the national representatives of the aforementioned association will present their activities and objectives to our local volunteers; we prepared materials for the local sections, such as email templates to get in touch with the local Plastic Free contact person, and a google presentation to introduce ESN to them; we drawn up an action plan for how the collaboration will be carried out in the coming year. 

• Training and awareness-raising: 

1. Campaigns: during the spring edition of Social Impact Days, we created an awareness-raising campaign and a contest that combined three Causes: Environmental Sustainability, Health and Well-being and Social Inclusion (Sport4earth, Sport4all); we partnered-up with Legambiente on the occasion of Clean Up the World, the main national environmental campaign. 
2. Trainings: During our SIDs campaign, we organised “Well-Being and Social Impact: how volunteers can make a difference with the participation of Legambiente”. We had testimonials and case studies about inclusive and sustainable events connected with sports. The main speakers were: Libera (an association committed in the fight against mafia); Italian Red Cross; the captain of the national amputee football team, and the president of the University Sports Centre of Venice. 
3. Awareness-raising: we created numerous templates to facilitate the local Sections in organising events: a vademecum on the most widespread environmental NGOs; a list of sustainable start-ups; we disseminated opportunities related to the Erasmus Goes Green and GreenErasmus projects; we held internal training sessions, even within our National Training event.

• Sustainable events: the foundations were laid to implement environmental sustainability within all our national events. 

1. At National Erasmus Games, special attention was paid to this issue, also through an ad hoc Social Programme, and this event was realised thanks to FoodWave, a call for proposals aimed at increasing the environmental sustainability of the food supply chain;
2. At our national platforms and events, we chose green committed partners and sponsors like Legambiente and Dott, a micro-mobility start-up; 
3. During the next events, we will involve MakeYouGreener, a start-up focusing on sustainable materials.

All these activities were made possible thanks to the creation of a new position: the Sustainability Officer. This figure has supported the national board in fully implementing the Environmental Sustainability Cause.