The North-South Centre of the Council of Europe has opened a call for participants for the HEY course on Environment. This edition, in English, will take place from 3 to 30 November 2025. The deadline for applications is 19 October.
The course targets young people (18 to 30 years old) from Europe, Africa and the Middle East, with the potential to act as multipliers as members of Civil Society Organisations, youth leaders and young people from communities affected by climate change and environmental degradation, with the aim to:
- Introduce the key concepts and definitions related to the triple planetary crisis (climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss), and their contextualisation in a North-South dimension.
- Develop a critical understanding of the interlinkages between human rights and the triple planetary crisis through the lens of global and regional legal frameworks.
- Analyse the impact of environmental degradation, on how it especially affects marginalised communities, and to explore community-based solutions to environment and human rights related violations.
- Empower young people to actively engage in environmental and human rights-related advocacy actions.
Topics covered
Global dimension and Global Education approach; Environment, triple planetary crisis and approaches to the protection of environment; Youth and environmental protection; Council of Europe Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC).
Introduction to Human Rights and Environmental Protection; Interconnection between human rights and the environment; Human Rights approach to Environment; Legal frameworks.
Vulnerability in environmental contexts; Indigenous Peoples' Right and ecological degradations; fragile contexts and constraint of civic space; international soft law and binding legal instruments to protect vulnerable populations and to promote climate justice.
Youth-led environmental Litigation; advocacy actions; networking.
Follow-up
Only participants who successfully complete this and/or other HEY courses will have the opportunity to apply for the Trainings of Tutors (ToT) and become certified HEY tutors. In 2026, two TOT are planned, in the framework of the NSC Summer Youth Universities.
More about the course
The conceptual and methodological framework of the course is based on the HELP programme and the Global Education Guidelines, systematised by the North-South Centre. Participants’ learning process is focused on developing competences related to the main topic of the training course: the CoE Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) is the main reference in terms of competences. Through a non-formal learning approach, collaborative and interactive activities and exercises allow participants to contribute to their own learning process. The training course is fully online, hosted on HEY Programme e-learning platform, based on MOODLE WORKPLACE. Working methods are structured according to the possibilities offered by the Learning Management System, they include different kinds of activities and exercises that meet the different learning styles of participants. Two tutors accompany participants during the 4-weeks activity, supporting their learning process, providing feedback, moderating discussion, giving inputs, and promoting further reflections on the main topics of the training.
For more information on the application and selection processes, please carefully read the call for participants to verify the eligibility criteria.
Implemented in the framework of the iLEGEND III project, this training course on Environment has been developed by the NSC, in collaboration with UNEP - UN Environment Programme, with the financial and logistic support of AECID the Spanish Agency for Development Aid and Cooperation, FIAP - Fundación para la Internacionalización de las Administraciones Públicas, and Casa Mediterráneo | Institución pública para el conocimiento mutuo entre España los países mediterráneos.
About HEY
The Human Rights Education for Youth (HEY) programme is designed to strengthen young people’s capacities to act for human rights, by raising their knowledge and understanding of European standards and other international legal frameworks for human rights protection, such as specific United Nations, League of Arab States and African Union treaties, conventions, protocols and charters.
It builds on the Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) programme, which has been successfully training legal professionals on topics related to human rights and rule of law for over 20 years in Council of Europe member States and beyond.
HEY courses are developed building upon existing Council of Europe’s materials (NSC and HELP programme). Courses are adapted to a younger audience, with an interactive approach, based on the NSC expertise on global education and youth cooperation.
Participants who successfully complete the tutored courses online have the possibility to apply for a residential training for tutors, which results in a certification as HEY tutors and gives them the possibility to implement cascade HEY courses in their regions or countries, with the support of the North-South Centre and relevant experts. Other networking, participation and granting opportunities will also be available.
Useful links
+351 213 584 030