Description
The greenhouse gas emissions which are common climate change agents are increasing in Slovenia. The reason for it is the excessive use of the cars for transport. Beneficiary would like to make a change and start to educate young people in the use of sustainable ways of transport. The project is aimed at educating and promoting sustainable mobility in schools, but firstly they have ensured a safe path to school for children. Elementary schools don’t have a defined safe path, so it is imperative that they begin solving this problem and allow children the possibility of their daily movement. The main objectives of the project are better awareness and knowledge of children and the general public in terms of sustainable mobility, greater use of bicycle, walking and public buses by pupils on their way to school and also the creation of a network of NGOs for better communication and cooperation in the field of sustainable development. With the project they want to start changing the travel habits in our Slovenian environment.
Summary of project results
The Municipality of Nova Gorica is very active in developing and promoting sustainable mobility in the city. The aim of this project was to raise awareness about the issue of sustainable mobility and to integrate its promotion in the elementary school education system. They selected 2 city elementary schools and 1 elementary school situated in the rural area of the Municipality of Nova Gorica. There were no safe school paths defined around elementary schools in the Municipality of Nova Gorica, so it was necessary to begin solving this problem and set the foundations for safe daily travelling of children. In the project, they identified a safe path for the purpose of promoting sustainable mobility, which was implemented through a variety of activities. Promotion and awareness-raising were intended also for wider audience. During the project, they implemented a lot of different activities regarding promotion of sustainable mobility. Some of the activities were planned to be realized only once during the project, other such as creation of a network of NGOs in the field of sustainable development and the movement “Promoters of sustainable mobility in Nova Gorica”, were planned as a long-term goal of the project. The network has already participated at several meetings regarding sustainable mobility in the Municipality also after the project’s conclusion. For what is more, the movement was already incorporated in different projects, in which the participants became members of the movement. Mobility plans for elementary schools were also one of the long-term goals. In the documents, there are descriptions of school safe paths, unsafe points, different methods for promoting sustainable mobility among children, results of the surveys and tips on how to increase awareness in the future. The mobility plans are the basic school document for promotion of sustainable mobility, which can be upgraded every year. Within the project beneficiary has managed to reach higher awareness on the importance of sustainable mobility, greater use of bikes, walking and public buses and we created a network of NGOs. The project was very well accepted in schools. The promotional game EcoTeam had a great success among children, while teachers described mobility plans as the greatest success of the project.
Summary of bilateral results
In the project, beneficiary collaborated with The Institute of Transport Economics from Oslo. They have a lot of experience in the field of sustainable mobility. Their contact person was Mr. Aslak Fyhri. They communicated via skype and e-mail. They were advising them on survey creation and implementation. Mr. Alsak was very helpful with his solutions on how survey questions should be defined, so that they got the optimal picture of children traveling habits. He also sent them some examples of their surveys, which were very helpful and their survey wouldn't be so optimal without Mr. Alsak help. So, they have to point out that this partnership improved the quality of our project. Mr. Aslak also suggested some improvements in mobility plans. They also discussed different conditions and methods applied in Slovenia and Sweden. They have been working on improving safety on school paths and promoting sustainable mobility since 1960. In Nova Gorica, they have started with the promotion of sustainable mobility in 2001.