On October 18th, 2024, the first in person meeting of the Fit4Green project was co-hosted by European University Sports Association (EUSA) and University of Ljubljana in the beautiful buildings of the University's Rectorate at the heart of Ljubljana. 

The meeting gathered representatives from all partner organisations, along with youth representatives from each partner country.

The Fit4Green project brings together six international organisations involved in university and school sport, aspiring to create more sustainable sport events and reduce consumption practices on campuses. 

The kick off meeting started with a brief introduction from each participant, representing EUSA Institute (SLO), the University of Ljubljana (SLO), Holztechnikum Kuchl (AUT), Innovationsmanufaktur (GER), NYSA Sweden (SWE) and Latvian University Sports Federation (LVA).

Afterwards, the official part of the meeting began. Mr Andrej Pisl, representing EUSA, provided a recap of the project, highlighting its main objectives and the actions that need to be taken. Following this, Ms Katja Dolinsek introduced the financial aspects of the project. After a short break, Ms Orsolya Tolnay from Innovationsmanufaktur led a presentation on risk assessment. The last presentation was delivered by Ms Marta Studzińska from EUSA, focusing on project communication requirements.

As a special guest to this meeting, Ms Lučka Kajfež Bogataj facilitated a lecture about sustainability, and how to organise sustainable events, what to concentrate on, as well as how the events affect the enviroments. 

While all six organisations representatives engaged in project detail discussions and presentations, the young participants kicked off the workshop with an escape room challenge to break the ice and get to know each other better. Despite being unexpectedly difficult and stressful, the experience laid a solid foundation for the teamwork that followed: “We went in as strangers and came out as acquaintances.” The shared challenge created bonds that set the stage for productive collaboration throughout the workshop.

Later, all the participants, including youth representatives, gathered again for the co-creation workshop led by Mr Owen Southgate from NYSA Sweden. Mr Soughtgate introduced the group to the Cynefin framework, a decision-making tool designed to help navigate complex problems by offering different approaches. Using this framework, participants brainstormed innovative event ideas that align with the “Fit4Green” initiative, which focuses on combining sports with sustainability. The Cynefin framework sparked fresh, exciting ideas that could be implemented in future Fit4Green events. 

On the following day, October 19th, 2024 the group took time to reflect on the proposed ideas, evaluating their approaches and potential impact.

Fit4Green is a 18 months project, Co-Funded by the European Union and lead by EUSA Institute and a balanced partnership of six organisations, covering geographical coverage, transnational and local experience and expertise from sports, education and sustainability.

The project’s general objective is to raise environmental awareness through sport and physical activity, engaging young people to actively participate in sustainable measures using sport events. One of the main outputs of the project is the organisation of “green campus sport events” in Austria, Latvia and Slovenia.

While the next in-person meeting will be hosted by Innovationsmanufaktur in Munich, Germany, here is the recap of the one hosted in Ljubljana, Slovenia. 

For more information about the Fit4Green project, please see https://fit4green.eusa.eu/