DEAR Achievement Report
Driving change from 2019 to 2024
Across Europe and beyond, citizens are turning awareness into action – changing how they learn, create, connect, and engage. Ten EU-funded DEAR projects helped build fairer, more sustainable communities; influencing how Europe responds to global challenges.
This is their story – of learning, participation, and change.
DEAR ACTION IN NUMBERS
Between 2019 and 2024, DEAR projects reached and engaged:
18+ Million
18+ ML people have been taking action (from signing a petition to organising workshops)
> Over 70% under 35
300 000
300 000 people have been trained on sustainable development, global inequalities, climate justice…
> Around 70% under 35
12 000
12 000 People engaged others (like youth leaders, teachers, journalists, decision-makers…)
2 500
2 500 teachers and educators adopted GCE approaches
3 000
3 000 Journalists Covered global challenges with a GCE approach
500+
500+ policies and practices were influenced involving local authorities, organisations, companies, national and EU level
150+
150+ organisations strengthened their action and cooperation across Europe
DEAR Snippets
Stories and Results
- Youth Empowerment
- Transformative Education
- Voices into Policy
- Digital Engagement
Youth Empowerment
Youth Empowerment: From Learning to Leadership
On issues like global and climate justice, young people are driving the shift from concern to action. The EU DEAR projects unleashed this energy across classrooms, festivals, and city streets. Here are some examples of inventive and inspiring youth actions powering real change en route to a just and more sustainable world.
Why this matters
Empowering young citizens to become agents of change is central to the DEAR Programme mission. The energy and ambition of youth makes progress on global issues tangible and hopeful. Embedded in communities, young people’s activism brings EU values closer to citizens’ daily lives.
Climate Of Change
Creative Activism
Over 20 000 young Europeans were reached when community groups turned art, theatre, and journalism into powerful climate action.
Game On!
Greening the Stage
Twelve major European festivals went greener, reaching over 110 000 people with climate-friendly choices that made sustainability part of the show.
Food Wave
Seeds of Transformation
In Lisbon, migrants and residents were brought together around growing food and cooking, thanks to youth training in sustainable food.
1Planet4All
Heart, Head, Hands
Hundreds of young people across Europe learned to link knowledge with climate action – from Polish schools to Portuguese gardens.
CLIMATE OF CHANGE
Raising voices
Young Europeans took their case for climate justice straight to decision-makers.
Transformative Education
Transformative Education: Learning for a Sustainable Future
EU DEAR projects brought sustainability, equity, and global awareness into classrooms, training centres, and youth programmes across Europe. When learning becomes an act of participation, education sparks curiosity, confidence, and collective responsibility. These stories show some impactful ways DEAR projects used education to leverage change.
Why this matters
Education shapes how people understand their role in the world. Linking global challenges with local experience, places of learning can turn abstract ideas – climate, justice, migration, equality – into everyday practice. This cultivates the knowledge and empathy needed to build a better society.
Food Wave
Climate Masterclass
Madrid schools reimagined how they teach food, waste and climate, integrating sustainability into everyday science lessons.
I Am European
Stories of Migration
School simulations, virtual reality, media training, and speaker tours: by engaging with lived experience, 1.2 million young people built empathy and fostered inclusion.
Eat4Change
Chefs for Change
Cooking schools introduced sustainable diet workshops into their curricula, while culinary students in Portugal and Greece learned how sustainability starts in the kitchen.
1Planet4All
Planting Ideas
Belgian teachers turned climate lessons into community-building, helping more than 7 000 students connect global issues with their own schools and communities.
Voices into Policy
Voices into PolicY: Local and Global Governance
From city halls and national regulations to global summits, DEAR projects helped citizens turn lived experience into policy influence. Young activists, local authorities, journalists, and civil society worked together to shape fairer decisions on climate, migration, and inclusion. These selected stories show the innovative ways in which ordinary people came to speak directly to decision-makers and supported democratic practices.
Why this matters
When communities help design the policies that affect them, solutions become more democratic, just, and lasting. DEAR projects link citizens, municipalities, and institutions at large in a shared commitment to equity, sustainability, and human rights – shaping our global responsibilities from the ground up.
EAT4Change
Connecting Continents
Youth in Brazil joined European partners to tell their stories of food and climate justice – linking the Brazilian farms to European policy change.
I AM EUROPEAN
From Reporting to Legislation
An Estonian journalist pushed legislators to better protect migrant workers' rights. Investigating multiple human rights violations, she sparked debate and supported foreign labourers.
Food Wave
Feed Your Future
Young people in Milan proposed climate-friendly changes to shape the city’s food policy and drive concrete transformation.
OUR FOOD, OUR FUTURE
From Geneva to Brussels
Forty-eight young Europeans stepped into the UN and EU arenas to campaign for fair trade, corporate accountability, and human rights.
Mindchangers
Governance in Action
Young people engaged with European local authorities and CSOs – integrating youth participation into the heart of local policy.
Digital Engagement
Digital and Creative Engagement: Reaching Audiences Where They Are
Across Europe, DEAR projects used digital tools and creative media to make global challenges personal. From ethical consumer apps to games sparking climate conversations, technology and imagination are turning awareness into engagement. The stories here highlight new ways of reaching citizens wherever they are, using digital creativity to drive real-world change.
Why this matters
In a world shaped by algorithms and short attention spans, digital and creative actions help citizens see themselves as part of global solutions. By blending storytelling, games, innovation, and interaction, complex challenges become accessible and engaging for millions.
GAME ON!
Playing for the Planet
Across nine countries, more than 13 000 people turned daily habits into climate wins through games and apps.
SPARK! CLIMACT
Influencers for Climate Justice
From TikTok to Twitch, influencers and gamers teamed up with SPARK! ClimAct to bring climate justice to new European audiences.
Our Food, Our Future
Scan for Change
Young people in Hungary took on sustainable eating habits – helping thousands make ethical choices with a single scan.
SPARK! CLIMACT
Reaching Remotely
In rural regions and islands of Portugal, more than 10 000 young people discovered the concept of climate justice through exhibitions, workshops, and documentaries.
Voices of Change
These 10 EU DEAR projects impacted on a diverse range of Europeans – here are some selected quotes.
Funded projects
Countries Impacted
The 10 DEAR projects each worked in several countries – from 6 to 22 EU member states. Outside the EU, activities took place in 9 countries.
Project Partnerships
The 10 DEAR projects worked with an average of 15 partners, hailing from a big spread of countries.
A JOURNEY OF CHANGE FROM 2019 TO 2024 (CfP2018)
- DEAR CALL FOR PROPOSALS (CfP)
-
EU DEAR Call for Proposals are launched every few years by DG INTPA of the European Commission. After the selection and award process, pan-European projects work for 3-4 years pursuing the Call’s objectives.
2018 EU DEAR CfP
With the CfP launched in 2018, the EU DEAR Programme selected projects that “ensure the commitment of EU citizens to development and contribute to sustainable lifestyle patterns of EU citizens”
The objectives of CfP2018 were:
- to develop European citizens’ awareness and critical understanding of the interdependent world.
- to encourage their active engagement with global attempts to address these issues whilst simultaneously promoting fundamental values.
The Call stipulated for these objectives to be achieved through a combination of campaigns, awareness raising, and education activities.
- PRIORITY ISSUES
-
The Call included 4 priority elements:
- Focus areas: Migration and/or Climate Change. Projects were required to address one or both of these focus areas and inform EU citizens, in an evidence-based manner, about drivers and root causes, as well as opportunities for individual engagement.
- Youth as a target group. All projects were required to engage people between 15-35 years and undertake concrete actions to empower young people and to bring Europe and its achievements closer to them.
- Communication and outreach strategy. All projects were required to include a robust and innovative communication and outreach strategy.
- Cross-cutting themes. Projects were required to implement a right-based approach, promoting the fundamental values of human rights, democracy, solidarity, peace and tolerance (defined by Art. 2 of the Lisbon Treaty).
- AWARDED PROJECTS
-
-
ClimateOfChange
ClimateOfChange -
Eat4Change Eat4Change
-
Food Wave Food Wave
-
GameOn!
GameOn! -
I Am European
I Am European
-
MindChangers
MindChangers -
Our Food, Our Future
Our Food, Our Future -
People&Planet
People&Planet -
Spark/ClimAct
Spark/ClimAct -
1Planet4Al
1Planet4Al
-
- TIMELINE
-
TIMELINE
Launch of Call for Proposals
Selection procedure and Contracts
Start of project implementation
End of project implementation
Reporting
Overall Achievement Report
- SOURCE AND DATA
EU DEAR Call for Proposals are launched every few years by DG INTPA of the European Commission. After the selection and award process, pan-European projects work for 3-4 years pursuing the Call’s objectives.
2018 EU DEAR CfP
With the CfP launched in 2018, the EU DEAR Programme selected projects that “ensure the commitment of EU citizens to development and contribute to sustainable lifestyle patterns of EU citizens”
The objectives of CfP2018 were:
- to develop European citizens’ awareness and critical understanding of the interdependent world.
- to encourage their active engagement with global attempts to address these issues whilst simultaneously promoting fundamental values.
The Call stipulated for these objectives to be achieved through a combination of campaigns, awareness raising, and education activities.
The Call included 4 priority elements:
- Focus areas: Migration and/or Climate Change. Projects were required to address one or both of these focus areas and inform EU citizens, in an evidence-based manner, about drivers and root causes, as well as opportunities for individual engagement.
- Youth as a target group. All projects were required to engage people between 15-35 years and undertake concrete actions to empower young people and to bring Europe and its achievements closer to them.
- Communication and outreach strategy. All projects were required to include a robust and innovative communication and outreach strategy.
- Cross-cutting themes. Projects were required to implement a right-based approach, promoting the fundamental values of human rights, democracy, solidarity, peace and tolerance (defined by Art. 2 of the Lisbon Treaty).
-
ClimateOfChange ClimateOfChange
-
Eat4Change Eat4Change
-
Food Wave Food Wave
-
GameOn! GameOn!
-
I Am European I Am European
-
MindChangers MindChangers
-
Our Food, Our Future Our Food, Our Future
-
People&Planet People&Planet
-
Spark/ClimAct Spark/ClimAct
-
1Planet4Al 1Planet4Al
TIMELINE
Launch of Call for Proposals
Selection procedure and Contracts
Start of project implementation
End of project implementation
Reporting
Overall Achievement Report
Source and Data
This interactive page is based on a desk review of official documents conducted by the DEAR Support Team.
- Guidelines of the 2018 call for proposals, published by the European Commission
- 10 final project reports drafted by project staff
- 10 evaluation reports drafted by external evaluators for each project
- 10 project fiches prepared by the Dear Support Team
- Other online sources available for each project.
The data collection methodologies and monitoring systems applied by different projects varied. With this in mind, this page includes quantitative data as a proxy to highlight the wide scope of the EU DEAR Programme and its impact on multiple domains.