Alpine Changemaker Network

Mar 13, 2023

The «Alpine Changemaker Network» is an international team drawn from NGOs, academia, social innovation and regional development organisations. We wish to strengthen Alpine society and we envision the Alps as a thriving ecosystem, one that offers an appealing life both to ourselves and to future generations. We combine regionally developed knowledge, social innovation practices, scientific teaching and researching skills, project management skills and much more besides – and we want to collaborate, share and learn!

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The aim of the transnational and transdisciplinary «Alpine Changemaker Network» is to promote education, research and development, practical action and social innovation in and between the Alpine regions. The Network brings together organisations from different sectors and transcends national borders, institutional barriers and cultures of thought and action. The aim is to create an environment that will promote the emergence of «Alpine Changemakers» as drivers and role models for change.

A pilot project, the «Alpine Changemaker Basecamp», was carried out for the first time in summer 2021 in Valposchiavo/CH. It was a temporary, experimental real-life laboratory, accompanied by a mentoring programme, where young people developed solutions for Alpine-wide challenges.

The «Alpine Changemaker Basecamp» will take place for the second time in July 2023, this time in the BASIS Vinschgau Venosta, a social activation hub and changemaker in South Tyrol (Schlanders-Silandro/I).

The Network and Basecamps are also supported by a Reflection Group that accompanies the design, development, execution and dissemination of the results and conducts evaluations. This allows the Alpine Changemaker Network to learn, reflect and adapt while events are in progress and not simply in their aftermath.

Both the establishment of the Network and the conception of the Basecamps were supported by the pancivis Foundation and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV). The realisation of the Basecamps is funded by the Mercator Foundation of Switzerland.

Partners

CIPRA International, Schaan/LI
Bern University of Applied Sciences/CH, represented by the Alpine Master’s Life Sciences - Regional Management in Mountain Areas
University of Liechtenstein, represented by the Institute for Architecture and Spatial Development
Bavarian Academy for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management/D, educational and research institution for modern nature conservation and innovative environmental education
Polo Poschiavo, competence centre for further education and the monitoring of development projects
Scuola per il Governo del Territorio e del Paesaggio step – Trentino School of Management tsm, Trento/I
BASIS, Social Activation Hub focused on regional and social development in the areas of economy, culture, education & social affairs, Schlanders-Silandro/I

Reflection Group

European Academy Bolzano/I Eurac
Educ'alpes, Gap/F
Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention, Innsbruck/A
Regional Development Vorarlberg Regio-V, Dornbirn/A
Uri Institute of Alpine Cultures at the University of Lucerne/CH
Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW, Research Unit Tourism and Sustainable Development, Wergenstein/CH
Kamnik Library/SI

Application

Who can participate?

You are between 18 and 30 years old and live in the Alpine region? You have ideas and wishes about how you would like to change the Alpine region in the long term, and are full of drive? You have a concrete project idea and would like support in implementing it? You want to become an “Alpine Changemaker” because you are passionate about the sustainable and collaborative development of the Alpine region. And you want to implement ideas for a good life in the Alps with like-minded people and drive change.