On Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 November 2024, the GEB Brivio hosted the kick-off meetings for the PATH project. The kick off, the start of a long adventure that will end around mid-2026.

PATH = Promoting Activism Through Hiking

PATH stands for Promoting Activism Through Hiking and the idea of coordinating activities with other associations and organisations operating in the European Union stems from the consideration that, on the one hand, 65% of young people engage in recreational physical activities, on the other hand, they are very rarely involved in the social life of the organisations that promote these activities. Furthermore, and this is a European figure, provided by the European Hiking Federation (ERA), the average age of members of hiking federations is 62.

The changed social structure of the last twenty-five years and the political transformation taking place throughout Europe has changed the profile of associations active in civil society and the role they play. At this stage, it is essential to ensure that young people and their representative organisations are involved in the various stages of implementing the European Youth Strategy.

How can we involve young people in hiking and in association activities, also considering the average age of the members of hiking federations in Europe? What can be done in terms of communicating what’s on offer to them? To answer these questions, the PATH project was conceived, which directly addresses the Erasmus+ priority Participation in democratic life, common values and civic engagement, which aims to support participation and active engagement in all its actions. The project aims to offer opportunities for young people to participate in democratic life, social and civic engagement, and in particular in the field of sport. This objective will be pursued through raising awareness and understanding of the European Union context, in particular with regard to the EU’s common values, the principles of unity and diversity, as well as cultural identity, cultural awareness and historical and social heritage.

In particular, common European values will be addressed starting from the natural and cultural heritage represented by the network of 12 European Paths; many of these cross the 4 countries involved in the project (and in most cases touch the city where the partners’ offices are located).

With the PATH project, the FIE, together with its partners, has set itself the following objectives:

1. involve young people in hiking activities as a tool to improve their participation in associative activities:
2. improve communication skills in sport and in particular in hiking associations/federations;
3. promote European trails through co-design activities as a tool to promote Europe’s transnational natural heritage;
4. raise young people’s awareness of environmental protection through hiking.

The development of the project will lead to:

1. increasing the quality of the work and practices of the sports associations and federations involved, opening up to new actors not naturally included in the sports sector;
2. building the capacity of organisations to work transnationally and across sectors: the complementary nature of the partnership will be fundamental to the realisation of the project and will strengthen each organisation in different sectors (sport, communication, stakeholder involvement);
3. addressing common needs and priorities in the fields of education, training, youth and sport: the low engagement of young people in sports associations and federations has been identified as a common issue. Educational and transnational activities can produce common and valid solutions to these needs;
4. enabling transformation and change, at organisational and sectoral level, leading to
5. improvements in: the co-design methodology will enhance the perspective of young people, thus supporting social innovation in the field of sport.

Furthermore, this project contributes to the implementation of the Council Recommendation of 26 November 2013 on physical activity for health, promoting hiking and walking, which are widely recognised as a fundamental physical activity for both young people and adults.

Finally, PATH will support the European Week of Sport, promoting hiking activities during that period.

PATH project partners

Federazione Italiana Escursionismo (lead partner, Italy)
Associazione Trekkify (Italy);
European Ramblers Association – newly: European Hiking Federation (ERA, Germany)
Viaje a la Sostenibilidad (Catalonia)
Innovativij Karta (Lithuania)

Kick-off meeting

Coming more specifically to the meetings that took place in Brivio, it is obvious that, since this is the initial moment of a long journey that will be divided into numerous moments of verification, the main aspects dealt with were those of an organisational nature, although it has already been possible to identify some of the challenges that the PATH team will have to face, starting with the different territorial organisations of the countries involved and the school systems – a fundamental starting point if we want to address youth issues – which are very different from each other.

Another very important aspect that was touched upon by the team is that of communication, both within the group and with the outside world. The hashtags #pathprojectEU and #ErasmusPlusSport are already active on social media, useful for following not only the developments of PATH but also for finding out what is happening in the Old Continent in terms of sports activities sponsored by the European Union.