NARTURAL Project Begins

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the NATURAL – Next-Generation Accessibility Towards Unified Resources, Environment and Lifestyle for Youth project!

Funded under the Erasmus+ KA220-YOU programme, NATURAL sets out to create an EU-wide model for the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities (YPFO) in outdoor activities and environmental protection efforts. Over the next 33 months, the consortium will develop a research-based NATURAL Methodology, an EU-wide certification model for inclusivity, organize pilot actions and trainings across seven countries, create a Policy Recommendation aligned with the EU Youth Goals, and build up the Youth Outdoor Portal (outdoorportal.eu) as a shared digital resource hub for the European youth community. The project aims to reach 6,400 members of the youth community — half of them young people with fewer opportunities — connecting inclusion, climate action, and youth empowerment into one coherent European framework.

A screenshot of the NATURAL kick off meeting

NATURAL builds directly on three years of work under the "Youth Going Back to Nature – Engage, Connect, Empower" (YGBN) project, which created 21 innovative environmentally sustainable outdoor activities for YPFO and made clear that a structured, standards-based approach is needed to achieve true accessibility and inclusion across the EU.

The project brings together 10 partner organizations from 7 EU countries: Paint and Quarter Horse Foundation Bulgaria / PQHFB (Bulgaria, coordinator), European Outdoor Portal / Europe for Inclusive Outdoor Policy and Environment (Bulgaria), Neurosensomotorika (Lithuania), Lithuanian Sea Museum / LSM (Lithuania), Equilibre MTÜ (Estonia), OAZA – Održiva Alternativa ZAjednici (Croatia), VALS – Viaje a la Sostenibilidad (Spain), Trekkify APS (Italy), FELCOS Umbria (Italy), and QUEST – Quality Education in Europe for Sustainable Social Transformation (Belgium). Six of these partners continue from the YGBN project, while four new organizations — EIOPE, Neurosensomotorika, VALS, and FELCOS — join the consortium, bringing fresh expertise in research, health and rehabilitation, sustainable mobility, and local governance to strengthen the partnership's reach and impact.

The kick-off meeting has already taken place, bringing all partners together to align on the project plan, responsibilities, and first steps.

The consortium is now entering the first phase of the project: in-depth research on the current state of inclusivity and accessibility for young people with fewer opportunities in outdoor activities and environmental protection efforts across all partnering countries — laying the groundwork for everything that follows.

Stay tuned — we are just getting started!

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them. Project: NATURAL Nr. 2026-1-BG01-KA220-YOU-000455682