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VSI InoproLT — Our Paphos Chronicle

We went to Paphos with a suitcase full of questions and returned with a living map for action. From 16–22.01.2025, our Lithuanian team from VSI InoproLT joined partners on the sunlit coast of Cyprus to reimagine how digital participation can widen doors, soften barriers, and lift voices that are too often unheard. We did not chase quick fixes. We built patient practices. We listened, we tested, we refined, and we carried the learning back to communities across Lithuania.

In training rooms that overlooked the Mediterranean, our youth workers practiced what they intended to teach. They moderated online dialogues with calm care. They designed learning moments where safety and ethics were not an afterthought but the very frame. They explored electronic civic engagement that welcomed quiet voices into conversation, and they shaped clear pathways for young people to influence decisions that affect their everyday lives. Each session braided reflection with application: debate followed by design, design followed by real-world testing, testing followed by honest evaluation.

We chose this moment because the digital world has become a shared square where young people learn, work, create, organise, and dream. Digital participation can connect a young person in a rural town to a municipal consultation, a classroom discussion to a citywide project, a single idea to a shared experiment. It reduces isolation. It loosens prejudice. It opens doors to education, mobility, networks, and dignified employment. Guidance such as the European Youth Work Charter and the Smart Youth Work concept reminded us that quality youth work in a digital age must be both open and principled: inclusive by design, brave in imagination, and steady in practice.

So we did the work.
We built hands-on modules that any youth worker can use: online debates that feel welcoming, deliberation platforms that remain accessible with limited connectivity, step-by-step guides for safe facilitation, and templates for co-creating content with young people. We strengthened our internal processes so that digital participation would not be a passing trend but a durable habit that aligns with our values. Together with partners, we shaped a living community of practice that will keep exchanging knowledge, adapting tools, and scaling what works long after the week in Paphos.

We kept inclusion at the centre. Our methods were designed to reach young people who are not in education, employment, or training, young migrants, young people with disabilities, and young people who face geographic barriers. We used accessible language. We created asynchronous options for those who could not join live. We offered micro-credentials that recognise progress step by step. We ensured that every young person could find an entry point that felt safe and meaningful.

What did we bring home to Lithuania?
We brought home youth workers who feel more confident online and offline. We brought home partnerships with municipalities, universities, and businesses ready to keep building with us. We brought home three small pilots born in Paphos: a youth-led digital consultation for local issues, a series of short workshops on countering disinformation, and a co-created space where young people publish ideas and trace how those ideas turn into action. Above all, we brought home a renewed promise: to use digital tools not as ornaments, but as bridges.

To everyone who walked beside us in Cyprus, thank you. Your generosity of spirit and your willingness to test, to question, and to try again turned a training week into a movement of practice. VSI InoproLT will keep the momentum alive in Lithuania, so that the sea change we felt in Paphos becomes everyday reality in our youth centres, our classrooms, and our city halls.

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Projekto tema - aplinkosauga, klimato kaita ir mus supančios aplinkos išsaugojimas!

Rebirth Our Earth Social service

Ar žinojote?
Baltijos jūra, yra viena iš labiausiai užterštų jūrų pasaulyje, ir susiduria su iššūkiais dėl pramonės ir žemės ūkio nuotekų, netinkamo nuotekų valymo, jūrų transporto ir istorinės taršos. Lietuvos gyventojai gali reikšmingai prisidėti prie jos išsaugojimo imdamiesi keleto įgyvendinamų veiksmų:

1. Sumažinti maistinių medžiagų nuotėkį: Naudokite mažiau trąšų ir remkite tvarų ūkininkavimą, kad sumažintumėte žemės ūkio nuotėkį.
2. Pagerinti atliekų tvarkymą: Gerinti atliekų perdirbimo pastangas ir mažinti plastiko naudojimą, kad sumažėtų tarša.
3. Pagerinti nuotekų valymą: Pasisakykite už geresnius nuotekų valymo įrenginius, kad būtų apribotas maistinių medžiagų ir cheminių medžiagų išmetimas.
4. Remti švarios laivybos praktiką: Remkite griežtesnes jūrų taršos taisykles ir švaresnes laivybos technologijas.
5. Didinti visuomenės informuotumą: Švieskite visuomenę apie Baltijos jūros svarbą ir kaip ją apsaugoti.
6. Dalyvauti tarptautiniame bendradarbiavime: Bendradarbiaukite su kitomis Baltijos jūros valstybėmis per tokias iniciatyvas, kaip HELCOM, siekdami regioninių apsaugos pastangų.
7. Dalyvauti bendruomenės veikloje: Dalyvaukite vietos valymo ir išsaugojimo projektuose, kad padarytumėte tiesioginį teigiamą poveikį.

Taikydami šias priemones, Lietuvos gyventojai gali atlikti lemiamą vaidmenį atgaivinant Baltijos jūrą ir užtikrinant jos klestėjimą ateities kartoms.

Daugiau apie HELCOM programą:

The HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan - 2021 update The Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP), adopted by the HELCOM Contracting Parties in 2007 and updated in 2021, is HELCOM’s strategic programme of measures and act...

We want to celebrate the sustainability initiatives that have worked in Lithuania!
The beverage bottle and can deposit return system introduced in Lithuania in 2016 has been very successful in promoting environmental sustainability by recycling beverage containers. Initially aiming for a 55% return rate, the scheme quickly surpassed expectations, reaching 74.3% in the first year and 91.9% in 2017. The system, run by the non-profit organisation USAD, uses 'taromats', or reverse vending machines, where consumers can return bottles and cans for a deposit, significantly increasing recycling rates.

To date, the scheme has successfully recycled 92% of all beverage packaging sold on the market, including PET, metal and glass containers, well above the EU's 2025 recycling targets. Public support for this initiative is high, with a 97% consumer satisfaction rate. Lithuania's approach is an excellent example of how deposit return schemes can effectively reduce waste and promote the circular economy by setting high standards for environmental management worldwide.


More about sustainability in Lithuania in the video below:

#INNOVATION – Sustainable development in Lithuania Innovation in the public, private and academic sectors is key in ensuring the progress of sustainable development. In Lithuania, innovative technologies cont...