Green Journey on the Danube
The Local Challenge
In 2023, Romania introduced a national programme encouraging schools to engage pupils in environmental education. However, with no standardised activities or resources, many schools, especially in smaller towns, rural areas, or disadvantaged communities, struggle to provide meaningful programming. Librarians report frequent requests for engaging, green-themed workshops, but a lack of collaborative, free, and age-appropriate materials limits what they can offer. This creates an uneven experience where children in resource-rich areas benefit, while others miss opportunities to learn about sustainability.
The Initiative
At the heart of this initiative is the creation of a collaborative board game for children under 12. Players travel along the Danube River in Romania, facing environmental challenges such as pollution, loss of biodiversity, flooding, waste management, and overfishing, and working together to solve them. By combining play with learning, the game fosters climate awareness, problem-solving, and a sense of responsibility for the environment. Once developed, the board game will be accompanied by a guide for librarians with ideas to extend discussions on protecting water resources and ecosystems. The project includes 10 workshops across BML branches and 3 workshops in libraries along the Danube (Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Galați, and Tulcea), with children actively engaging in game sessions. To ensure broad access, copies of the board game are distributed nationwide, prioritising underresourced communities.
What’s Next?
The initiative will embed environmental education into library programming, making it engaging and accessible to children across Romania. Participants will gain awareness of the challenges facing the Danube ecosystem, develop critical thinking skills, and learn the value of collaboration in solving problems that affect both their local environment and communities downstream. The board game will also represent a replicable model for how libraries can combine play, education, and civic engagement, inspiring children to see themselves as active stewards of their environment.
Contact theeuropechallenge@culturalfoundation.eu if you have any questions or want to be connected with the team behind the project.
