Study on civil society engagement and collaborative activism in
nature conservation and sustainable development with the use
of modern information technology and on-line tools.
"Engage Them All! Community Engagement into Nature Conservation via IT Tools" is a research project on the topic of civil society engagement, youth empowerment, and collaborative activism in nature conservation and sustainable development. It focuses on the use of modern information technology (IT) and on-line tools.
The aim of the project is to research different methods and best practices of how environmental organizations and green startups use modern IT and on-line tools for civil society engagement in the area of nature conservation and sustainable development.
The project is led by Alexandr Iscenco from MEGA and supported by the Fellowship Programme of the Prague Civil Society Centre.
Our research hypothesis is that modern IT and on-line tools (such as social networks, community platforms, gamification, games, apps, etc.) can allow more effective and efficient engagement of youth and communities. These tools can encourage people to support certain causes, such as nature conservation and sustainable development. This is driven mainly by the fact that Millennials (Gen Y) and Centennials (Gen Z) are technologically savvy and are used to be surrounded by IT, so that they work with multiple devices and IT tools on a daily basis.
At the same time, many environmental organizations and green startups worldwide have already understood that and are now using IT and on-line tools to support their civil society engagement efforts within environmental campaigns, projects, and other initiatives. It is also assumed that there are organizations and startups, who have pioneered innovative approaches to using IT tools in civil society engagement into nature conservation and therefore have good case practices to share.
Overall, this research seeks to test our hypothesis through on-line surveys and interviews with various environmental organizations and startups. It also includes literature review and documentation of best practices to support our research.
A summary of the key results from the on-line survey and interviews with environmental organizations and green startups.
A searchable database of best practices in the use of IT and on-line tools for civil society engagement into nature conservation.