The meeting was opened by Plamen Kostov, director of international affairs and project coordinator of the Bulgarian Post, emphasizing the importance of such projects in the role of the transition of postal operators to sustainable business and the fulfillment of the goals of the European Green Plan.

Virtual ThinkTank

Ivana Filipović, the project manager, reported on the progress of the project implementation, what has been done so far and what awaits us, as well as the deadlines within which the project activities should take place. The structure of the course and the platform were mostly discussed in order to make them as accessible as possible to the participants. It was agreed that quizzes will be used after each module to check how well the participant has mastered the content.

At the meeting, the content and form of the online forum (Virtual Think Tank) was presented, which will be an integral part of the project's website and where project materials will be published, as well as all other important information that can help the implementation and achievement of the project's goals.

Nine modules

The second day of the transnational meeting began with an overview of the ongoing dissemination activities and the planning of future dissemination strategies in accordance with the obligations of the Fund Allocation Agreement.

In order to achieve the 2^nd project result as best as possible, it is necessary to create a Course Guidelines in which the structure of the course will be determined as well as the layout of the material itself, emphasized I. Filipović. The structure of the nine modules, as many as the main pillars of the European Green Plan, was also agreed upon. Each module will consist of four documents; description, script, PPT presentation and questionnaire.

The transnational meeting ended with an agreement on the preparation of an annual report to the National Agency on the implementation of the GreenPosts project and plans for the next meeting.

The third meeting of project partners was held to evaluate the results so far and the implementation plan for further project activities. The host of the meeting was ELTA, the Hellenic post office, whose representative greeted the partners and opened the meeting. The topics of the meeting of the partners from the Croatian, Greek, Cypriot and Bulgarian post offices and the company Future Needs were the review of the first year of project implementation and the implementation plan of activities to achieve project results 3 and 4. It was concluded that the project is being implemented according to plan and that the project result is a)creation of synthesis report, b) develop of modules and lessons, c)preparatory activities for project result 3 were also done, followed by the recording of interviews and videos with relevant experts from partner organizations. This was discussed in more detail after the representative of the Hellenic Post informed the participants of the meeting with the aim of project result 3.

"Green" ambassadors

The representative of the Croatian Post presented the idea of what the learning/teaching/training activity that will take place in Zagreb should look like. At the planned three-day activity, which is also an education, the goal is to educate and familiarize several experts from each partner organization with the goals of the GreenPosts project, that is, the measures of the European Green Deal. After the training, the participants will become "green" ambassadors who will pass on what they have learned to employees and colleagues and encourage them to take action aimed at achieving the common European goal - reducing the negative impact on the environment and climate.

On the second day of the meeting, the partners visited the sorting center of the Hellenic Post, where they could see how some measures of the European Green Deal are already being applied in practice. First of all, the implementation of measures refers to the sorting of waste and the introduction of digitization in order to reduce the use of paper and speed up the delivery process.

At the end of the meeting, the partners discussed and exchanged ideas and experiences about the already applied measures of the European Green Deal in their organizations, as well as the 8 steps that the UPU marked as necessary to achieve climate.

Croatian Post organized and moderated a three-day learning/training/teaching education. Twenty-one employees from the Croatian, Greek, Bulgarian and Cypriot post offices and the company Future Needs, partners in the project, were introduced to the topic of the GreenPosts project, which is coordinated by the Croatian Post, i.e. the course on the implementation of the measures of the European Green Deal in the postal sector, which the main goal is developed within the project. After the training, the participants became "green" ambassadors who will pass on what they have learned to employees and colleagues  encouraging them to take action aimed at achieving the common European goal of reducing the negative impact on the environment and climate.

On the first day of the training, the participants were introduced to the content of the European Green Deal and examples of its implementation in Croatian Post. Then the members of the GreenPosts project team from Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus presented to the participants a module with 9 lessons, i.e. a course that they developed in the first year of the project. Nine lessons were developed in accordance with the 9 pillars of the European Green Deal. A free discussion followed, during which the participants of the education asked the authors of the lessons questions either about the content itself or about the way of creating educational materials.

A virtual room for "green" conversations  

On the second day of the training, a representative of Future Needs, a Cypriot company partner in the project, presented a Virtual Think Tank, a «room» where all those interested will be able to talk, discuss, ask questions or exchange their ideas related to the implementation of the European Green Deal. It is also part of the e-learning platform where the course consisting of one module with 9 lessons will be uploaded. As a check of the successfully completed course, a knowledge test was designed after each lesson. The Virtual Think Tank is part of the official website of the project www.greenposts.eu and access is provided to all interested parties after registration. After the presentation of the virtual room, the participants were divided into working groups with specific tasks for the analysis of UPU's best "green" practices.

On the second day, a short knowledge test was held from the 9 lessons presented the previous day. The representative of Croatian Post also presented a draft guide for teachers as a tool for project participants who will encourage the implementation of European Green Deal measures through employees in their organizations.

On the third day of the training, the participants were given a tour of the Croatian post's new sorting center, and on that occasion, a worker from the Department of Occupational Safety, Fire Protection and Ecology at the Croatian Post showed them on the spot how waste management works at the Croatian Post. The participants were shown the electric charger stations as well as how the sorting plant functions in terms of green and sustainable. In the end, the learning/training/teaching education was evaluated, that is, the participants gave feedback on the three working days spent in Zagreb.

The final conference of the Erasmus+ project GreenPosts was held in Larnaca, Cyprus, from October 23rd to 24th. It is the last meeting of the partners on the project, where the past two-year period of the project's implementation was evaluated.

Achieved results

After the welcoming speech of the representative of the Cyprus Post, the host of the conference, an overview of all the activities undertaken in order to achieve the targeted results of the project was presented. It was concluded that all 4 results were achieved: https://greenposts.eu/activities/ .

In addition to the achieved results, the workshop for "green ambassadors", an LTT activity held from January 30 to February 1, 2023, where the course curriculum was discussed, tasks were solved in groups, self-testing of knowledge was carried out, and familiarization with the functions of Virtual Think Tank and designed a draft of the future Guide for teachers who will convey the message and results of the GreenPosts project to their colleagues, were evaluated.

3 project's partners meetings were also held. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, the first one was held online through the MSTeams platform. The second was held in July 2022 in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the third in January 2023 in Athens, Greece.

Partnership for cooperation

At the conference in Cyprus, the participants had the opportunity to give their views on the results of the work and the relations and cooperation between the partners over the past two years. Although all project results have been achieved, it remains to prepare the documentation for the final report to the National Agency, and at the meeting it was determined what these documents are and what they should contain and how to prepare them.

On the second day of the conference, the participants visited the Capo Greco environment educational centre where they had the opportunity to see what is being done to preserve the biodiversity of the area. Along with the photo projection, an employee of the Centre gave an interesting lecture about the endangered nature of the animal and plant life of Cyprus and how they are opposed to the negative effects of man on nature. One of the attractions of Ayia Napa is the Sculpture Museum, which was designed as a park dedicated to the preservation of biodiversity, where artists gather every year and make sculptures that then remain permanently in the park. Only plant species specific to Cyprus may be planted in the park.

At the end of the Final Conference, the participants evaluated the meeting and cooperation on the project and expressed their desire to cooperate on some future projects.

MULTIPLIER EVENTS:

CYPRUS:

On the occasion of the closing of the European program “GreenPosts” on 11th of October 2023 Cyprus Post organized multiplier event in Pafos in the presence of the Minister, the Acting Director, stakeholders and other associates. During the event The Project Manager of the project “GreenPosts” presented the project giving emphasis to the related objectives and outcomes.Diplomas were also awarded by the Minister, to the Postal Employees who attended the training program related to “GreenPosts”

BULGARIA:

The GreenPosts multiplier event in Bulgaria took place on 11th October 2023 in the capital city of Sofia. It gathered representatives from various organizations such as the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Communications Regulation Commission, trade unions, the European Labour Institute and others.

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