Balkan Kids Foundation (Bulgaria) & Lingnan Partner Community Support Centre (Guangzhou)

Antoaneta Nikolaeva Pophlebarova – Balkan Kids Foundation & Yao Zhilu – Lingnan Partner Community Support Centre

Please click here for their Twinning Experience Presentation.

The education of young adults, especially underprivileged and abandoned youth has been the focus of the Balkan Kids Foundation from Varna, Bulgaria for many years. In the Lingnan Partner Community Centre they have found an organization specializing in sexual education of the same target group. This exchange focuses on new innovative outreach strategies in youth education.

Please click here for their report

Bund Heimat und Umwelt (Germany) & Friends of the Old Village (Shenzhen, Zhejiang)

Florence Nick – Bund Heimat und Umwelt & Jiaqi Liu – Friends of Old Villages

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Preserving cultural, architectural and natural landscapes is the core of BHU’s and Friends of the Old Villages work. The revitalization of rural life in China and the conservation of cultural landscapes in Germany has led to a cooperation that already grabbed the attention of Chinese local media during a collaboratively organized exhibition in Shenzhen.

Please click here for their report 

Collaboration Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (Germany) & P8 (Changsha)

Yang Deng – Collaboration Centre on Sustainable Consumption & Sheng Bo – P8

Please klick here for their Twinning Experience Presentation.

Unknown to many, Changsha, the capital of Hunan province and Wuppertal, a city in western Germany have one thing in common, they headquarter two of the most innovative NGOs which work on establishing new forms of sharing communities. The twinning of P8 and CSCP is already filled with far reaching future follow up projects.

Please click here for their report

Deutsche Umwelt Hilfe (Germany) & China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (Beijing)

Peter Feldkamp – Deutsche Umwelt Hilfe & Chen Zhen – China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation

Please klick here for their Twinning Experience Presentation

Beijing and Berlin are both hubs for environmental activism, in DHU and CBCGDF two well established NGOs which are both involved in fighting air pollution joined the Twinning of 2016. Diesel Gate, Beijing’s Smog, Germany’s rising CO2 levels, many topics and the way in which NGOs can advance the fight against air pollution make up the base for this exchange.

Please click here for their report

Instituto Internacional de Derecho y Medio Ambiente (Spain) & Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (Beijing)

Carlota Ruiz-Bautista / Alba Iranzo Dosdad – Instituto Internacional de Derecho y Medio Ambiente & Zeng Yaping Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims

Please klick here for their Twinning Experience Presentation

Since the reform of the Environmental Litigation Law in 2015, NGOs have been working hard on suing polluting industries, something IIDMA from Spain has a lot of experience in. Together with CLAPV they have focused their exchange on the global fight in the courts against environmental law breakers.

Please click here for their report

Netwerk Bewust Verbruiken (Belgium) & Institute for Sustainable Environment and Energy (Shanghai)

Laura DeJaeger – Netwerk Bewust Verbruiken & Jeanne Cao  – Institute for Sustainable Environment and Energy

Please click here for their Twinning Experience Presentation.

Network Bewust Verbruiken and the Institute for Sustainable Environment and Energy (ISEE) both focus on sustainability and thus put all their efforts into environmental protection. The two NGOs exchanged on the building of green swap spaces in communities and shared best practises on promoting sustainable consumption by sharing, swapping and repairing.

Please click here for their report

Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt und Energie (Germany) & BlueSky4Children (Shanghai)

Monika Wirges / Susanne Fischer – Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt und Energie & Zhang Lingling / Zhao Chunyan – BlueSky4Children

Please klick here for their Twinning Experience Presentation.

Recycling, re-using and repairing; are the future. The Wuppertal Institut is as committed to prolonging the lifecycle of textile industry products as the much younger NGO Blue Sky 4 Children is. Their cooperation highlights the problem of the highly polluting and wasteful industry and introduces new methods of NGO involvement in fighting it.

Please click here for their report

European Environmental Bureau (Belgium) & China Green Carbon Foundation (Beijing)

Roland Jöbstl – European Environmental Bureau  &  Daniel Hou – China Green Carbon Foundation

Please klick here for their Twinning Experience Presentation

The progress of the development of 2030 – 2050 climate perspectives in China and Europe was the topic of this twinning. Focussed on low-carbon research and practices, particular attention was given to the influence bio-energy and forests can play in this process. As well as the differences and similarities of this research in Europe and China.

Please click here for their report

Transport & Environment (Belgium) & Greenovation Hub (Beijing)

Andrew Murphey – Transport & Environment  &  Hongyu Guo – Greenovation Hub

Please klick here for their Twinning Experience Presentation

The twinners looked at how China and Europe position themselves  in the  International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and how NGOs can influence the climate agreement on aviation that was negotiated in 2016. Next to that there was attention paid to low carbon transportation policy framework for building a low carbon urban transportation in an equitable and feasible way, and communicating positive stories around low carbon transportation.

Please click here for their report

Quercus (Portugal) & Friends of Nature (Beijing)

Luis Moreira – Quercus  &  Wang Yuan – Friends of Nature

Please klick here for their Twinning Experience Presentation

Energy efficiency and renewable energy in households was the common theme in this exchange. Looking at how citizens can be encouraged to change the way they use energy in a more sustainable way.

 Please click here for their report

Green Liberty Latvia (Germany)  &  Roots & Shoots (Chengdu)

Zanda Skuja – Green Liberty Latvia  &  Weiwei – Roots & Shoots Chengdu office

Please klick here for their Twinning Experience Presentation

Waste management and circular economy are topics that are very active in Europe and China. The twinners exchanged on ways how to teach and approach principles around waste management to citizens and kids. And how to change waste management and circular economy at the local level by starting with the citizens.

Please click here for their report

Nord-Süd Forum Bremerhaven (Germany) & Environmental Education Promotion Centre (Jinan)

Firmian von Peez – Nord-Süd Forum Bremerhaven & Deliang Meng – Environmental Education Promotion Centre

Please klick here for their Twinning Experience Presentation

Looking at local changes that can make big differences for citizens was at the centre of this exchange. Withspecial attention to  local climate policy and low-carbon development, the consequences of globalisation for Bremerhaven and Ji’nan and the necessity for sustainable living and fair trade in industrialised and developing countries.

Please click here for their report

Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V./NABU & Lüling (Green Collar)

Dorothee Saar, Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V/Sönke Diesener NABU – Naturschutzbund Deutschland e.V., Germany

Dong Jian, Lüling (Green Collar) – Tianjin Binhai Environmental Advisory Service Center, Tianjin

Dorothee Saar (Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V.), Sönke Diesener (NABU) and Dong Jian (Tianjin Binhai Environmental Advisory Service Center)

Air pollution is not only a serious issue in China but has an impact on the health of European citizens linvin in cities as well. It is essential for stakeholders to get together and discuss strategies to solve air quality problems. The DUH, NABU and TL aimed to make a first step by sharing their first-hand experiences, successes and their strategies to meet challenges in reducing air pollution.

Twinning Report DUH/NABU & Tianjin Lüling

Zero Waste Italy (ZWI) & Friends of Nature (FON)

Marta Ferri, Zero Waste Italy, Italy

Lin Youzhu, Friends of Nature, Beijing

Both exchanging organizations ZWI and FON have been cooperating on a joint project focused on solid waste management in urban context, the spreading of sustainable strategies (Zero Waste) and practices, the rise of sustainable businesses and environmental education among population in both the Italian and Chinese context. Within the mentioned project we were aiming to investigate both problematic situations and actions toward sustainability, with focus on sustainable businesses as well as e-waste treatment.Twinning Report ZWI & FON

Marine Conservation Society, UK &

Shanghai Rendu Ocean NPO Development Center, Shanghai

Dr. Laura Foster- Head of Pollution, Marine Conservation Society

Yi Ru, Shanghai Rendu Ocean NPO Development Center

The Marine Conservation Society, UK and the Shanghai Rendu Ocean NPO Development Center aimed at exchanging knowledge on how to manage marine debris effectively, with a focus on plastics from land based sources. With China currently being the biggest contributor to marine plastic in the oceans and a lot of UK waste being sent to China they wanted to obtain a better understanding of the challenges that NGOs in China and the UK are facing.Twinning Report MCS & Shanghai Rendu

Forumul Cetatenesc pentru Actiune Sociala si Educatie Civica (FCASEC) &

Evergreen Center for SustainableDevelopment

Georgeta Mureanu, FCASEC, Romania

Li Fangfang, Evergreen Center for Sustainable Development, Beijing

The discrimination of the Roma who are widely considered unable to integrate into Romanian society is a huge problem in Romania. Especially children suffer from unequal chances of access at school or when entering work life. Similarly, a large number of children whose parents are migrant workers do not enjoy the same opportunities as their peers with urban hukou in Chinese cities. FCASEC and the Evergreen Center therefore exchanged on ideas and methods on how to integrate socially disadvantaged young people into society through environmental projects.

Twinning Report FCASEC & Evergreen

foodwaste.ch, Switzerland & Shanghai Green Oasis, Shanghai

Markus Hurschler, co-founder foodwaste.ch, Switzerland

Shi Jinwen, Shanghai Green Oasis, Shanghai

The unnecessary waste of food is a great challenge for both China and Switzerland. While alone in Shanghai an estimated 1’200 tons of food are destroyed every day, around 2,3m tons are thrown away in Switzerland every year along the entire food value chain. Wasting food is not only a waste of resources but bears many ethical questions, given that almost a billion people in China and Europe suffer from under- or malnourishment. Foodwaste.ch and Shanghai Green Oasis entered in this exchange in order to compare the challenges regarding food waste and other food related issues in their respective countries.Twinning report foodwaste.ch & Shanghai Green Oasis

A tip: tap e.V. & Eco-Watch Institute Louisa Kistemaker, A tip: tap e.V., France/Germany Xu Rui, Eco-Watch Institute, Kunming
	The two organizations’s joint project envisaged the examination of sustainable water consumption. Participants were to „spect-act“ in knowledge co-construction processes on water consumption in the European and Chinese context through theatre forum. Eliciting multiple perspectives by theatre forum, local narratives and mental maps were created contributing to local sustainability transitions. During the project’s stay in Europe the twinning team focused on drinking water and paradoxical consumption behavior while in China the links between climate change and drought, Yi cultures, irrigation and livelihood strategies were examined.Twinning Report A tip:tap
Zero Waste France & AIFEN  Isabella di Blasio, Zero Waste France, France Ma Xiaolu, AIFEN, Shanghai
Ma Xiaolu (Shanghai IFINE) and Isabella DiBlasio (Zero Waste France)	The exchange between ZWF and AIFEN focused on the comparison of different systems of waste management and waste policies with the aim to enable both organizations to promote better solutions at the local or national levels and help them strengthen or renovate public awareness campaigns.Twinning Report ZWF & AIFEN

2015 “Climate Change” Twinning Reports

Rock Environment and Energy Institute (Beijing) & Change Partnership (Belgium) Sanjeev Kumar, Change Partnership Lin Jiaqiao, REEI
Sanjeev Kumar (Change Partnership) Lin Jiaqiao (Rock Environment and Energy Institute)	REEI and Change Partnership  collaborated on outlining the impact of climate and energy measures on industrial policy in China and Europe, and in particular, how cities and regions manage the transition to low-carbon models.Twinning Report REEI & Change Partnership (English and Chinese)
The Innovative Green Development Program (iGDP) (Beijing) & Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy (Germany) Thorben Jensen, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy Dai Chunyan iGDP
Thorben Jensen (Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy) and Dai Chunyan (The Innovative Green Development Program (iGDP))	iGDP and Wuppertal Institute focused on the design of policies towards low-carbon development, the energy efficiency in the built environment and utilization of renewable energy, and the policies that support achieving these aims as well as their design through use of quantitative modeling.Twinning Report iGDP & Wuppertal Institute (English and Chinese)
China Youth Climate Acton Network (Beijing)  & BUNDjugend Berlin (Germany) Rebecca Freitag, BUNDjungend Zheng Xiaowen, CYCAN
Rebecca Freitag (BUNDjugend Berlin) and Zheng Xiaowen (China Youth Climate Acton Network)	China Youth Climate Action Network and BUNDjugend Berlin shared methods and tools about youth development and participation on climate change issues. The goal was to motivate young people to live a more sustainable life and spread the message of climate change.Twinnng Report BUNDjugend & CYCAN
Hangzhou Eco-Culture Association and Legambiente Direzione Nazionale Katiuscia Eroe, Legambiente Wang Lin, Green Zhejiang
Katiuscia Eroe (Legambiente) and Wang Ling (Green Zhejiang)	Hangzhou Eco-Culture Association and Legambiente Direzione Nazionale shared knowledge and experiences on climate change, forming national and international strategies that aim at reducing greenhouse gas emission after 2030. By brainstorming on topics such as energy innovation, development of renewable sources, recycling and waste management and other contemporary environmental issues, the associations enhanced their practical experience and expertise on environmental protection.Twinning Report Legambiente & Green Zhejiang
Plant-for-the-Planet & Beijing Envirofriends Kjell Kühne, Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation Zhang Di, Beijing Envirofriends
Kjell Kühne (Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation) and Zhang Di (Beijing Envirofriends)	EnviroFriends and Plant-for-the-Planet focused on climate change education. They aimed at empowering primary and second school students to become Climate Justice Ambassadors. As such, the students were motivated to exercise one action for climate justice every month – e.g. planting a tree. Twinning Report EnviroFriends and Plant-for-the-Planet

Arnika & Nature University Fund

Jitka Straková, Arnika – Toxics and Waste Programme, Czech Republic

Mao Da, Nature University Fund, Beijing

Both exchanging organizations Arnika and Nature University have been cooperating on a joint project focused on strengthening the capacity of pollution victims and civil society organizations to increase chemical safety in China. The project was implemented under an umbrella of the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN). Within the mentioned project they were aiming to improve capacities and abilities of impacted communities and environmental groups for involvement in policy making; establish networks and collaborative advocacy actions that contribute to building long-term relationships among cross-cutting sectors of stakeholders; and to generate and distribute new data and information about pollution and pollution victims that contributes to better formulation and implementation of local and national chemical safety policies.

Twinning Report Arnika & Nature University 

Let’s Do It & Wuhu Ecology Center

Anneli Ohvril, Let’s do It, Estonia

Yue Caixuan, Wuhu Ecology Center, China

With a common mission to resolve waste pollution, the two NGOs focused on community activities to promote Clean-Up Events, urban/countryside waste management, and activities around waste prevention, reuse and recycling. With the exchange they hoped to gain insight into each other’s working environments, strategies and plans. The exchange also involved skill-sharing and training on event organization and waste management best practices.

Twinning Report Let’s Do It & Wuhu Ecology Center

Central Eastern Europe Bankwatch & Global Environmental Institute

Wawa Wang, CEE Bankwatch, Czech Republic

Chris Dunn, Global Environmental Institute, Beijing

CEE Bankwatch & the Global Environmental Institute focus on monitoring the environmental and social impacts of major banks’ investment projects. During the exchange the participants wish to explore different social and environmental risk assessment methodologies that are applied by European and Chinese investment and development banks. They also hope to gain a better understanding of Chinese Investment in European countries, especially in high environmental and social impact industries. Another objective is to compare and develop working knowledge on European and Chinese regulations or policies governing energy consumption, investment, environmental measures and the participation of CSOs.

Twinning Report GEI & Bankwatch

Pro Bono Lab & Beijing Huizeren Volunteer Center

Antoine Colonna d’Istria, Pro Bono Lab, France

YE Ying, Beijing Huizeren Volunteer Center, Beijing

Pro Bono Lab and Huizeren share the mission of building NGO capacities through community involvement in so-called pro bono consulting missions. These missions help non-profits to strengthen their management and practices in support functions such as HR, marketing, strategy, web, design, etc. Pro Bono Lab and Huizeren’s leaders met for the first time in 2011 in San Francisco to gain inspiration from Taproot Foundation, at a time where pro bono was unknown both in France and in China. From this time, they have met several times and when they discovered the Twinning program, they decided to seize this opportunity to strengthen their relationship as social innovators in the pro bono field in their respective countries.

Twinning Report Pro Bono Lab & Huizeren

Sandbag Climate Campaign &

Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims

Alexandru Luta, Sandbag Climate Campaign, UK

ZHU Bingcheng, Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims, Beijing

Sandbag and the Centre for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV) collaborate on a detailed analysis of how the trial carbon markets will work in China, looking at available trading data and bringing together media and analysis on the topic. They wanted to then use CLAPV’s expertise on Chinese law, and Sandbag’s knowledge as a carbon market watchdog in the EU, to plan for further Non-Governmental Organisation involvement in ensuring China’s carbon markets run smoothly. As a concrete outcome they planned to plot out a structure for how NGOs across China can ensure that China’s carbon markets truly act to reduce emissions and protect the environment.

Twinning Report Sandbag & CLAPV

Save-our-Seeds & PEAC

Luise Körner, Save-our-Seeds, Germany

YANG Hongyan, Pesticides Eco Alternatives Center

The principle topics of this exchange were sustainable agriculture, genetically modified organisms (GMO), food safety and agriculture policies. The participants not only wished to develop joint solutions for global issues through comparing and sharing different cases, they also aimed to build a communication mechanism for European and Chinese farmers for the purpose of experience sharing

Twinning Report Save-our-Seeds & PEAC

Chee Productions & Berlin Massive

Zhiqi Yang, Chee Productions/Guangzhou, China

Akim Walta, Berlin Massive e.V./Berlin, Germany

Chee Productions and Berlin Massive both are non-profit organizations operating in the field of urban youth cultures and already have successfully implemented several projects in the past. Despite their joint activities cooperation still proves to be a recurring challenge. This is especially due to the lack of understanding of each others’ working environment and logistic problems. The Twinning program gave the two organizations the unique opportunity to better understand each others’ working background and working procedures – without the usual pressure of time.

Participants’ Report

Yunnan Environment Development Institute & GRÜNE LIGA e.V.

Liu Yun, Yunnan Environment Development Institute/Kunming, China

Michael Bender, GRÜNE LIGA e.V./Berlin,Germany

GRÜNE LIGA e.V and the Yunnan Environment Development Institute’s partnership is a newly established one. Their exchange aims at a better understanding of each other’s working environment, but also at fostering a better understanding and application of safe water utilization and application of holistic technologies and methods in China and Europe.

 Participants’ Report 

Green Watershed & BothENDS

Yu Chen, Green Watershed, Kunming/China

Pieter Jansen, BothENDS, Amsterdam/Netherlands

Green Watershed and BothENDS share the mission of calling for and promoting a responsible sustainable role of both international and Chinese investors, especially financial institutions, in the development both in and out of China. For them the exchange of two members of staff was an attempt to explore possibilities for working together in feeding back the realities of local people and the environment into the debates and decision-making processes of Boards of international and Chinese financial institutions.

Participants’ Report

Hunan Aimier & Chickenshed 

Dave Carey/Charlie Kemp, Chickenshed, London/UK

Chen Jiexia, Hunan Aimier, Changsha/China

Chickenshed and Hunan Aimier both aim to access previously excluded groups into mainstream activities. The objective of the exchange was to was improve their cooperation in providing inclusive theatre workshops in China. They worked on train-the-trainer programs, professional workshop models and performances and also  used the exchange to deepen ties and transfer of Know-how.

Participants’ Report

Public Interest and Development Law Institute & The Rights Practice

Ding Peng, PIDLI/Wuhan, China

Tim Millar, The Rights Practice/London, UK

The Public Interest and Development Law Institute Wuhan and The Rights Practice’ cooperation on public interest law and legal is already well established. However, the several week long work-and-study stages gave members of their staff the opportunity for personal encounter, a better understanding of each other’s working environment as well as the opportunity for joint work on common projects. Both partners wished to explore NPO management in the area of criminal justice. They wanted to understand operations and practical functioning of the others’ NPO as well as concrete operations of the criminal justice system in the others’ area. They also aimed to use the exchange as a valuable networking opportunity and enable the participants to train in legal and cultural matters.

Participants’ Report