How to run a Blue School: The six-phase process

A Blue School is a youth-led workshop cycle where young people explore local water challenges, carry out participatory research, and design practical solutions for their community.

It is not a traditional classroom activity. It combines non-formal education, field observation, community dialogue, advocacy, and action. Each Blue School works towards one main output: a Water Roadmap – a youth-designed action plan for the sustainable use, protection, and management of local water resources. The BLUEFRONT model follows a six-phase process that helps facilitators move from group-building to research, planning, public engagement, and action.

Phase 1: Kick-off and group building

The first phase is about creating the conditions for meaningful participation. Before young people can design solutions together, they need to understand the project, feel comfortable in the group, and know what is expected from them. The kick-off session should introduce BLUEFRONT, the Blue School process, the local water theme, and the expected timeline.

Useful activities include ice-breakers, group agreements, expectation mapping, and short discussions about local water issues. The aim is not to provide all the knowledge at once, but to build trust, motivation, and a shared sense of purpose.

Phase 2: Exploration of local water challenges

The second phase helps participants identify the water issues that matter most in their community. This can begin with community mapping. Young people can mark on a printed or digital map the places where they observe pollution, water shortages, overuse, flooding, tourism pressure, poor access, or biodiversity loss. They can also discuss how different groups use the same water source, such as households, farmers, businesses, tourism operators, public authorities, and ecosystems. This phase should turn general concerns into clear research questions.

Phase 3: Research and observation

In this phase, young people collect evidence. The research does not need to be expensive or highly technical. Using simple tools, participants can observe water temperature, pH, water level, transparency, visible pollution, algae, plants, animals, and possible foreign species. The most important rule is consistency: the same place, the same method, and clear documentation each time. Research should also include people, not only water. Interviews, short questionnaires, focus groups, and conversations with residents or experts can help participants understand how water challenges affect everyday life.

Phase 4: Water Roadmap design

The fourth phase turns findings into a plan. A Water Roadmap should clearly explain the local water challenge, who is affected, what needs to change, who should be involved, and what actions are realistic. It should be practical, understandable, and rooted in the evidence collected by the young people. Facilitators can support this phase through prioritisation exercises, stakeholder analysis, role-play, design thinking, and action-planning templates. The goal is to help young people move from “this is a problem” to “this is what we propose.”

Phase 5: Community engagement

A Water Roadmap should be tested with the community. Each Blue School should create opportunities for young people to present their findings and proposals to residents, local stakeholders, schools, businesses, organisations, or decision-makers. This can take the form of a public presentation, exhibition, school event, municipal meeting, neighbourhood discussion, or creative action.

The purpose is not only to inform the community, but also to collect feedback. A good roadmap may change after this phase, because community engagement helps make it stronger, more realistic, and more locally relevant.

Phase 6: Action and advocacy

The final phase focuses on putting the roadmap into motion. Young people should design small-scale actions that raise awareness and encourage more sustainable water practices. These actions may target households, schools, businesses, local authorities, or the wider community. Examples include awareness campaigns, clean-up actions, exhibitions, social media storytelling, workshops, public pledges, or meetings with decision-makers.

This phase helps young people understand how advocacy works in practice: how to communicate a message, how to ask for support, and how to respond when change takes time.

Practical checklist before you start

A strong Blue School needs planning. Before launching, make sure you have:

• a clear timeline 

• at least 10 planned workshop sessions 

• a committed group of young people 

• at least three experts or facilitators to support the process 

• one or more local water sources to investigate 

• printable research tools and observation templates 

• a plan for transport and accessibility 

• consent forms and photo permissions 

• a documentation system for attendance, photos, quotes, outputs, and feedback 

• a clear plan for presenting the Water Roadmap to the community 

What makes a Blue School successful?

A Blue School works best when young people are not treated as passive learners, but as researchers, planners, and advocates. The role of facilitators is to provide structure, safety, and guidance, while allowing young people to make decisions, ask questions, handle tools, speak to the community, and shape the final roadmap. The process does not need to be perfect. What matters is that participants learn how to observe, collect evidence, listen to others, propose solutions, and communicate their ideas with confidence.

A Blue School starts with a local water question. It ends with young people who are better prepared to take part in environmental decision-making – in their communities and beyond.