Workshop Sessions for “Turn on the Green World”: From Talking About It to Creating It Together with the Target Audience

Public and Social domain

Innovation

Challenge

The Netherlands faces a major challenge: the transition to a sustainable future requires thousands of additional skilled professionals who are currently not available. To reach future talent, the Province of North Holland, educational institutions, and businesses joined forces in the Working & Developing 2030 manifesto. This collaboration led to the creation of Turn on the Green World. Rather than a traditional campaign, it is a movement in which schools, parents, and companies across North Holland strengthen one another. The central question: how can we encourage vocational secondary education (VMBO) students to consciously choose a future in sustainable technology?

Result

nlmtd designed and guided a co-creative process for three target groups: VMBO students, parents, and career advisors. Through design thinking workshops and in-depth conversations, this resulted in a concrete set of recommendations organized into six clusters, each focused on strengthening collaboration between students, parents, and schools. The process delivered not only insights but also new energy and stronger connections between stakeholders.

Client

Turn on the Green World is a North Holland initiative bringing together the province, educational institutions, Sterk Techniek Onderwijs (STO), and businesses. Together, they are building a unified and recognizable story to inspire young people to pursue careers in sustainable technology.

Challenge

From “just another campaign” to shared ownership

There are already countless initiatives in education aimed at generating interest in technology. However, their impact often remains limited. Campaigns come and go, gradually fading from view. The Turn on the Green World working group wanted to take a different approach: not another campaign layered on top of existing ones, but a single, recognizable concept supported and sustained by the region itself.

The strength needed to come from collaboration not designing solutions for the target audience, but creating them with the target audience. To achieve this, nlmtd was asked to guide a co-creative process that would connect the voices of students, parents, and schools.

Process

Co-creation with the student, parent, and school triangle

To truly understand the needs of young people, parents, and schools, nlmtd developed a co-creative approach focused on working with the target groups rather than talking about them. nlmtd facilitated workshops with parents and career advisors, setting the tone for open collaboration. With the expertise of YoungWorks, the student perspective was fully integrated, resulting in a comprehensive view of what is needed to inspire young people to engage with sustainable technology.

1. Empathize and define

2. Ideation with the target groups

3. Translating into concrete clusters

4. Embedding in practice

One-on-one conversations with parents and career advisors to understand their challenges
Research into key decision-making moments for VMBO students, from subject selection to internships
Exploration of regional differences and the role of parents in the decision-making process

Career advisors participated in creative sessions to develop solutions they could immediately apply in their teaching
Parents contributed ideas on how to encourage more conversations about sustainable careers at home
Students were involved at a later stage. In an interactive workshop led by YoungWorks and GroenvermogenNL, they evaluated the ideas developed by parents and advisors. They were encouraged to challenge, refine, or strengthen them

All insights and ideas were consolidated into six clusters
Each cluster provides practical guidance and examples to strengthen collaboration between students, parents, and schools

The recommendations were shared with all ten STO regions in North Holland
Each region selects the elements most relevant to them and commits to implementation

Key insights

The sessions revealed that students prefer to explore technology during school hours, with less interest in extracurricular activities. Technological tools such as VR are engaging, but only when combined with hands-on components. Company visits, small building projects, or tangible assignments leave a much stronger impression.

The sessions also highlighted the diversity of contexts across schools and regions. Some parents are highly involved in their children’s education, while others are less engaged due to language or cultural differences. As a result, each situation requires a tailored approach.

Beyond generating insights, the workshops also built connections. Career advisors, parents, and students aligned around shared goals and initiated new collaborations. The energy throughout the sessions was high.

Results

A Foundation for Action

The approach resulted in a well-founded set of recommendations structured into six practical clusters. Each cluster offers concrete tools to strengthen collaboration between students, parents, and schools. The STO regions in North Holland have received the insights and are applying those most relevant to their local context.

The findings continue to gain visibility through LinkedIn, where the Turn on the Green World working group shares weekly insights from the report, linking them to current developments in technical education and sustainability.

Together with nlmtd, we brought the target audience to the table and translated ideas into concrete plans. Not another campaign on top, but working with schools, parents, and students to determine what works and actually putting it into practice.

Manon Schrijnemaekers, Zet de Groene Wereld Aan

Conclusion

Turn on the Green World demonstrates that sustainable change begins with collaboration. By engaging the target audience directly rather than making decisions on their behalf, the process builds both support and ownership. The result is a solid knowledge base: six actionable clusters providing guidance for schools, parents, and advisors.

Does this challenge sound familiar? Many organizations and partnerships struggle with the same question: how to move from isolated initiatives to a cohesive, widely supported approach. nlmtd supports these types of co-creative processes, from gathering insights with the target audience to translating them into concrete recommendations and next steps.

Next steps

The insights from the project remain active through LinkedIn, where the Turn on the Green World working group continues to connect recommendations from the report to current themes in technical education and sustainability. Ongoing collaboration is also maintained with programs such as GroenvermogenNL and Techkwadraat.

Interested in applying this approach to your own challenge? Contact nlmtd to explore what a co-creative process could deliver for your organization or partnership.