Youth participation is our priority! Thus, within the #YoungDemo project, we trained 90 teachers from rural areas in the application of methods of active participation in working with children and young people. We talked about the living library, debates, interactive information, the public cafe, the pyramid of glasses or the cluster method.

After the theoretical part, we moved on to practice, and the trained teachers challenged 776 young people from the communities where they work to practice active participation! Using one of the methods , we found out from the young people what the main problems they face in their communities are, but also what solutions and recommendations they have. Among the needs and problems reported by young people, recurring themes refer to the lack of public spaces for socializations, sports and recreational activities, the lack of access to medical services, the lack of  necessary support to maintain mental health.

„Our ideas mattered. We could be us. To be heard when you speak, to be seen when you want to show what you know and to be taken into account for what you want to do in the community you live in mean that YOUR voice matters,” young participant in the activity.

How would a world without education be like? Or a community without a school? We talked with Ukrainian children and young people from our Happy Bubble centers about the right to education and participation. Through role play, the young people assumed the position of mayors or local councilors in their communities and answered questions such as: What would be the long-term impact of the abolition of schools on society? How can young people get involved in education decisions in their community? We found out from them that school is the landmark of the community and of each child, but that it should be a more friendly space for children, where they can come with pleasure and where they feel safe, lessons should be more interactive, and bullying should be more taken into account because it can leave deep marks. In order for children to be heard, they must have a representative in the local council and their opinions must be taken into account at school through different participation methods such as questionnaires, youth councils, youth parliaments, advisory councils etc.

Through games, with the little ones we discussed about who Malala Yousafzay is, what article 28 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child covers, what the problems faced by children in rural areas are, what problems children with disabilities face at school, etc.

The goal of the activity was to help children understand the importance of the right to education, develop their argumentation, active listening and communication skills, analyze arguments for and against and form well-founded opinions.

For alomst one year, the young people from #YoungDemo project took part in an advocacy mentoring program, which helped them learn more about the values and role of the European institutions, the importance of exercising the right to vote, about how they can defend their rights.

The mentoring program aimed to support participants in growing as youth leaders that would have an increased knowledge about our world reality, get involved in social issues, weather locally or globally, and inspire others to be better.

The program consisted in a series of online workshops and individual assignments focused on critical thinking and fostering European values, such as democracy and human rights. Mentor was Ciprian Cucu, university lecturer, activist, and countering-disinformation expert from Romania. The mentoring program started on April 21, 2023 and ended on February 9, 2024 and reunited 121 participants from 7 countries. The working language was English. The meetings were planned monthly, on the zoom platform.

The main topics of the workshops were:

1. Who runs a country? A civics workshop about the way power is split among government branches, citizens, NGOs, and political parties.
2. Act for change: campaigning and advocacy.Civics workshop focused on understanding and planning awareness and advocacy campaigns.
3. Left, right, and other directions in politics . A civics workshop, introduction to political ideologies.
4. I’m a European citizen and I have rights. Workshop on the functioning of European institutions and what it means to be a European citizen.
5. Fake news and how to spot them. Introductory media literacy workshop, dealing with main concepts and models to evaluate quality of information.
6. What is media and when should we trust it? Media literacy workshop focused on understanding the role and forms of media, as well as evaluation methods for media quality.
7. How do we know what we know? Stories and reality. Workshop in countering disinformation focusing on techniques used in spreading false narratives.
8. Listen to reason: argumentation and logical fallacies. Workshop on critical thinking, starting from the theory of argumentation and focusing on common logical fallacies.
9. Building argument maps. Workshop on critical thinking, focused on building visual representations of complex arguments.
10. Artivism: using art for good. A civics workshop centered around the importance of art as a means to promote social change.
11. Technology for active citizens. A technical / technology focused workshop to present some tools that can be of use to activists.
12. Less is more: introduction to graphical design. Technical workshop focused on design principles and specialized applications that can help in building attractive campaigns.

„In the #YoungDemo project we learn about our rights and how we can get involved and help our communities become safer and better places. Personally, since taking part in the webinars, my interest in politics has grown and my interest in helping my community has grown even more. I want to say thank you for having the opportunity to take part in such a beautiful and useful mentoring project!” said Robert, 17.

Young people from all partner countries in #YoungDemo project was invited to embark on an exciting journey of learning, empowerment, and digital citizenship by taking part in two webinars on Online Citizenship and Youth Participation Methods, organized in November and December 2023. The webinars equipped the participants with the necessary skills needed to become a responsible and engaged digital citizen by exploring main tools for online participations. They also learnt about the role of youth in online and offline activism and ways in which young people can actively engage in their community.

In April 2024, we invited young people to take part in an interactive discussion about how votes can make a difference and how to become an active citizen in their community. We talked about: the importance of voting, feelings associated with voting, reasons why young people don’t vote, political ideologies, advantages and disadvantages of democracy, rights and responsibilities of citizens, youth participation and engagement. At the end of the meeting they understood why voting is important and how their vote can influence the community and society as a whole, built confidence in the electoral process, recognized the value of their individual vote, identified reasons why young people don’t vote and discussed solutions to overcome these barriers. It was an opportunity to learn, engage, and empower themselves to be changemakers!

The Instagram live event titled „Alege(ri) pentru tine(ri)” gathered over 260 young people to discuss their values, life goals, and their understanding of the key political roles eligible for this year’s elections. The webinar focused on European Parliament and local elections, addressing various topics of interest in a way that was accessible and engaging for the audience.

The live session featured insights from:

• Ciprian Cucu: University lecturer, activist, and expert in combating misinformation in Romania.

• Răzvan Petri and Vlad Adamescu: Co-founders of „Politică la minut.”

Mara, 14, and Alex 14, from Ialomița County, representatives of the World Vision Romania Children’s Consultative Council and #YOUNGDEMO project, took part in the It Takes a World Week Campaign, a week full of advocacy actions organized by World Vision UK, between 8 – 13 May 2023. Together with young people from countries such as Kenya, Bangladesh, Ukraine and Great Britain, Mara and Alexandra participated in work meetings and debates with the authorities in the UK where they discussed the real challenges children face, as well as solutions and recommendations.

In the first debates, the young leaders met Sarah Champion, Pauline Lathman, Ben Everitt, Sir Stephen Timms, Preet Gill, members of the UK parliament, and focused on important issues for the present and future of children around the world: stopping violence against children, gender equality, children’s participation in decision-making, the situation of children in Ukraine. Michael Tomlinson, MP, answered their questions about how democracy works in the UK, and then he offered the young people a full and impressive tour of the UK Parliament.

Call to Action at 10DowningStreet – The week of action ended with a visit to 10DowningStreet, the home of UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, where the young leaders hand in their Call to action document with their solutions and recommendations on the issues that really matter to them and to future generations. DO NOT SPEAK AND ACT FOR US, BUT PARTNER WITH US – was the message with which they concluded their requests.

Mara, 15, Mihăiță, 16, Robert, 17, Gabriel, 16, Maria, 13, members in YoungDemo project participated in The Children and Youth Government an innovative program initiated by FONPC – The Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations for the Child – together with other eleven organizations in Romania. The program is dedicated to providing an authentic voice to children and young people in our society. The 5 young people along with their colleagues from YoungDemo project worked at their own governance plan for the ministries of education and digitization that have been assigned to them. On 17 May 2024, in Bucharest, The Children and Youth Government was official launched. Mara and Mihaita confidently represented their colleagues as ministers of education and digitalization. Gabriel, Maria and Robert were also with them on the stage asking the present authorities questions on topics relevant to them: children’s rights, education, participation, youth opportunities etc. Mircea Geoană, Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Dragos Pîslaru, Mep, Rares Achiriloaie, President of the National Authority for the Protection of Children’s Rights and Adoptions were among the decision makers present at the event.

Mara Surugiu, the Minister of Education, proposed the expansion of the school after school national program, the development of intervention programs for high school students in order to prevent school dropouts and even the launch of an online platform where children and parents can report a case of abuse in school. „Our governing plan defines a school that gives the child knowledge, but also skills, makes him feel protected, listened to, safe, preparing him for life. I am happy to look around the room and see that we are surrounded by so many people who are doing everything they can to improve the quality of education and the lives of children. In the education we want to define together, no child is left behind.” says Mara.

Mihăiță Micu, Minister of Digitalization, spoke about the effectiveness of a digital platform of lessons and meditations to prepare students from disadvantaged areas for the end of middle school and high school exams, as well as the need for modern technology in schools, especially in disadvantaged areas. „A digital education carried out on time, within the school, with access to new technologies and with trained teachers will increase the competence of the future workforce in Romania. More young people will acquire essential digital skills. They will be more employable and more competent in their careers.” says Mihaita.

In November 2023, young people from #YoungDemo project carried out an online campaign to draw attention to the importance of respecting children’s rights. Different videos on respecting children’s rights to participation, education, protection were posted on World Vision Romania social media pages (TikTok, facebook, instagram). The videos were realised during the summer school for this campaign. #Children’sRightsMonth culminated on the occasion of the International Day of Children’s Rights with an event at the Government of Romania, where the young people presented the Strategy for Children’s Rights… as on Instagram. In order to translate the strategy in a frindly way and prepare the speeches and questions for the national authorities, the young people met and worked online. At the event on 20 november, they had the presence of Marcel Ciolacu, the Prime Minister of Romania, Natalia Intotero, the Minister of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities, Ligia Deca, the Minister of Education, as well as other national and local authorities. During the meeting, the children challenged the decision-makers to assume that they would make this strategy a priority. They asked them questions and got promises. At the same time, Mara, 15 years old, was present in the Romanian Senate where she spoke about the importance of ensuring protection and the right to education for all children.

Day by day, just a share away, a false information can become viral among children and young people having harmful effects, both on an individual and social level.

As we want to raise a generation of children and young people correctly informed about the world around them, we launched a series of three webinars, dedicated to children and young people between the ages of 12 and 26. The sessions were meant to help them know the main forms that this phenomenon can take, as well as the tools available to identify fake news and combating disinformation.

The consultations on combating disinformation and extremism were organized in the form of a a series of 3 webinars, delivered on zoom platform, within which three important topics were addressed :

Workshop 1 – Understanding Disinformation: Fake news and other forms of false information is affecting and infecting the world. Democracy is founded on informed citizens choosing their leaders in free and fair elections, but false information brings us important challenges. The workshop help participants learn more about the types of false information, the drivers behind it, and its consequences.

By the end of the workshop, participants learnt to:

a. Be able to define main concepts related to false information, such as disinformation, malinformation, misinformation, fake news, confirmation bias etc.

b. Understand how false information can be either obvious or subtle, as well as get insights into who spreads it and why.

Workshop 2 – Trust but Verify: Purposefully engaging with information is a form of critical thinking & active citizenship. We live in an era of information overload, where everyone can broadcast their opinions to thousands in an instant. Verifying everything may not be efficient, but trusting everything will bring worse outcomes. The workshop tried to explain how to balance trust in media with the need to verify information.

By the end of the workshop, participants learnt to:

a. Understand the challenges of engaging with media content.

b. Be able to apply information verification techniques.

c. Be able to list at least five national/international fact-checking resources.

Workshop 3 – The fight for the Environment

Guest speaker : MEP Nicu Ștefănuță – an MEP dedicated to positive changes in the lives of European citizens. He fulfills multiple roles in the European Parliament: as General Rapporteur for the European Union Budget in 2023, in the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee. An MEP involved in combating climate change, supporting the European Green Pact and renewable energy sources.

Fighting climate change and protecting the environment are probably the most important challenges for our generation. While some political leaders are striving to improve a situation that has already become dire, others are using misinformation and propaganda to delay any kind of measures. The workshop offered a better understanding in what the EU is doing to protect the environment as well as who opposes protection measures and why.

By the end of the workshop, participants learnt to:

a. Be able to list some of the main false narratives related to climate change.

b. Be aware of some of the European Parliament initiatives in environmental protection.

The webinars were organized between the 5th and 19th of October 2023.

Are you ready to make a change for the better in your community? Use photography to draw attention to issues important to you and advocate for change by joining our Photovoice Event.

Young people from all partner countries in #YoungDemo project were invited to take part in National Photo Voice Competitions in order to change for better their communities.

Which were the steps?

• Identify relevant issues from their community related to children’s rights and EU values

• Take photos of them

• Select the pictures and write a relevant caption

• Participate in a National Online Photovoice Event and raise awareness of issues important to them. During the national events, participants had the opportunity to select and vote for the most representative five photos.

On April 10, 2024, an online international photovoice event was held to showcase the national winners of the photovoice competitions. The event provided a platform for participants to engage in a discussion about the significance of active citizenship and the exercise of rights among underserved and vulnerable children. During the event, winners from the national photovoice competitions presented their winning photographs, detailing the context, themes addressed, and their personal experiences during the creation of each photo. The outcome of this event was the creation of a booklet that includes the winning photographs from the participants. Additionally, the booklet provides recommendations for youth workers and educators interested in utilizing the photovoice method. The number of participants in the international photovoice event was 75 from 6 countries.

In the summer of 2023, we gathered in Sâmbăta de Sus, Brasov County, where we spent four days filled with emotion, creativity, and personal growth. Together with our invited guests, the young participants of the #YoungDemo project took part in workshops on key topics such as public participation, children’s rights, advocacy, and community involvement. We collaboratively set new projects and initiatives aimed at empowering Romanian youth and developed materials to promote children’s rights.
The summer school was organized for 20 young people aged 12 to 26, from August 23 to 26. The workshops addressed several themes, including: “Take a Step Forward – We Are All Equal!,” “Children Are Listened To” (Part 1), “Do Children Have Enough?” (Part 1), and methods of public participation, such as World Café, Live Library, and Photo Voice.

For three days, between March 4 and 6, our young people from #YOUNGDEMO project were in Brussels where, in meetings with several MEPs, they confidently supported their opinions and asked relevant questions about the things that concern them, important for the present and future of their generation.

They discussed about the impact of artificial intelligence, children’s rights, the importance of exercising the right to vote, climate and environment, agriculture and rural development, labor market dynamics, entrepreneurship and internship.

The study visit brought together over 50 young people from Romania, Germany, Slovenia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, partner countries in the YoungDemo project. In Bruxelles, the young people had the opportunity to put into practice what they had learned throughout the year as part of the Communications & Advocacy Mentoring program, but they also enjoyed the time spent together, forming beautiful friendships. At the same time, they visited the European Parliament for the first time and learned more about the formation of the European Union and the role of the European institutions.

The study visit in Bruxelles was organized with the support of Europuls – the European Expertise Center.