Description
The main objective of „Youth Involvement Academy” is to stimulate the participation of Roma and non-Roma youth in the decision-making process at local level and to develop public participation skills among 150 persons from communities with a significant number of Roma. Through participatory methods of community facilitation, the initiative groups will identify and prioritize the problems of their communities, getting involved subsequently in solving at least one of these problems. Based on the positive results of the citizen involvement, the initiative groups will elaborate a complex advocacy campaign aimed at introducing on the local and county-level public agendas the development priorities identified by the communities. These two components will be the practical side of the „Youth Involvement Academy”, which will be complemented by training sessions and individualized mentor-ship activities, within the framework of a complex youth training programme aimed at stimulating their involvement in their communities, while providing them with skills to influence the decision-making at local level.
Summary of project results
„Youth Involvement Academy” project created a series of initiative groups formed by 150 youth from 15 different communities from Buzău, Dâmboviţa and Giurgiu counties. The youth participated in a series of local meetings with a designated community facilitator and/or a mentor. Together, they listed and prioritized a series of problems they face within their community and tried to find community-based approaches and solutions in order to solve at least one problem from those identified. The main problems identified by the youth regarded the low quality level of the education the children and youth from their communities are benefiting, lack of playgrounds, lack of special places for youth to meet and organize non-formal activities, a high level of discrimination for roma community, lack of local authorities' involvement in community’s problems, lack of libraries and internet, lack of drinking water and sewerage, lack of community members' confidence in youth’s capacity of action. Many of the identified problems were under local authorities' responsibility. Youth and their initiative groups decided to focus on improving education quality in their communities and on building playgrounds for the youngest. Also, they decided to include part of the problems they initially identified in their advocacy campaigns and present their statements in a series of events. In order to be successful, youth participated in three trainings with different themes: community development, communication and writing projects. Also, they participated in different events out of their communities in order to familiarize on how to organize an advocacy campaign. More than that, part of the youth will continue the main idea of the project through a new Youth NGO they are planning to establish, through an annual festival celebrating Roma Culture and the International Day of Roma, or by participating to a complex training in order to learn how to participate in the local elections of 2016 and share their experience. Also, youth’s initiative from Baleni commune has been nominated to the “Local Initiative Gala – People who develop the village”, organized by PACT Foundation.
Summary of bilateral results