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Description
The need of the project comes from the fact that young people in Romania are still among the least participatory categories in civic and political life. Even though in major cities the situation has improved in recent years, in rural areas the situation remains equally latent. Only less than a quarter of young people were involved in participatory acts, and Romania has the lowest percentage of young people politically involved in the southeast european region. Moreover, young people from Bacău County were among the least participatory in the last elections, with only 31% of them voting (the fourth worst presence). To change this situation, young people need support and training ranging from basic (soft) skills, going to critical thinking, media education and the appropriation of citizens'' tools. Thus, they can get involved and contribute to community development. 60% of young people from Bacău County live in rural areas, so it is important to address them as a priority. The beneficiaries of the project will be at least 360 young people who will be trained to become community leaders. Other 720 young people will benefit from the activities. Other beneficiaries will be the teachers from collaborating schools, authorities and the entire local community. Young people will participate in training sessions in soft skills, critical thinking and media education, learn about citizens'' engagement tools and organise their own advocacy campaigns in the community through which they will influence the public decisions directly. The intervention will aim to increase youth participation, create a framework for training the young leaders, create young and future adults with strong critical thinking, and involve communities in solving their problems. The project''s activities will involve 2 general schools and 2 high schools from Bacău County, representatives of local public authorities, professionals working with vulnerable groups, volunteers and other community members.
Summary of project results
The need of the project comes from the fact that young people in Romania are still among the least participatory categories in civic and political life. Even though in major cities the situation has improved in recent years, in rural areas the situation remains equally latent. Only less than a quarter of young people were involved in participatory acts, and Romania has the lowest percentage of young people politically involved in the southeast european region. Moreover, young people from Bacău County were among the least participatory in the last elections, with only 31% of them voting.
The project aimed to stimulate the participation of young people from four communities in Bacau county (Sascut, Sanduleni and Zemes communes and Moinesti municipality) by providing the framework for training and developing basic skills and critical thinking, media education and understanding citizenship tools.
Training modules in soft skills and critical thinking took place in the four communities with a total number of 1195 young people. They developed new skills related to communication area, public speaking, identifying fake news, fighting cyberbullying or how to beware of internet dangers (media literacy). 40 young people and 16 teachers participated in two community development training sessions, where they identified the needs of young people in the communities and learned the steps of implementing an advocacy /informational campaign. 11 information or advocacy campaigns were developed on topics such as identifying and rehabilitating spaces for young people, environmental protection and selective waste collection, promoting culture in rural communities, road safety
or improving the book stock in schools. 4 local consultations meeting was organised between young people and local authorities and a consultation with a member of the Parliament. The tangible results of these meeting were related with the provision of hygiene products in schools, the creation of murals, the
identification of youth spaces or the rehabilitation of a park. A Community Development Guide was developed, including lessons learned, activities appreciated by young people, how to organise community campaigns and the results achieved. In total, more than 1546 people participated in the project activities