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Description
We want to address the issue of young voices being often dismissed and ignored in public debates, as well as the issue of social polarization among the youth and between the youth and adults when it comes to socially important issues such as climate change, mental illness, or rights of the minorities. We know from experience that many young people feel they are misunderstood by adults, patronized, and controlled due to the lack of trust. On the other hand, research from EUkids Online showed that young activists are often victims of hate speech from their peers with different views. Our project aims to create a pilot communication and participation school that will recruit individuals who have already shown interest in civic engagement. We will organize three conventions during which we will discuss: diagnosing and defining the needs of the youth, communication technics according to Nonviolent Communication principals, storytelling, public speaking, writing skills, and crafting media messaging. Young participants will identify issues that are important to them and plan a publication in a format of their choice: a media campaign, educational or press materials, a local meeting, or a debate. After completing their task, we will promote their work. We will publish the documentation of their work, the best tools and methods, as well as practices for engaging the youth in public affairs. We will organize two promotional events and will promote their accomplishments in the media.
Summary of project results
Our project addressed the problem of ignoring and disregarding young people''s voice in the Polish public debate on such socially essential topics as the climate, mental health, minority rights. It also tackled the problem of social polarisation among youths and between adolescents and adults. Our experience shows that many young people feel they are not understood by adults, are patronised and controlled by them. On the other hand, the EUkids Online (2018) study shows that young activists often fall victim to hate speech from peers representing different outlooks.Within the project, we created the pilot School of Communication and Participation for which we recruited young people who already had some experience with social activity. We organised meetings devoted to such topics as diagnosing and defining youth''s needs, communication according to Non-Violent Communication (NVC), storytelling, public speaking, writing skills and press release generation. Young participants of these meetings identified topics they found relevant and organised debates on them. Adolescents were broken down into groups and carried out several campaigns and initiatives - on support in mental health crisis, on the need for sex education, on voluntary work (we also prepared a map or local engagement opportunities in Bielsk-Biała), on respect for minority rights, on probiotics or sustainable habits. Together with TOTU FILM, we produced 13 short spots on these initiatives. Some of them featured participants answering questions concerning the project. One film was a personal summary of the year by one of the project participants. It was noticed by Mateusz Pacewicz, known, among others, for such films as ''The Hater'' and ''Corpus Christi'', who contacted the author through us and declared the desire to commence artistic cooperation.During the project evaluation, its participants claimed that it had positive impact on the development of their skills - it changed their style of working and collaboration with others, it also boosted their self-esteem, and readiness to speak in public. Furthermore, 4 out of 6 youth teams continue their activities even though the project has been finished. To see the project outcomes, visit www.mlodzi2021.szkolazklasa.org.pl.
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