The Future We Want

Aims & objectives

The main goal of the project was to increase the capacity of the European youth work sector to support the implementation of Agenda 2030 with a focus on sustainability, global education and responsible consumption.

More specific objectives of the project are:
-To introduce innovative and provocative methodologies in the youth work field across Europe to raise the level
of awareness on sustainability, climate change and other
environmental issues;
-To stimulate the exchange of best practices in youth
work in working with authorities in tackling issues faced by young people concerning climate change and sustainability
-To raise the capacity of partner organizations to operate at the European level in policy making field for agenda 2030;
-To stimulate the development of a network of Advocacy
Practitioners in various regions of Europe to stimulate the
implementation of the sustainability agenda.

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

The participants were youth workers, trainers, volunteers, and active members of our partner organizations. They were residents of one of the following countries: Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Spain.

The general structure of the project was the following :

First residential training in which we tackled the topics of Agenda 2030-Sustainable Development Goals and Street Campaigning – the main purpose of the training was to build the capacity of the youth workers to use Street and Online Campaigning Methods to increase the awareness and involvement level of young people in global issues (21-30th October 2022 in Romania, Busteni)

Local activities (phase 1)- Raising Awareness: The freshly trained youth workers prepared and implemented Street and Online Campaigns to reach out to at least 300 young people in each country and raise their awareness and involvement at the local level concerning Agenda2030 (November 2022- April 2023)

Second residential training focused on Agenda 2030, Advocacy and Legislative Theatre, a method that can be used in advocacy processes– the main purpose of the training was to train youth workers to advocate and push the implementation of Agenda 2030 to the relevant state actors and to be able to use Legislative Theatre in this process. (21-30 April 2023 in Poland)

Local activities (phase 2) - Advocacy process. The youth workers used Legislative Theatre to bring the voice of young people to the local authorities, collected proposals and priorities of action from at least 200 young people (in each country) concerning Global Agenda and advocated for those changes to the local authorities. (April –November 2023)

Online European Campaign – based on the proposal of young people from different countries we will launch a European Campaign, to collect input from more young people and to bring it to the attention of European Decision Makers. (In progress)

Training methods used & main activities

Non-formal education and experiential learning specific activities: getting to know each-other, simulation, LARP, specific theatre activities, games, exercises, image theatre, experiential learning process by developing (step by step), implementing and evaluating a Street Campaign and Legislative Theatre performance, group discussions and reflection, practical exercises for role of Joker, etc.

Exercises used in the first training can be found in the following Manual on Street Campaigning for global issues: https://goo.gl/uNyofv or http://toolbox.salto-youth.net/2353

Exercises used in the second training can be found in the following Manual on Legislative Theatre: http://toolbox.salto-youth.net/3044

Outcomes of the activity

Main results of the project:

-A European network of experts in street campaigning, legislative theatre and advocacy
-Training modules for developing street campaigning and legislative theatre competencies in addressing Agenda 2030
-7 street campaigns (used in 7 different contexts)
-7 legislative theatre scenarios to address systemic oppression linked to Agenda 2030
-3500 young Europeans more engaged and involved in their communities and the process of decision making.
-European Online Campaign on Agenda 2030 to raise awareness and influence decision makers
-Instagram and Facebook social media account with content connected to the topics of Agenda2030, youth work, promoting the project and the outcomes.

https://www.instagram.com/the.future.we.want/
https://www.facebook.com/thefuturewewant2030/

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

Full time co-trainer and content creator for the social media channels of the project.

I worked on this training for 18 days as a full time trainer.