Background and goal:
As a young person, you experience the world shaken by crises and look at a very challenging and uncertain life path. One painfully perceives the “action-knowledge-gap” and is disappointed by the promises of the older generation and their policies to lead into a secure future and to involve the young in its design. Studies speak of up to 50% depressive resigned attitudes in the next generation.
Youth4planet is committed to this: however the world is developing – we have to engage to live in the best of the worlds that is possible under the given circumstances. This also includes positively influencing one’s own environment and in the spirit of the Sustainable Development Goals.
That is why Youth4planet offers a media-based education and action concept that helps young people out of the action-knowledge gap and makes them feel their effectiveness and influence. Working together in a team makes it easier to face challenges, jump over your own shadow and take responsibility for the common goals.
Stage 1: Effective become through storytelling with the mobile phone
Anna visits the 9th Grade in a high school in Luxembourg. There, Youth4planet trainer teams have been regularly offering workshops on storytelling since 2017 and accompanying the teams in their work. Anna knows that films from other classes have repeatedly won awards. With her team of energy detectives, she wants to score points with the topic of energy saving. For this purpose, she got an ace in physics. With their phones, they research and film the power consumption of their school and where there are the best savings opportunities. Just by replacing the lamp they could win more than 1000€ every month! In front of the camera, the principal says that the school is not allowed to change the lamps itself. The team bravely makes its way through the bureaucracy, gets offers and packs everything together with a vivid animation into their film. When this is shown to the Minister of Education in front of the assembled school, he enthusiastically takes up the topic and promises to implement their proposals.
Examples are also from Germany, Austria or India, where student teams have rolled out entire campaigns. It is always about developing your own perspective for the solution of a task through research and then consistently implementing it in a story.
How does this educational concept work?
The participants approach highly motivated topics that they themselves find meaningful. In doing so, they acquire extensive substantive, personal, social as well as methodological and media skills:
- They research a topic and develop a story from it
- They learn to conceive, edit and record films
- They learn journalistic skills, e.g. Interviews
- They cooperate in a team, present and represent their topic
- They learn to accept and give feedback
- They deal with reality and change their mindset.
- The implementation of their proposed solutions confirms their ability to act.
Stage 2: Become even more effective with the digital CreatiVelo system
To extend the scope of effect outside of school, Youth4planet has developed the CreatiVelo system. The core is the CreatiVelo media bike as a friendly platform for action-based learning. Each wheel becomes a mobile stage, powered by solar and connected worldwide via the earthbeat app. The media boxes and their contents are modular and can flexibly carry education to any place in the world.
They achieve a high impact:
o In regular Creativelo Challenges and hackathons (more on earthbeatapp.com), young people are always inventing new modules and solutions to use them as effectively as possible.
o Art and music play a central role in addition to technology and communication: https://youth4planet.lu/y4p_video/creativelo-at-cop28/
o In India, for example, a team has collected more than 3000 microdonations for their campaign, another has addressed more than 5000 people. Radio and television reported that the actions have reached children on garbage dumps, road workers or farmers.
o Meanwhile, the Minister of Education of Punjab plans to develop jobs, education, health information and much more in thousands of municipalities with the concept.
o In Nigeria, universities want to train their students to become solar ambassadors and to send them to the villages for “community building” with the CreatiVelo.
All this is only possible through consistent support and collaborations. The Luxembourg Ministry of the Environment has been involved since 2017. Individual campaigns were funded by the UNDP or the UNDRR, Youth4planet was always able to win foundations or partner organisations for individual projects. But the real potential to prepare the next generation well for the challenges ahead worldwide is still untapped. Sponsorships for CreatiVelo teams in every school, the development of digital education modules, resilience licenses, – with this Youth4planet wants to inspire the education-hungry renewable generation to keep our earth as a liveable place.
