The overall objective of the project is to train young people across Europe to become ambassadors for young people’s right to information, to be able to carry out local-level trainings with their peers, and to gain skills and competences in different important areas that will help them to influence decision-making processes (digital communication, social networks, video-making, advocacy etc.). This is expected to have a large impact on the number of young people accessing youth information and counselling services in the partner countries and beyond, as well as on the visibility, relevance and impact of youth information and counselling services at local, national and European level. In the course of this process, through their involvement with ERYICA and the different partner organisations, the Youth Ambassadors will also influence European and national/local level decision-making processes in the youth field, highlighting the importance of youth information and counselling. The project recognises the potential of young people as key multipliers and stakeholders in the design, provision and dissemination of youth information services. The method of peer training is based upon the belief that young people deliver a message to their peers that is often more credible and efficient than when it is delivered by authority figures. This is why peer-to-peer youth information is a very valuable method to increase the outreach, relevance and quality of youth information services. Peer training is a horizontal process where peers educate each other in a spirit of mutual learning. It assumes that all individuals are both learners and teachers and that the knowledge of a group is necessarily greater than the knowledge of one individual. This is why ERYICA and its partners wish to co-create with young people training manuals and resources that will be later disseminated and exploited across Europe. The main project activities and intellectual outputs consist of: - Co-creating and piloting the Youth InfoPEERs training manual, where young people will become peer educators in youth information and learn about the importance of grassroots level peer-to-peer activities to ensure that more young people know about and make use of youth information and counselling services; - Co-creating and piloting the INFObassadors training manual, where participants will learn about advocacy and decision-making processes at European level; - Creating and producing the iAdvocate Online MOOC on carrying out a successful online advocacy campaign designed by young people targeted at young people and youth organisations. It be available widely available on Moodle; - Creating and implementing an online campaign together, the theme of which will be decided on during the trainings, but will be closely related to Youth Goal 4 and the SDGs. This will be part of the assignment from the MOOC that they will pilot; - Organising a European level seminar for decision-makers to raise awareness about the importance of accessing reliable and full information and to have the opportunity to discuss directly with them involving other young multipliers; and - Carrying out national/local-level training multiplier events as part of their training programme. Young people will learn by doing; they will be assigned a task during their training and will carry it out themselves after the training is over. In this way, they can see for themselves the challenges that come with organising multiplier and training events, and will have the possibility, with the support of the partner organisations, to carry out an activity by themselves. The main expected result is to enhance youth participation and to raise awareness about the importance of young people’s right to information by creating resources that are made for and with young people. It aims to ‘upskill’ young people, giving them experience in the governance of organisations and the opportunity to have a real impact on decision-makers, youth workers, policy-makers, researchers on youth issues and other key stakeholders.It also aims to think of ways to involve young people in a more sustainable way, by giving them ownership of projects and campaigns, and valuable experiences for life. Another objective will be to create a peer-to-peer support structure for youth information and counselling services to reach out to more potential users. Young people will ally with youth information services to promote them among their peers and become peer educators. The training programmes and resources developed will become part of the ERYICA training system. Training events will be organised regularly using the material to ensure that more young people and countries will benefit from it.
When the project application was drafted, the verall objectives were: - Co-creating and piloting a training course for peer-to-peer in youth information (Youth InfoPEERS); - Co-creating and piloting a training course for Youth Ambassadors on the right to information (iNFObassadors); - Co-creating and piloting a MOOC on how to run a successful online advocacy campaign (iAdvocate online) targeting young people (peer-to-peer) and youth organisations; - Increasing the outreach of youth information visibility across Europe; - Developing a structure and support system to ensure the ambassadors' participation during the project, with the active participation and support of the partners; - Developing a framework that ensures the structured and permanent involvement of young people in the ERYICA network decision-making processes and governance beyond the project; and - Political awareness-raising at local, national and European levels through multiplier events and targeted communication.
In the current information landscape, it is increasingly important that young people think critically about the information they access and learn how to advocate for their rights and interests. In fact, they face many challenges regarding information management, such as disinformation, overload of information, and fake news, to name a few. Youth information providers strive to ensure that young people access full and reliable information. According to a study published by Åbo Akademi and ERYICA in 2018, there are certain areas of information where young people rely more on their peers than on any other source: the peer-to-peer approach in youth information is essential. Every two years since 2012, ERYICA has trained young people to become ambassadors for youth information. At the time when we presented the application of this project, we considered that the programme required a quantum leap. Through the Youth Ambassadors and YinfoPeers project, young people were trained to advocate for the right to information at different levels and become peer educators. Another important motivation for applying for this project was the need to permanently involve young people in ERYICA activities and the decision-making process.