O1. Developing critical thinking skills in the fields of democracy and environmental education among 20 youths aged 15-20 by the end of the project. O2. Raising awareness of at least 200 youths, aged 15-20, from the communities of the partner NGOs, regarding ecological and democratic consciousness. O3. Enhancing the level of efficient international cooperation of the involved organizations, aiming at developing new partnerships from 2025.
We applied for this project because we had identified clear needs in our youth communities in Iași (RO), Pleven/Obzor (BG) and our own organisations: 1. Low civic participation and weak critical thinking among youths - We saw that many of them did not have real, structured spaces to learn about democracy, European values, civic engagement, inclusion and how to express their opinions in a constructive way. They rarely practiced debate, public argumentation or democratic decision-making in real situations 2. Environmental responsibility was urgent, but still treated as “not my problem” - We also observed that topics like pollution, recycling, climate responsibility, and local environmental protection were known in theory, but not lived as personal responsibility by many teenagers 3. Young people needed ownership, visibility and recognition. They often felt that adults/authorities don’t listen to them. We wanted to test a different model: give them real responsibility, involve them in organising events, let them negotiate logistics, let them vote, and let them literally transform a wall in their city with a message they chose 4. Need for attractive, creative formats that keep youth engaged 5. Need to raise NGOs partnership capacity