Youth for Change: A community participatory inclusive programme to ensure informed, long-term, and sustained participation of youth in decision-making processes.

Project Duration

8 months

Donor / Partner

Location

16 districts of 8 divisions

Target Group

Youth

Total Beneficiary

Direct Beneficiaries: 980, Indirect Beneficiaries: Above 500,000

Rationale

Youth for Change

Civic education is a process of learning about the rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of citizenship, and it enables young people to feel empowered to act in achieving positive changes in their lives and communities. This is important because when young people feel empowered, they are more likely to become active and engaged citizens who can make a real difference in their communities.

The project described is designed to ensure that young people are informed and equipped to participate in civic engagement and decision-making processes. This involves providing them with the skills, knowledge, and resources they need to effectively engage in civic life. Through capacity-building activities, such as training and workshops, young people can develop the skills they need to analyse issues, communicate effectively, and work collaboratively with others to address community challenges.

Community mobilization is another key aspect of this project. By bringing together young people, community leaders, and other stakeholders, the project can create a shared vision for positive change in the community. This can help to build support for youth civic engagement and foster a culture of active citizenship.

Overall, the project youth for change is designed to create informed, long-term, and sustained participation among young people in civic engagement and decision-making processes. By empowering young people to become active and engaged citizens, the project can have a profound and lasting impact on their lives and their communities.

Goal

The project aims to engage the youth to broaden their knowledge and disseminate mass awareness around civic education, engagement and participation among the community people and motivate them to be actively engaged in citizenship roles and decision-making processes.

Objective

To ensure informed, long-term, and sustained participation of youth in decision-making processes.

Expected Outcome

480 youths from 16 districts of 8 divisions will be sensitized around theoretical, political and practical aspects of citizenship roles and practices as well as its rights and duties through capacity building training.
Civic education, active citizenship and engagement awareness will be developed among the youths and community people of the target location through participatory awareness campaigns and media mobilization.
400 youths from all 64 districts will be sensitized on civic education practices and active citizenship roles through a national civic awareness seminar

Activity Details

Activity 1 – Youth sensitization on civic engagement and education

Civic education is one of the most important determinants for empowering youths to be well informed and active citizens, equipping them with the opportunity to bring positive changes in their communities and areas. The initiative will provide young people with capacity and knowledge on civic education and active engagement. In order to sensitize the youth on civic engagement and education, the following sub-activities will be implemented.

Activity 1.1 – Consultancy workshop with experts

A day-long workshop will be arranged in Dhaka with different development experts in order to have analytical discussions on the significance and need of civic education, human rights and youth engagement in civic activities. 15 civic experts from different sectors and organizations including youth led and youth development organizations, civic education experts, youth training experts, will participate in the workshop. The workshop will be conducted to incorporate the shared views, ideas, and feedback of the experts into the module development for the capacity building training of the youths. Furthermore, the workshop will mobilize expert recommendations on project development and implementation, including campaign strategies and ways to involve young people in civic development of the communities.

Activity 1.2 – Module Development

A module will be developed for the capacity building training for the youths. To assist in the creation of the module, a civic education specialist will be recruited. The cumulative recommendations of the consultancy workshop with experts will be included and prioritized in the module. While developing the module, an interactive and participatory approach will be ensured so that the training sessions can be conducted in a productive and efficient manner.

Activity 1.3 – Call for Registration

An open call for registration will be disseminated through social media platforms of JAAGO including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn in order to highlight the importance of active civic education and encourage the youths to participate in the civic engagement activities. Through the registration process, around 30 youths will be selected from each district based on the set criteria.

Activity 1.4 – Capacity Building Training

To equip the youths with a better understanding of active civic engagement and education, capacity building training will be conducted in 16 districts of 8 divisions of Bangladesh. A two-day long non-residential training in each district. A total of 16 capacity building trainings will be organized in 16 districts of the 8 divisions of Bangladesh (2 districts from each of the divisions of Dhaka, Rangpur, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Chittagong, Khulna, Barishal and Mymensingh). 30 youth leaders from each district, i.e., a total of 480 youth leaders will be capacitated through the training. In addition, the youths will be capacitated on project development, implementation and evaluation strategies which assist them while planning and implementing their community awareness projects. Training participants will be assessed through a pre and post training survey in order to evaluate their knowledge and understanding.

Activity 2 – Community participatory awareness campaign on civic education

Following the capacity building training, the 30 youths in each district will be formed into 5 groups with 6 members in each. A total of 80 groups will be formed with 480 youths in 16 districts. Each group will be encouraged to submit their plan of ideas on community awareness campaigns around civic education to disseminate their learning among other youths and community members. On the second day of the training, the youths will design their community projects in groups including the implementation, monitoring and evaluation strategies. Among the groups, the best projects will be selected for the implementation in which the remaining groups of the districts will collaborate and implement the selected projects together. To ensure the proper implementation and monitoring of the projects, service contracts will be signed and shared with the youth groups. A total of 16 community awareness projects, one from each district, will be initiated. With the help of necessary guidelines, each group will implement their community awareness campaigns for a period of 2 months in their communities and bring attention to the importance of civic education and engagement and ways to bring about positive changes through active citizenship.

Activity 3 – Community awareness through media mobilization

In order to reach maximum audience, an integrated community awareness program will be carried out through media mobilization across social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and TikTok. The media mobilization will enable to raise awareness on the value of civic participation, human rights education, and inspiring individuals to contribute to bringing positive changes for the communities. This will be done through social, and behaviour change communication (SBCC) strategies, campaign key visuals (KV), public service announcements (PSA) video, social media awareness posts, district-based tin sign placement in local areas, celebrity endorsement, process documentation audio visual (AV) of the workshop and training and offline workshop event collaterals.

Activity 4 – National Civic Awareness Seminar

A seminar will be arranged as a process of mobilizing the youth regardless of backgrounds for sensitizing and guiding them on civic engagement and education. A total of 400 youths from all 64 districts will participate in the seminar through a call for interest disseminated in media platforms. Youths will relate to prominent civic education experts and other participants through a panel discussion followed by a Q/A session. The space will allow them to develop their perception and understanding on civic engagement and ask questions to the experts. It will also help them create a potential network of youths who come from different districts but committed to serve a common goal. Following the seminar, service contracts will be developed with the youth groups (district wise) for conducting a nationwide awareness campaign across the districts on civic education, engagement, and active citizenship roles. Through the campaign, approximately 5,000 direct beneficiaries and 2,00,000 indirect beneficiaries will be reached in each district.