Promoting rural youth volunteering - Public Policies Made by Citizens (Europe)

Active Citizenship: Promoting rural youth volunteering

Posted by : Y Active - Youth Exchange Group Y Active
Country : Romania
Date : 23.05.2011
Profession : volunteers
From : Y Active
Target institution : European Commssion, Council of Europe
Problem status :

Due to the financial crisis and to the authorities' lack of active measures to promote active youth participation, the rural youth is lacking opportunities to get involved with volunteering activities. Thus, we consider that rural youth should be invested with opportunities to get involved with activities that would help their personal and professional development. For this purpose, the local authorities, the non-governmental actors, the institutions in charged with this group's education, should start developing structured dialogue frames and programmes and projects aiming at offering rural youth active youth participation frames and volunteering activities.The problem comes from the experiences shared by 30 youngsters, representing 6 countries and over 12 regions, youngsters that posted the problem after their consultation process with their peers in the rural areas.

Solutions received from citizens

Y Active - Youth Exchange Group Y Active, Romania, volunteers (24.05.2011)

It is common among adults and elderly people not to use Internet in order to receive information about daily things and this is an area where they could get some help from the younger generations. There a lot of fields that one could find information about in Internet. For instance, the train timetable; whether a book is available at the library; what and where are the best prices of all types of products; how to use Google map, including its numerious functions like finding the shortest way to reach a particular spot; online banking; Wikipedia; paying bills; Youtube; organized cultural events.
A way this could be done is by gathering the adults at various institutions willing to support the activity like the city library, schools and then the youngsters would explain them for an hour or two what are the possibilities Internet provides to simplify our daily life.

Y Active - Youth Exchange Group Y Active, Romania, volunteers (24.05.2011)

The main idea of our project is organizing exchanges between people from rural and city areas. Its main aim is deepening mutual understanding amongst youths by sharing interests: sports, music, writing, reading, etc. Each exchange would have its main topic, such as: voluntary, journalism, cooking, art activities, or social games.
The results of exchanges could be published at web site and local magazines, edited by redactors from city and rustic communities, or announced in local radio programme.

Another initiative, which could help activating youth from rural areas and promote volunteering among them are volunteering activities concentrated on helping farmers in their everyday work. Many farm owners look for people who could help them in planting vegetables, fruit trees or bushes, looking after live stock and other animals. Volunteering in such way can raise volunteering awareness of young people as well as teach them more practical things about farming and rural environment in which they live.

Such activities should be coordinated by school teachers and/or community leaders, who could find and contact farmers interested in such actions and participate in them together with school children.

Y Active - Youth Exchange Group Y Active, Romania, volunteers (24.05.2011)

There are three reasons a Rural Fair should take place as an important event. First, to promote cultural and traditional habits from rural regions into the big city. Second, to exchange lifestyles and opinions. Finally, to present agrotourism to the young people in the cities. As a result the number of the active youth familiar with the meaning and the importance of rural activities for their country will increase.

Y Active - Youth Exchange Group Y Active, Romania, volunteers (24.05.2011)

Let’s Have A Public Center
A public center for the people including both children, youngsters and adults who lives in rural areas can be feasible to make the people socialize, have sportive activities and personal trainings for their jobs or hobbies for free. EVS students and the other volunteers can work in these public centers by sharing their skills and knowledge about the other countries. In this public center, a network will be useful for getting knowledge about the rural areas problems and requirements. Therefore the people from rural areas can use this network to share their problems to ask for some help from other communities or associations. It will be more useful to help voluntarly if the problems are known by the associations.

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