Selene Biffi

Case Study: Education in Action: Youth Action for Change

I got the idea for Youth Action for Change during the OYIP 2004, after getting in touch with many young people who were highly skilled in particular areas, such as project management, mentoring, media and much more. At the same time, I personally knew a lot of youths who wanted to bring about a meaningful change too, but lacked either the knowledge or the tools to do so. I then decided to bridge the gap by establishing an online platform to connect those youths.

The main idea behind YAC is to empower youths with the skills they need to carry out successful community development programs themselves through free online courses taught by other skilled young people.

At the beginning I wasn't too sure whether to set up a local initiative or to go global, but as most of the people whom I knew that requested help were spread around the world I though it would have been wiser to go global. Of course, this wouldn't have been possible without the use of online technologies. Thanks to devices such as a PC and internet connections, our courses can be delivered worldwide and irregardless of time constraints, thus reaching many more people than a local course would allow. Technology is fast and reliable, and it helps connecting people in need.

By using an online platform one has to face many obstacles, some of which specifically deal with greater outside happenings. For example, YAC reaches hundreds of youths both directly (through courses, mentoring schemes and online dialogues with experts) and indirectly (people who follows our courses are requested to develop and carry out small projects within their communities on the topics they've just been lectured about; this may include giving talks and lectures at schools or launching a local campaign), but it goes without saying that we cannot reach everyone, as of now. Most of our members are from developing countries, and they lack proper access to technology or infrastructures, at most times. This is a big constraint to us, because their ability to share perspectives and get involved is limited due to external features.

Some times language is also a barrier: all of our courses are taught in English (with Spanish availability sometimes), and this halves the opportunity for some people to access them.

The response to YAC has been huge. Although launching the website in late January 2005, we now have almost 300 young people as members, from some 80 countries worldwide, in every continent. Most of them come from developing nations. Many of them write to me regularly to find out ways to get involved, and their interests span from Sustainable Development to HIV, Human Rights to Social Leadership and many more. YAC also got praises from other youth-related NGOs and from UNICEF too.

As of yet we have run three online course and two online dialogues. The courses covered topics such as "Sustainable Development" and "Youths and Social Leadership", with some 35 people in any course. Courses are run for a period of 1-3 months maximum, with leactures being sent out weekly by the teacher. The teacher decides the language of instruction and the number of people he can follow during the course. He/she choses the topics to be covered with YAC, according to students' needs. Most teachers also set up an online group (generally on yahoo) to keep track of groups assignments and projects (as these are a core component of all of our courses). Their success has been huge so far, with many more youths stating their interest in teaching new courses themselves or enquiring about other related opportunity. Right now we're planning for two courses, namely on "Youths and Water management" and "Youth Participation in the Political Arena".

In terms of the key things I have learnt from YAC, I basically got a better and broader understanding in want young people want and need in order to implement their own community development projects. I also learnt that technology will be a core component of tomorrow's struggle for peace and development. Last but not least, I have been able to witness the sense of belonging, cooperation and hope that we all need to be effective agents of change in this world.

Have a look at Selene’s Youth Action for Change at http://www.youthactionforchange.org/