Article by Andrea Rodriguez, Ripess Europe
The YOU(th) CARE project funded under the DEAR Programme (Development Education and Awareness-Raising) aims to reinforce the active citizenship and engagement of the “next generation of Global Care takers”, supporting young people in building a common strategy for a better future.
The objective of the project is to strengthen and support youth initiatives and youth-led projects in the different countries where it will be implemented. We recognize that youth is a crucial agent of change and plays a fundamental role in facing today’s global challenges, which are the consequence of a multidimensional crisis: economic, political, social, cultural, health, environmental, and care, among others.
This project is based on the need to place care at the center of the economic system, recognizing it as an essential pillar of life. We start from the understanding that human beings are interdependent among ourselves and eco-dependent on the planet. Consequently, and with the desire to build a life worthliving, away from individualistic approaches, we seek to develop, collectively, a critical and politicized vision of care. We believe that through this perspective we can contribute to the construction of a more just and equitable society.
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Historically, youth have played a fundamental role in building a better world. They are, and we are, the ones who still have their whole lives ahead of them. The energy, idealism and adaptability that characterize young people make them key players in driving significant changes in society, challenging the status quo and opening paths to a more just and equitable future.
In its first stages, the Project will promote the setting up of eight Global Care Agendas, where young people will highlight priorities and strategies to cope with the multiple crises that are affecting our territories, and the Global Community. We will apply a holistic approach, as embedded in the “Global Care Approach” –that we will develop during the Project–, will be implemented throughout the project, as from the initial mapping activity, aimed to identify existing youth-led movements and initiatives oriented towards diversity, inclusion and social and ecological transition, with a particular focus on women’s rights and gender equity.
The idea is, under a multidimensional perspective, to understand the situation of youth organizations located in the different countries involved in the project, to listen to their priorities, to understand their challenges and to problematize them collectively shaping them into a “Global Care Agenda” that we can then present to lobby and demand changes in public policies. In addition, different training materials will be designed, webinars will be available on our virtual campus (https://community.youth-care.eu) and accessible to anyone interested in the global approach to care, giving the opportunity to acquire key skills to deal with complexity and change.
Finally, international Forums will take place in the final stages of the Project through the active participation of youth-led organizations, groups and movements involved in previous activities. Advocacy campaigns on gender equity and social and ecological transition will further boost public awareness and strengthen the role of Euro-Mediterranean feminist and intersectional youth organizations and collectives as watchdogs, promoting the adoption of a gender perspective by institutional decision-makers in dealing with global changes.
Stay tuned for more information!
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