It has been quite an exciting few months for us! The Empower Youth project brought together amazing young people at two events. Fellow activists from all over Europe gathered at a Democracy Camp near Brussels and a Communications Camp in a Hungarian forest. We learned from experts and from each other, enjoyed bonding events and sustained our friendships and activism between the camps and beyond.
What was it about?
- Strong teams and leadership
- Campaigning and activism in the EU
- Understanding and channeling our climate emotions
- How to create a compelling video campaign
- How to tell hopeful stories
These are just a few of the topics that our trainers covered. Cool news is that they shared some useful resources with us that you can check out, even if you missed the two camps!
- Have trouble dealing with eco anxiety? Here, check out how Katie taught us to pack and unpack our resilience rucksack.
- Want to know the basics of hopeful storytelling based on NGO research? Take a look at Laura & Gaelle’s presentation.
- Here YFoEE co-founder Job shared his insights about true leadership and movement building.
- Here are some of Richard’s best tips and tools for creating campaign videos.
- Find out what are some creative methods to make a change by Yas & Jess.
Last but not least, we produced LOTS of materials together among the participants. The Code of care, a group agreement about our behaviour during trainings is our fav example of that.
And here are some useful websites to get further input (thanks to everyone who contributed to these!):
- The European parliament’s platform for engagement, community and training;
- Katie’s resilience project which includes substantial support with eco-anxiety (also check out her Insta);
- Beautiful Trouble toolbox with loads of great examples of creative actions.
- Resourceful website exploring the depth of how white supremacy culture is well and alive in non-profit organisations, how to recognize it and work against it individually & collectively;
- An article by a leading HR company featuring valuable insights on how can you foster DEIB in an organization – offering food for thought and self-reflection, and providing actionable points;
- Video interview with the New York Times bestselling author of White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism discusses why working against one’s own fragility is a necessary part of white anti-racist work—and why good intentions don’t matter;
- Catalyst article based on a survey of nearly 900 US employees working across industries to understand the effects of empathic leadership on their experiences at work;
- Lived experience of ableism in academia – Book and about an hour long conversation covering strategies for inclusion in Higher Education;
- An insightful Inc. article on “Growing turnover among DEI executives is evidence not only of demand, but also of a distinct kind of job stress.”
- A discussion about antiracism in higher education with Ibram X. Kendi, the award-winning author of the New York Times bestseller How to Be an Antiracist;
- VideoRev Hookbook – An easy-to-use toolkit to help you generate viral video ideas for your campaign;
- Research by FoEE 2019 on “How to talk about societies we want in Europe”
- Climate outreach 2022: “Communicating climate justice with young adults in Europe”
- Classic storytelling techniques;
- Book about politics of healing and happiness – “Pleasure of Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good”
- On the spot – documentaries on human stories behind the news focusing on environmental issues, history and current affairs. Videos filmed across five continents, from hidden tribes to world leaders.
“Young Friends of the Earth Europe gratefully acknowledges financial assistance from the European Union. The contents of this articleare the sole responsibility of Young Friends of the Earth Europe and cannot be regarded as reflecting the opinion of the European Union. The European Parliament cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained”.