Selene Biffi is the founder of Youth Action for Change, an online platform that provides young people worldwide with the knowledge and tools they need to tackle issues in their local and global communities. Selene was selected as a 2006 YouthActionNet Fellow.
Can you briefly describe what Youth Action for Change is all about?
Youth Action for Change is a global online platform for young people whose aim is to inspire and empower young people worldwide to become effective change makers in their communities. We do so by providing free online activities – courses, blogs, e-dialogues, and video library resources – so that young people can access the tools and knowledge they need to implement community development activities.
What inspired you to start the website?
In July 2004, I was selected to go to the International Youth Parliament in Australia. To be selected you had to propose a socially based action plan. I saw that there were many young people, like myself, who lacked the skills they needed to start a project, write a press release, run a campaign, etc. Initially, I conceived of a website that would provide youth in Italy with these resources. After I became aware of youth needs globally, I decided to create a global platform.
How extensive is the Youth Action for Change community? How do young people find out about it?
We have over 800 registered members, but our activities have reached out to some 1,000 young people and youth-led organizations worldwide. Our activities reach young people in 120 countries. Our main marketing tool is word-of-mouth. Whenever we launch an online activity we send out announcements to youth-led organizations, past participants, and others involved in social change work. They forward it to their networks. Ours is a volunteer-driven initiative. We don’t spend any money on advertising, marketing, or PR.
What kinds of training and online learning opportunities are available?
Since January 2005, we have run over ten online courses and e-dialogues. We try to present a broad range of issues, including human rights, the Millennium Development Goals, gender issues, education, and life skills. Right now, we are running two courses on sustainable development and innovation in youth self-employment. The former was introduced by the UNEP Director for Asia and the Pacific, while the latter is being offered by a former UNESCO director for youth and sports. We have a six-week course coming up on how to acquire free ICTs tools for social change (including podcasts, vodcasts, blogs and more). We were also asked to design a youth-friendly course on poverty reduction strategies for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Our courses last from one to three months. We have a new e-learning platform with video conferencing and chat capabilities. This new platform will allow participants to add their own material, to view videos, edit wikis, etc.
How will you use the Collaboration Fund grant you received through YouthActionNet?
Earlier this year I received support from YouthActionNet, along with two other Fellows from my year who live in the US – David Smith, founder of Mobilize.org and Dana Frasz who works on food and hunger issues. David will start the process by adapting his “Mobilizer’s Handbook” for use online. I will then adapt the material for use by young people internationally. The idea is to provide youth with a step-by-step guide for initiating change in their communities.
Can you describe the World Aware Education Award you just received from the Council of Europe?
We received the award from the Council of Europe’s North-South Center, which works to create linkages between Europe and the developing world. They give three to four awards per year to programs and initiatives that increase awareness of development issues and global citizenship. The projects need to relate to the themes of Human Rights/Diversity/Participation, as these are the themes of the Europe-wide campaign, ‘All Different, All Equal’, promoted by all the EU institutions in 2006-2007. We were chosen along with the UK Red Cross and a theatre project supported by the Municipality of Turn and the European Commission. We were the only youth-led project to win this year and the only project running on no budget. The award comes with €1,500. I’ve already told my volunteers, members, and advisory board that the money will be used to help a school for destitute children in India. It’s in a very rural area. We’ll provide the opportunity for twenty of the children to keep studying after fifth grade.
What are your future plans for Youth Action for Change?
We have been invited to several speaking engagement in Italy and abroad over the next six months. We would like to develop our library of videos made by young people for young people and a comprehensive list of speakers who can be presented via online streaming. I would also like to adapt some of our online activities into radio programming that would be made available in Southeast Asia. I would also like to forge partnerships with universities and other institutes. And, of course, there’s the Mobilizer’s Guide that we’ll be working on.
To learn more about Youth Action for Change, please visit: www.youthactionforchange.org
Source : http://www.youthactionnet.org/new/courtney_interview.cfm |