As part of the presentation of the training and volunteering project “Youth for Youth: Educating on Human Rights and Sustainable Development Goals“—an initiative by Helsinki España—students enrolled in the “Documentary Sources” course (part of the first year of the International Relations degree at the Universidad Europea) were introduced to the organization’s core commitments: promoting the defense of human rights, building a culture of peace, and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Since 2001, this project has been active across 15 autonomous communities in Spain, targeting university and vocational training students aged 18 to 30. Grounded in the Service-Learning (SL) methodology and peer-to-peer education, the initiative empowers young people to act as agents of social change. Following intensive training with experts, participants lead awareness-raising workshops in educational institutions on key topics such as gender equality, the prevention of cyberbullying, mental health, inclusion, and sustainability. In this context, the visit to the Universidad Europea aimed to introduce the project and invite students to join as active volunteers.
Following this institutional presentation, a session was held on information bias and tools for fostering critical thinking. As a result, the students gained the skills necessary to begin a practical exercise over the coming weeks: a news-clipping project focused on climate change. Through this activity, they will examine and compare how various media outlets address the environmental crisis, paying close attention to the narratives, journalistic biases, and editorial approaches used in covering climate action (SDG 13: Climate Action). Once the documentary analysis is complete, the students will present their findings, which will then be evaluated by Helsinki España.
