Youth for Youth Project

Youth to Youth: Educating on Human Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals

Youth for Youth is a human rights and values education and awareness-raising project aimed at children and young university students. This project contributes to the development of a human rights culture in which children and young people are aware of their own rights and their obligations towards others, promoting their development as responsible members of a interdependent, free, peaceful, pluralistic and inclusive society.

The project involves university students and children between 5 and 18 years of age, from schools in different regions of Spain.

If you want to be part of our team of young people willing to train and raise awareness of human rights, this is your chance!

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To be at peace with the world, first, I must be at peace with myself...

I grew up in the countryside in France where I developed a certain sensitivity towards injustice and nature, within a western society that claims to be “exemplary” in this matter. I have always had the desire to work so that everyone can live as they wish, regardless of their gender, skin color, place of birth, religion, or sexual orientation. We are all part of the ecosystem that allows us to live in peace.

I decided to study political science and participate in the ‘Youth for Youth’ program to be an actor in a better society. This experience, among others, made me understand my environment and helped me understand how help to build a more just and sustainable world. Acting to awaken the peace that sleeps in each of us and expand it to the whole world. Education and awareness-raising of the population is, in my opinion, the basis of any action. Young people are the protagonists of today’s and tomorrow’s society, that is why we need to make them question themselves and their surroundings. As Bob Marley used to say, “Get uo, stand up, stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, don’t stop fighting.” We must not stop working for a better world, in which, wars are a thing of the past.

Following this awareness-raising program, organized by Helsinki Spain, its volunteers are actively involved in peace building. Intergenerational exchanges between volunteers, most of whom are university students, and children from different ages, allow us to question the functioning of our society and our role in it. As Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician, activist, and Amnesty International ambassador of conscience, says: “Peace is not only about ending violence or war, but all the other factors that threaten peace, such as discrimination, inequality or poverty.”

Mickaël Biraud

Objectives

This project seeks to promote the fulfillment of Human Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), contribute to effective gender equality, encourage environmental sustainability and responsible consumption, foster coexistence and education free of violence, support the protection of groups at risk of vulnerability through awareness-raising, and facilitate volunteering as a mechanism for youth participation.

Phases

  • Training for young university students in Human Rights and SDGs

  • Training in emotional management for parents and gender equality training for teachers in schools

  • Awareness-raising in schools through workshops given by university students on human rights and values for boys and girls

  • Developing pedagogical material on human rights educatio

Contents

The content of the human rights training course at the university level is as follows:

Once the training program has been completed, the young university students put their knowledge into practice in schools that have previously agreed upon Helsinki España to take part in the project. Through a participatory methodology using pedagogical dynamics and games, they give awareness-raising workshops to school-age children.

The young university students, far from being just listeners, instead become the real actors of the project and those responsible for the transformation of their communities. The combination of training and volunteering is the most effective formula for the assimilation of concepts and the acquisition of values. The schoolchildren interact very positively with the young university students.

To date, we have managed to train 5,150 volunteers from 75 different universities on Human Rights and SDG. Through them, we have raised awareness among more than 40,084 children in more than 100 schools located in different regions of Spain, namely Andalusia, Castilla y León, Castilla la Mancha, Valencian Community, Galicia, Canary Islands, Madrid, the Basque Country, the Principality of Asturias, etc. The project has been implemented internationally in countries like the United States, Italy, Mexico, or Portugal.

Internationally, the project has been developed in the United States, Italy, Mexico and Portugal. On the other hand, we have trained 200 mothers and fathers in “emotional intelligence and conflict resolution”, as well as 100 teachers in “gender equality and human rights”.

Emotional intelligence and conflict resolution
Gender equality and human rights training for teaching staff

Youth for Youth Alumni Testimonials

Ana & Mireia

From our point of view, Youth for Youth has been a worthwhile opportunity. Above all, because it puts power in the hands of one of the groups whose voice is most often taken away, and gives them the ability to transmit much more closely on issues of great importance to future generations, because who better than young people to teach future adults? The trainings have taught us in areas as important as mental health, cyberbullying, gender issues or environmental awareness, topics that often go unnoticed in the classroom. This is where the importance of the project organized by Helsinki Spain lies, the ability to transmit values to which many students do not have access and to be able to raise awareness from proximity and trust.

Inés & Adam

ADAM: “The project gave me a great opportunity to learn about many topics in which I am very interested. Over the course of a week, I had the opportunity to attend several talks by speakers who focus on environmental issues, human rights, or gender equality, among others. Thus, I felt well prepared to go to the classroom to speak and transmit the knowledge gained by the professionals to the students. The project is very well organized thanks to the Helsinki Spain team that works to make the volunteer experience the best possible.”

INÉS: “Youth for Youth has undoubtedly been a totally enriching and innovative experience for me. Not only because of the training given and the speakers who gave them, from whom I feel I have learned a lot, but also because of the moment of going to the classrooms and being able to explain to children and adolescents through dynamics topics of great importance and current affairs. It is because of programs like these that I keep faith in humanity, seeing how there are so many people involved in human rights and the prosperity of a better world.”

Ángela & Ana

ÁNGELA: “I had never had the opportunity to volunteer before, and to make my way into this world through Youth for Youth has made me motivated and interested me. Not only that, Youth for Youth has been a doorway to learn more about topics that were already known to me such as gender equality or environment and being able to pass them on to school-aged-children has been the most enriching thing.”

ANA R.: “The experience of volunteering with ‘Youth for Youth’ has been very interesting and enriching. On the one hand I have been able to expand my knowledge on topics such as mental health, gender and human rights thanks to the experts’ lectures, and on the other hand, I have been able to transmit this knowledge in the classroom which has been very rewarding. And let’s not forget the amazing people I’ve meet while volunteering in this project! Thank you to the Helsinki Spain team for organizing projects like this.”

Mariano

I don`t know who has discovered more, if them by listening to us or us by reflecting with them… The best way to change the world is to plant in them the seed that made me want to change it.

Ana

My experience in the project “Jóvenes para Jóvenes” was excellent. I loved the course because it has complemented my formation, but at the same time it has brought new ideas and perspectives on transcendental topics to achieve a more just and better world. The opportunity to attend schools is a great way to raise awareness among the youth, they are the carriers of the change needed. The workshops make it possible for the students to participate in the real world, but most importantly it incentivizes them to think critically. Knowing that through hands-on sessions it is possible to raise awareness and sensitize is satisfactory, it allows young people to reflect on problems they might not have heard of before, it is also important that they feel like they are a part of the change being made. As a volunteer of this project, I strongly advice other people to participate in it, in my case it made me want to keep fighting through education.

Upcoming event

REACT Helsinki España 2022

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