A new narrative for NATO – a more engaging one for youths
Period of implementation: August 2018 – December 2018
In Romania, regions’ general development level is decisively determined by their socio-economic condition, with people residing in East and North East parts of the country (especially rural areas and small municipalities) facing critical low access to an environment that should be designed to boost youth participation and engagement on key themes targeting International Affairs (limited number of public events or conferences, low number of nongovernmental organisations and, in general, not a large number of possible extracurricular activities designed for youths).
Without a proper background and low exposure to youth programs or trainings on international affairs, people coming from these less developed regions are more vulnerable to fake news media, half truths or propaganda stories that most of the time target EU, NATO and other international institutions.
Hence, the project sets out to fill some of these gaps by targeting its activities on less developed regions, with the objective of engaging young people and exposing them in a friendly and age appropriate manner to the role of NATO in the current international context, its aims and objectives, cooperation mechanisms and impact on their day to day life.
The project aims to strengthen the knowledge and capacity of young high school students to engage in topics related to NATO and international politics and be able to further disseminate the information.
The target audience consists of teachers and high school students (aged 15-19) from the East and North East region of Romania.
The main objectives of the project are:
i) developing an educational toolkit for teachers – a set of explanatory and innovative materials that can help them learn about NATO and related concepts in way that is engaging and interesting;
ii) engaging high school students in interactive competitions, thus incentivizing them to study more on NATO, and finally
iii) providing the winning essays’ authors with the opportunity to experience the world of security by participating in a study visit to Bucharest and meeting inspirational NATO officials, experts and visiting relevant institutions.