The SHINE International Academy for Young Leaders was successfully implemented in Sofia, Bulgaria from 11 May to 15 May. The training was hosted by the lead partner Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Culture and Education (FECE) and welcomed a total of 30 young people from Bulgaria, Romania, Germany, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Together, the participants explored topics such as democracy, youth participation, media literacy and social media campaigns as a participatory tool to raise awareness of important local issues.
During the first activity day, the participants introduced themselves, their professional background and elaborated on their personal expectations towards the training. Later, in international groups, they drafted definitions of democracy by discussing and combining their individual associations. In the afternoon, the young people took part in the EU Values Tree activity (part of the SHINE training toolkit), discussed the European Union, its symbols and importance and created group projects on how to promote the 6 core EU values (freedom, equality, democracy, rule of law, respect of human dignity and respect of human rights) among youth. The final activity for the day was dedicated to exploration of the SHINE podcast series.
During day 2, the participants presented their group projects about the SHINE podcast (short summary, lessons learned, tips for improvement and promotion) and joined another non-formal activity tackling the media habits of young people, the overuse of digital technology and its impact on mental health. Lastly, the young people were introduced to the specifics of the awareness-raising campaign – a core element of the SHINE project.
During day 3, the participants brainstormed relevant local issues in each participating country (during the Bridging the gap: Youth and Community in Dialogue activity facilitated by New Horizon) and designed their own online campaigns targeted at youth and tackling various topics such as lack of proper infrastructure and venues for people with disabilities, outdated education methods, local transport issues and polarisation. The national teams will complete and publish their campaigns (in national languages and in English) during the summer months. In the afternoon, the national groups met with young people in Sofia to discuss and polish their campaign ideas.
During the fourth day, the participants tested the Democracy in Play Board Game and created group theatre performances representing different media-related terms. On the final day, they showcased their performances, were introduced to the Erasmus+ Programme and joined final evaluation and reflection session.
The SHINE project is co-funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Programme.
