How to convey the youth’s viewpoints on issues such as youth mobility, gaps in the economic and education systems, peer violence, hate speech and brain drain, and how can they be tackled in a creative and fun way?
A group of 60 high school students from all over BiH met in Tarčin near Sarajevo from 15 to 17 April to discuss these topics during the three-day EU-funded #E4U media boot camp. Three days packed with sessions of inspiring, educational and experience-driven speeches and workshops delivered by some of the best communication experts in the region laid the foundations for the conceptualization of five creative campaigns promoting the youth`s views on the identified problems.
A survey conducted by the Network of Councils of High School Students in BiH among 16,000 students across BiH showed that youth mobility, gaps in economic and education systems, peer violence, hate speech and brain drain have been identified as the most pressing issues by the high school students themselves.
In its efforts to create space for youth to express their opinion and actively engage as social actors with their own views and contributions, the EU in BiH put together a series of lectures and workshops aiming to empower young people to translate their ideas and thinking about the most pressing issues into effective and easy-to-understand media campaigns.
To be understood you must first understand
“To have your words and messages heard you first need to make them digestible, which can be achieved only by knowing how we as humans communicate. Our ability to properly understand others does have its limits and we need to be aware of them. Reaching understanding is a learning process. Please use this opportunity to learn, ask, check your ideas, and be open to others’ opinions. That is the only way to take your rightful place in influencing the political decision making affecting your lives,” said the EU in BiH Head of Communications, Jamila Milovic-Halilovic.
During the first day, packed with dynamic, education and interactive lectures, participants agreed that although each generation faces different challenges it seemed that resistance to change was universally present throughout different periods and in all societies. They found that there were experiences to be shared between older and younger generations which all could learn from.
