Taking into consideration local Covid-19 situation, a bigger Summer Academy was split into two smaller ones, each with 40 participants. These were boys and girls of 13-17 years old with different ethnic and social backgrounds, including representatives of vulnerable and marginalized groups, from both rural and urban areas. We also paid special attention to involvement of kids from Transnistria region and Gagauz Autonomy to bring closer youth usually divided by borders or languages.
During the Summer Academy, our multipliers conducted various activities, from educational ones to purely artistic and fun, giving the participants spaces for self-development and self-expression. Within the simulation game “Asakaria” developed by multipliers, participants learned how to develop and write project proposals, how to conduct an intercultural dialogue and find common agreements to solve problems and reach desired goals. Other days covered the topics of self-identity, ecology, gender equality, urbanism, art, journalism and many others. In particular, artistic means were very beneficial to get to know more about different ethnicities and cultures that are present in Moldova, e.g. Jewish, Bulgarian, Roma, Gagauzian and Ukrainian ones.
Based on all the different inputs, young people developed their own ideas for local initiatives. Now, after the Summer Academy, participants are conducting 14 mini-projects aimed at improvements in their cities and villages, tackling gender inequality, discrimination, bullying, pollution and many other issues. Project team is supporting them in this process and we will be glad to share more information on the initiatives already very soon!