5-7 Streategies on Youth Action for Social and Environmental Changes

Share an experienced in the camp. Photo by: Cahaya Papua

Manokwari, 19 November 2016, On the youth camp for social and  environmental changes I speaks as resources person shared experiences and knowledge on how young people could involves in Social and environmental advocacy for changes. Started with question on how young people could involve in the action to reduces the massive impacts of social and environmental changes? What are the steps they should takes as beginner in advocacy or facilitation activities to respond the problem the found in their community? Here I introduced 5 values and 7 steps that as young peoples they should have to mobilizing the resources and capacity they have to respond at the social and environmental changes around them. These 5 - 7 strategies are the summary of experiences i have during my involvement in the NGO works since 2008.

5 Values of youth development for social and environmental changes

1. Understanding what you have as personal capacity before stepping on action
2. Ability to determine the objectives of changes you will bring
3. Open minds and welcome to the inputs/critic 
4. Discipline 
5. Brave to take a decisions

7 Steps for young people to start and involve in social and environmental change

1. Conducts problem analysis to understands the causes and impacts of the changes. Taking a cases of larges scale oil palm expansion in Merauke, I said this parts is about understanding why the plantation is opened and why their areas been chosen? And the what are the impacts in social and environment driven by the investment? This is crucial to understand what are the keys component of problem we want to advocates. 
2. Determine objective and component of action. Based on problem and impact analysis the young facilitator should determining the aims and keys components he/she would works to respond on problem and bring changes to the problems and reduce the impacts he/she has analyzed.
3. Maps the actors - conducts simple mapping on actors both at the level of cause and impacts would helps young people to determine communication strategy on their advocacy. The actors maps would also guiding them in packaging networking on changes action.
4. Determine and packaging communication strategy to do advocacy for changes. In this step the young facilitator should able to come with shorts position papers of communication strategy that he/she will uses in advocacy
5. Creates and expanding networking. Getting more resources and relevant parties to be involve in the action that the young people would do is crucial. Networking will includes resources (human and financial) that available and commit to support the social and environmental changes actions that the young people already plan. 
6. Develop a resources calculation that needed by young people to execute the planned action per priority components she/he has developed. In other words the young people could develop simple working plan with all resources needed to implement the activities on the plan.
7. Determine and develop a mechanism to monitoring, evaluate and measure the performance. This tools or instrument will help young facilitator to keep check and tracking their action and measure the progress of changes they've plan to be intervening. Putting log frame as monitoring tools could be the easy ways of having the M and E tools.

Accomplished the strategies I shared 1 video about "how our worlds is changing" and two reflection on respects on what you have. The with tittle "home" showing the academic analysis and the facts on how changes are happen on earth and influence all level of live should be understood by young people. The investment that happening in Papua is strongly influenced by pressure on national economic growth targets that also influenced by global demand on goods for larges scale industry and most of them are to supports the human being needs. This introduction video summarize a messages that simple things that young people here in Papua are doing would have an impacts to the globe.

This event was organized by Bentara Papua and Kurabesi Papua Explorer with funding from Rainforest Foundation Norway. About 21 participants from several customary community group and NGO in Papua such as Moi, Abun and Kna in Sorong were participating.