On October 6, 2023, the Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi) organized a training focused on capacity building of young people (initiative group leaders, young professionals, local counsellors, youth NGOs) in storytelling (how to present/tell a story in the community).
The activity took place in Chisinau and brought together 45 people representing 43 rural communities (from 20 districts), all these communities being graduates of 6 editions of the IntegrACT and YouthACT Youth Support Programme.
Our organization has noted the availability of a set of good practices in implementation of youth public policies at the local level, of success stories in the youth sector, but for some reasons they are not widely spread and therefore young people, youth organizations and society generally do not benefit from these stories to the fullest. In this regard, the aim of this training was to train 43 partner communities to communicate correctly and strategically by use of “storytelling” tool.
“Media in the rural areas is extremely underrepresented and the success stories, regrettably, are not ‘hot news’ and do not get disseminated. VERY little is known about these best practices at the local level. The IntegrACT GO project aims to assist and enable young people in spreading information about (even very small) achievements of youth in rural communities.” – Tatiana Cosuleanu, iRi executive director.
“When our youth initiative group dared to knock on the Mayor’s door, we understood that the Mayor’s Office is our partner. We didn’t want to get in the way, but to get involved in the development of the youth sector at the local level.” – Cristina Rata, IntegrAct 2022 graduate, village Carbuna, Ialoveni district.
“Together with the young people we met at the round table for discussion and we made a list of activities that they wanted and not those imposed by me or the stakeholders. The well thought out plan of activities, with the responsible people assigned and terms of reference set very quickly bore the first fruit. Seeing the results, the young people started to get more involved.” – Mariana Bruma, the North regional facilitator.
The guest expert, Mr. Ruslan Stanga, presented a number of storytelling models, including Steve Clayton’s model (used by the head of storytelling at Microsoft): People, Place (circumstances), Images (what represents + amplifies the story), Personal (the heart of the author), and the Proper Platform.
Our young people say they liked it. We, the iRi team, are happy and fulfilled! 😄
Upon their return home, the young people will write their own success stories to be spread and promoted on social media, including the platforms of the Mayor’s Office and District Councils and especially the local/national media.
The activity is part of the project “IntegrAct GO: rural youth disseminate success stories in the youth sector”, implemented by the Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi) supported by the National Youth Agency within the Grant Program 2023, with contributions from the US Department of State through GLCAP.
You can see the photo album of the event on the Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi) Facebook page: