AYUNTAMIENTO DE BORRIOL
Plaça de la Font, 17, 12190 Borriol, Spain
A practice of processes and methods
Citizen participation activities, led by young people, mainly as drivers of change through awareness and visibility of the SDGs applied to the local sphere, culminated in two significant products for the viability and sustainability of the project itself over time: by On the one hand, a “Route of the SDGs”, in whose design the young people have participated; on the other, an “Open Classroom for the SDGs”, a meeting and exchange space focused on the SDGs, from innovation, incorporating virtual reality, app or even the metaverse into the project as a tool to raise awareness of the 2030 Agenda. We seek to apply the SDGs at the local level, participation and the creation of a group in the community that aims to drive action for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Implement information, training and awareness actions on the SDGs by identifying them in a concrete and real community space.
Promote youth participation in the creation of an “SDG Route” in the municipality of Borriol. Promote the development and continuity of a space called the open classroom for participation under the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.
CREATION AND MATERIALIZATION OF SDG LEARNING SPACES: PATH AND OPEN CLASSROOM – Know the territory and its main points of interest for the implementation of the project. – Coordinate with the team of students and university professors from the areas involved in achieving the project. -Project the route/open classroom using virtual reality or the generation of an application of the route, in short, a digital platform to inform, raise awareness and involve Borriolense society in each of the goals linked to each objective. VISIBILITY ACTIONS AND RETURN TO THE COMMUNITY OF THE WORK DONE – Make visible that all the spaces that are available in the municipality and its urban centers can be used as community and cultural spaces for the development of youth participation. – Make the initiative and main results visible on university and/or municipal social networks. – COLLABORATIVE CONSTRUCTION – Build the digital platform or virtual reality application and application for use by community partners through virtual reality glasses and other technological tools, as an approach to experiences from the metaverse. – Training, information, awareness and communication actions to increase the knowledge of citizens and key multiplier agents for the implementation of actions on the SDGs in our local environment. – Closing awareness days of the “Borriol, path towards the SDGs” project.
Borriol is a growing town whose youth population is 20%, according to the Diagnostic Report of the Borriol Youth Plan. This report also indicates that in recent years a rejuvenation of the population has been observed (growth of 6% in 2021 and 8% in 2022 in young women and 4% in 2021 and 7% in 2022 in young men ). Added to this analysis is the ratio of the total child and youth population (0-29 years) to the total population of Borriol, which exceeds 30%. Given the relevance of the presence of the children and youth population in Borriol, we have decided to focus this project on them, because we believe that, as long as they are provided with the necessary skills and opportunities to develop their potential, youth can be a support force for development, and to contribute to peace and security. Youth-led organizations need to be encouraged and empowered to participate in the implementation of public policies with an SDG vision, especially locally, of the 2030 Agenda. They play a significant role in the implementation, monitoring and review of the Agenda 2030, a great role in the implementation of Agenda 2030 and the SDGs at the local and community level, as they are critical thinkers, agents of change, innovators, communicators and leaders. Thus, the target population of the project consists of: – Children and youth of the municipality of Borriol, mainly. – Young people from the university community linked to the thematic areas of the project, mainly – Design of open spaces and Sustainability and New Technologies or Information and Communication Technologies. – Key agents of the reference community in Sustainability and Designs of urban and virtual spaces. – Indirect recipients: the rest of the Borriol community and the rest of the community with an interest in information, training and awareness on the 2030 Agenda and SDGs. The objective of working with our target population is APS, “learning by giving back to the community, a service.” Encourage and promote the autonomy of youth as a universal principle for adolescents and young people in Borriol, that is, develop the necessary tools and resources so that adolescents and young people can enhance their autonomy (emancipation), their ability to participate (transformation), its fullness (well-being) and the recognition of its own leisure, cultural and social space (territory), and having as transversal axes access to information, the importance of communication and the achievement of sustainability framed in the 2030 Agenda.
There are three methodological pillars in which our proposal for action is framed, all of them participatory. Participatory Action Research is a method in which two processes participate and coexist: knowing and acting. Therefore, it helps social actors know, analyze and better understand the reality in which they are immersed, their problems, needs, resources, capabilities, potential and limitations. Knowledge of this reality allows them, in addition to reflecting, planning and executing actions aimed at significant improvements and transformations of those aspects that require changes. Therefore, it favors awareness, the assumption of concrete and timely actions, empowerment, collective mobilization and the consequent transformative action, actions necessary to achieve the objectives. Augmented/virtual reality, digital applications and, if possible, the metaverse provide us with the wealth of information and knowledge to implement the indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals and other goals. Service-learning (APS) is an active and participatory methodology that allows combining social commitment with the effective learning of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values: learning to be competent while being useful to others, agents of change aware of their responsibility.
Core principles of youth work