Young Leaders Programme. Module IV. 14 December

The final part of the Young Leaders Programme 2009 was Module 4, the Community Service Projects presented to the Aspen Romania General Assembly and Guests. The module is an exercise to be carried out by participants over the year involving the identification, design and implementation of a community service project which will illustrate the participant's talent for creativity, persuasion, planning, delivery, team-working and overall leadership.

Young Leaders Community Service Projects - brief presentation:

One World Movie Clubs: documentary movie clubs in highschools with follow-up in a debate system on various topics: European integration ("where europe ends"), Roma people issues, environment, HIV-AIDS, domestic violence, human trafficking, migration, racism or freedom of speech.

Rebuilding Bridges: Enhancing Cooperation and Support for Latin-Alphabet Teaching Schools in Breakaway Region of Transnistria: it aims to improve the standards of education in the 8 schools left in the breakaway region of Transnistria that are still using Latin alphabet and still teaching the Romanian language, in terms of human resources (teachers training, students exchange, student participation in informal learning activities) and material base (campaign for book donations: Romanian and foreign languages books, the most needed according to our local partner).

Legal Aid Center for Moldovan Women Migrants in Italy: This project proposal foresees the establishment of a centre for assisting Moldovan migrants, specifically women and children, in Italy on legal issues they have in the host country (Italy and also in their home country (Moldova) providing them free legal counselling and defending their human rights. The centre will be established in Rome. Two lawyers, one Moldovan and one Italian will deliver legal assistance for the whole duration of the project to women Moldovan migrants in Italy personally, via telephone and via e-mail. The Italian lawyer will deliver legal counselling on legal issues encountered by Moldovan migrants in Italy according to the Italian legislation and the Moldovan one on their legal problems in Moldova according to Moldovan legislation, also connecting the Moldovan migrants with the relevant competent institutions and organizations in Italy and Moldova.

The Champions' Road: the project provides today's Romanian high school students with role models that have successful life stories. We call these persons "champions" as they have the values that make a person succeed. "Drumul Campionilor" aims to introduce 1000 Romanian high-school students per year, to representatives from: government, business, politics, and the civil society. Our mission is to motivate students to aspire to leadership in their desired careers by providing them with examples of success. We want each student to discover the three qualities of a champion: self-confidence, responsibility and perseverance.

The European Olympics: the purpose of this project is to build a European political culture and a sense of awareness on European citizenship among young Romanians. During a series of trainings lasting throughout the school year, we will disseminate among high school students relevant information on the European Union, going beyond historical or technical details. We want to tell young students why they should care that they are part of the European Union and how being European citizens is of use to them in their lives.
During the first year of the project, we hold a series of 5-6 trainings in 6 high schools in Cluj county (2 in Turda and 4 in Cluj-Napoca). In each high school, a group of 15-25 students has been selected. Also, on 8-9 May 2010, on Europe Day, we organize the European Olympics, a two day event gathering the best 50 students involved in the project throughout the year. As prizes for this competition, we plan to give free trips to the European Parliament HQ in Bruxelles, with the help of several Romanian MEP's.