Motivating Young People to Engage in Global Development

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Projects funded by the EU’s Development Education and Awareness Programme considered how to motive young people to act and participate in global development at a learning and development hub in Sofia, Bulgaria on 2 and 3 April.

The two-day event kicked off with a presentation from Dr Momodou Sallah, Reader in Globalisation and Youth Work from the UK’s De Montfort University. Dr Sallah challenged representatives of four DEAR projects from across the European Union to look beyond campaigning to appreciate the full potential of development education and affect positive change.

“So what is global development education?” asked Dr Sallah, “It’s education that opens people’s eyes and minds to the globalised world. It’s how we support them to take action to make a difference.”

Development education can spur young people to engage and participate in global development. But to do that, projects that want to boost youth activism have to understand the global and local influences that motivate their young target audiences.

“Is your target audience motivated by power? “asked Dr Sallah, “Or their desire to confirm? Perhaps they want to impress their peers? Understanding these motivations is an important first step.”

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Opening people’s eyes to poverty, lack of access to drinking water or infant mortality rates may motivate an audience to put their hand in their pocket and fund a project. But to drive action and participation that goes beyond giving requires greater understanding of people’s motivations values.

“Global education is a simple, but very complex thing – as if we are using it to bring about change then we have to understand it,” said Dr Sallah. “We have to get people to invite us into their lives, so that we can see how they see the world and what their values are. Only then can we work with them to make positive impact.”

The report on the Hub can be found here.

Two presentations from the event were live-streamed and are available to watch in full here, alternately excerpts can be watched below:

‘Engaging Young People in Global Issues’ - Critical Conscience vs. Awareness Raising 

'Global Youth Work: Making it Real?' A Global Education Approach

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