“Sometimes, many times, crazy ideas solve social problems”

Last Saturday, June 3, Jovesólides gave a workshop at the Youth Training Center of Alfafar. The main objective was for the young attendees to discover social entrepreneurship, other ways of thinking, other ways of doing… in short, keys to encourage youth participation and their social commitment to the world in which they live. A lot for a limited time of two hours, but enough to ”awaken the desire for more.”

This workshop was held within a course that currently develops the youth center of the Valencian town, under the title ‘Participation: initiatives, associations and social entrepreneurship’. An opportunity to discover, learn and share from the community, and at the same time to promote and strengthen a social activism of the younger generations.

Isabel Quiles, one of the participants in the day highlights it as very important “to call the union of young people.” This psychologist points out that her main interest in attending this type of training is because she wants to participate in change. “Collaborate with my community, and give solutions, especially to issues unfortunately linked to youth, such as unemployment.”

In the workshop, characterized by intense dynamism and practicality, all the voices of the attendees were collected. ”All ideas count,” continues Jorge Galán, Project Technician of Jovesólides, as he progresses in his exhibition. “Because from every idea we learn, and it can be transformative of a reality that we want to improve.” Galán insists, “sometimes, many times, crazy ideas solve social problems.”

For two hours communication, creativity and constant interaction are the best accompaniment to draw a common language and thus be able to reach agreements, something that attendees achieve for example, through the technical visual of prototyping. This, among others, does not prevent time from being consumed, but it passes productively. “I loved it because it is a guided training, but not directed. They don’t tell you what to think, you decide what to think,” says Anabel Mariano, a teacher by profession.

Anabel, who is also Coordinator of the Alfafar Youth Project, points out that for her this is a perfect formula to face social problems, such as school absenteeism, one of the most worrying in the town. “The system does not encourage creativity, and therefore it is necessary to find new ways”, underlines her colleague, Isabel Quiles.

The training comes to an end, but it seems that the concept of social entrepreneurship sounds closer to them, is more attractive, they observe its usefulness and does not seem too complex to apply. After the surprise, they have discovered or rediscovered that this statement of “how could it be otherwise,” is not so. From now on they know that it can always be otherwise. A perfect example to illustrate this is the Cateura Orchestra, in Parguay.

 

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