The winners of the youth risk communications challenge have been selected

The Youth Risk Communications Challenge - “Participatory communication tools: understanding risk among the most vulnerable” - was an open consultative activity for adolescents and youth (15-24 years old) in Europe and Central Asia. It was co-organized by UNDRR, UNICEF and WHO Europe ahead of the Europe and Central Asia Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2024 (RP2024) in August – September 2024. The objectives were:

1. To support adolescent and youth engagement in DRR across Europe and Central Asia with the focus on disaster risk communication challenges.
2. To promote youth leadership in implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the EFDRR Roadmap 2021-2030.
3. To activate the youth network in Europe and Central Asia to create innovative, participatory and inclusive solutions to risk communication issues.

Interested youths were invited to submit practical, cost-effective, innovative and inclusive proposals that responded to the theme of the challenge. The call to participate was disseminated across the co-organizing partners’ networks, sub-regional entities (Council of Baltic Sea States, Council of Europe, European Commission), youth networks (UN  Major Group for Children and Youth, Erasmus+ school network) and youth organisations.  42 youths from 13 countries in the region registered for the open online consultation with the organising partners that took place on 12 September 2024. The consultation provided an opportunity to familiarise the participants with the theme of the challenge, the evaluation criteria, as well as the wider Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and EFDRR Roadmap 2021-2030. The consultation was attended by 22 youths. The review commission received 6 proposals by the deadline of 22 September 2024.

5 proposals from Uzbekistan, Sweden, Council of the Baltic Sea States - Germany, Lithuania and Greece were deemed eligible for evaluation. Two of the proposals came from schools (Greece and Lithuania) and three from youth networks (Youth4DRR, Baltic Sea Region Youth Forum, Tashkent Model United Nations Society). The participants in the challenge were 15 – 24 years old.

After the review process, the final ranking is as follows:

1. Early Warning and Information Systems, Lithuania 
2. Unregulated Urban Expansion Risk Communication, Uzbekistan
3. DISMIS - Open Data Platform for the Prevention of Disinformation, Baltic Sea Region Youth Forum (BSRYF)
4. Weathering the Crisis: Youth-led Preparedness for Heat Risks Toolkit, Sweden
5. Youth in Climate Crisis, Greece

As a prize, two winning team members from Lithuania received stipends to attend the RP2024 on 6 – 8 November, 2024 in Budva, Montenegro.

Winning proposal: Early Warning and Information Systems

Klaipėda Varpas gymnasium, Lithuania
Nojus Dvarijonas and Domas Miežetis

The team proposed an early warning and information system for Klaipėda municipality responding to the existing limited access and display of information relating to the civil evacuation routes. Their solution improves city safety and risk preparedness as it integrates Google maps application features and creates a dedicated website that would display emergency evacuation routes and shelter locations. At-risk areas would be marked corresponding to different disasters they are more prone to, i.e. floods or fires. The proposed solution focuses on improving the risk understanding among the elderly and people with disabilities, but remains inclusive to all of society. The proposal aims to strengthen awareness of disaster risk and ensure preparedness by improving access to relevant disaster risk information. It supports achieving the Sendai Framework targets of lowering the number of people affected and injured by disasters (target B) as well as putting in place strategies for disaster risk reduction (target E).

Visit the proposal here

Unregulated Urban Expansion Risk Communication

Tashkent Model United Nations Society, Uzbekistan
Meyirbek Abdikadirov, Saidamirxon Shukurov, Ruxshona O'ralova, Imran Tursunov, Nurbek Abdumajitov

The team put forward a solution to Uzbekistan's rapid urbanisation, which impacts all residents, especially children, adults, and particularly people with respiratory conditions. It is an interactive and democratic online platform for citizens to stay informed and weigh in on the upcoming construction projects. Responding to the current urbanisation process as a major cause of the country's deforestation, destruction of historical sites, and forced evictions, the solution is national in scope. The idea aims to foster responsible urban development and promote active community participation in the process. The information available via the participatory platform would outline potential project risks and compensation strategies. The platform would involve young people in raising awareness and educating older residents.

Visit the proposal here

DISMIS - Open Data Platform for the Prevention of Disinformation

Baltic Sea Region Youth Forum (BSRYF)
Silva Laure, Simona Jakaitė, Elias Arndt

DIMIS is presented as an open-source platform that targets the surge of disinformation, populism, and propaganda on the internet. It is a grassroots-level, open data platform, built with community-based problem-solving in mind to combat misinformation on the internet. It would be available to all, and users could supplement suspicious or out-of-context posts with additional information and quality sources to provide others with more context for the information. It is a global tool, covering all issues that significantly impact risk communication in areas like health, environment, and crises. Users would actively engage, and fact check information on the platform, identifying misinformation or disinformation where relevant.

Visit the proposal here

Weathering the Crisis: Youth-Led Preparedness for Heat Risks Toolkit

Youth for Disaster Risk Reduction (Youth4DRR), Sweden
Shilei Li

Weathering the Crisis: Youth-Led Preparedness for Heat Risks is a risk communication toolkit designed to help youth organisations protect the elderly population from the health risks caused by summer heatwaves. As rising temperature and extreme weather events strike Europe and Central Asia, especially older people are more highly susceptible to heat-related illnesses and could lack the awareness or resources to stay safe. The toolkit would target youth as community leaders to bridge this gap. Youths would create infographics and tutorials that could offer clear instructions on emergency preparedness such as recognizing heat stroke symptoms and ways to seek help during emergency events. By facilitating intergenerational collaboration, this toolkit would empower youth to play an active role in preparing their communities, ensuring that vulnerable groups are better informed and protected during heatwaves.

Visit the proposal here

Youth in climate crisis

5th General Upper - Secondary School of Karditsa, Greece
Charalampos Sakellaropoylos, Giannoula Diakou, Alexandros Tsatsaronis, Maria Violeta Bakarou, Evangelia Tatsiou

The team created a short video to actualize the climate crisis for youths. The video connects youth interests of music, festivals and concerts with increasing disaster risk, which negatively affects their freedoms. Specifically, it illustrates how certain natural hazards, such as floods, wildfires etc. affect young people’s lives by causing the cancellation of their favourite concerts. The video aims to increase disaster risk awareness amongst youths and to promote a better understanding of how risks impact daily lives.