Mobilising youth in Romania for climate action

As a passionate advocate for nature and the outdoors, Bianca Iloaia, a Scout from Romania, is leading efforts to raise awareness on climate change and sustainability within her Scout group and local communities.

For Bianca, protecting the environment is a core element of Scouting that goes hand-in-hand with her goal of building a network of young environmental advocates who lead by example and inspire their communities to take simple and immediate actions to collectively reduce the impacts of climate change.

It all started when Bianca realised that young people in Romania had limited awareness and understanding of climate change, and that schools did little to promote subjects such as sustainable development. Concerned that climate change conversations were only happening at the organizational level and not by young people in her community, she started an awareness campaign within her Scout group.

“I am driven by providing solutions, especially when I see how our environment is being impacted by our behaviour. I want to educate youth about this, because I believe in their power to create change,” Bianca said.

Simple actions for a more sustainable home

Bianca’s vision is for Scouts to become ambassadors for environmental awareness among young people in Romania. For this to happen, she sees education and training as a vital first step.

At Scout camps held in the summer months, Bianca and her local Scout group organised fun activities for participants that supported environmental education and complemented other outdoor activities. They used informative and educational materials like flashcards on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), campfire discussions on environmental sustainability, and TEDTalk-style sessions to inspire Scouts to share their experiences and visions around improving their communities.

“We included teachings about consuming local products, using water wisely, recycling, food composting, and plastic pollution We also applied eco-friendly practices at the camps to lead by example and allow the participants to see that these were very simple actions that they can take home,” Bianca explained.

Bianca and her Scout group also emphasised the importance of getting their peers involved by spreading knowledge and supporting environmental actions among their family and friends. Collective action, they explained, would amplify any success towards achieving a healthier and more sustainable planet.

Social media for impact

Thanks to the introduction of an environmental campaign on social media, their efforts were able to reach and mobilise more young people using exciting challenges, infographics, and other interactive methods. The group also organised monthly hikes and promoted on social media to encourage young people to spend more time in nature.

“Getting Scouts involved was easy because Scouts already care about nature and our environment. The challenge was bringing our campaign to youth outside of Scouting,” Bianca added.

But like many large projects, unexpected challenges tested the team’s resilience. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and nation-wide movement restrictions, the team quickly adapted their initiative for online use and placed more focus on changes to behaviour and home habits, including gardening, recycling, and energy saving.

Looking to make an even greater impact, Bianca said that she recently received funding to further expand her project.

“We applied for some funding three times before our project finally got approved. Despite the [earlier] rejections, we didn’t want to give up, so we found people to help us with proposal writing and to train us on project management to make us eligible for the grant,” Bianca said.

Contributing to the SDGs

Climate action solutions and environmental protection are a key feature of the 17 SDGs, including goal 13 on making necessary changes to protect the planet through education, innovation and adherence to global climate commitments. Like Bianca’s Scout group, taking urgent action contributes to combatting climate change and reversing its catastrophic impact.

Bianca and her young team of environmental champions reached over 200 young people in Romania through their campaigns and training, inspiring young people and their families to adopt new behaviours inside and outside their homes.

Bianca’s leadership and her group’s inspiring efforts led to her being named a Messenger of Peace Hero in 2021, recognised by her National Scout Organization (NSOs) and World Scouting for her initiative towards her community. The award recognises the service and actions of young people across five categories related to the SDGs: environment, peace building, life skills, health and well-being, and COVID-19 response.

“To me, peace building means listening to the voices of young people and supporting them to become ambassadors for good; to do good to themselves, others and their planet. The Messengers of Peace award is our message to young people, to continue leading peace and to always believe in positive change,” reflected Bianca.

Messengers of Peace connects young peace builders together in a global network and inspires them to play leadership roles and become active citizens in their communities. Since 2010, the initiative has involved nearly all 172 NSOs and empowered Scouts to lead more than 16 million community development projects, delivering over 2.5 billion hours of service towards the SDGs.

Bianca has since become a project manager at her NSO and remains active in her local Scout group as they strengthen their projects around the SDGs and empower young people to play a leading role in sustainable development.