The PRAIS team has created and developed 15 national social marketing projects that have positively affected, over 16 years, large communities, promoting knowledge-based progress, access to education, personal development and culture of the younger generation, care for environment, moral values and ethics. Branding specialization, implementation methodologies, and high degree of partner loyalty have been the attributes that lead to the success of these national programs.
<< We chose to be “cultural creatives,” as defined by sociologist Paul H. Ray. Our motivation is related to the positive social impact of the projects we initiate. A specialization, a niche? Rather, a vocation, because we think differently than figures, always about THEM, not about us. And when we won the IPRA Golden World Award and the Grand Prize in Tokyo, we understood that we must continue”, said Silvia Bucur, President of the PRAIS Foundation.
The story “We are the younger generation!”
More than a year ago, we created a new community-based social marketing project that addresses an important social cause: adolescents’ well-being. The project “We are the young generation!” is an initiative of the PRAIS Foundation team, which started from a UNICEF report from 2013, according to which Romania is the last in Europe in terms of the well-being of young people.
The project was made possible by the grant from the Coca-Cola Foundation organized in its annual community-based project selection, as well as by the local team of Coca-Cola Romania, which supported us in this project.
Our objectives in the first edition were to promote talent, creativity, high school initiatives, valorization of individual potential, diversity, creation of expressive spaces both in lyceums and virtual for each participant. Direct interaction with thousands of young people was designed to stimulate their well-being. The integrated social media platform www.tanarageneratie.ro, which we created, is the place where the teenagers were visible and valued day by day.
In the sphere of visual arts, graphics and objects, teenagers have impressed us both at the competition organized at the Nicolae Tonitza High School of Fine Arts and in the creative workshops where they performed works with full of force, modern, courageous and high-intensity paint brushes. The exhibitions and prizes marked their achievements.
Talents of 10!
The “Best Flashmob” contest has boosted the ability of high school students, their creativity in making stories, choreography, filmmaking and montage that have exceeded all expectations. Remarkable is their ability to mobilize with talent on topics of interest, to integrate their colleagues without making any difference, inclusion and diversity being celebrated in all their films. The fact that they had to promote their film on the FB homepage of the @tanarageneratie project, has shown us that, naturally, without schools and specializations, the teenagers know how to do it. There were enough elements that have convinced us that the future creative people are already among us, they only need the scenes on which to perform!
We communicated with high-school students through the itinerant conferences “The state of well-being of the younger generation. Today for tomorrow!”, inviting artists, sociologists, psychologists, Olympic champions, managers, teachers. Through storytelling, we’ve managed to break through any barriers. Authentic life stories, dialogue with young people have transformed the conferences into ample debates and inspirational ideas.
In the first edition, the PRAIS Foundation developed the project in high schools from 14 cities such as: Bucharest, Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Brasov, Fagaras, Ploiesti, Roman, through activations, itinerant conferences, debates, contests and dissemination of informational materials.
What are the components of the well-being of adolescents?
The survey, which we made in high schools in Bucharest and Iasi, highlighted the importance that high-school students give to good relationships, teamwork, friends, music and traveling for their well-being. At the same time, from the discussions with them, we noticed the desire to be listened, understood, valued, respected and treated as adults. A teenager aware of his or her emotions, behavior and resources, who has self-respect and respect for others, who understands and aligns to moral values, will have better outcomes in school and career, will be creative and will develops harmonious relationships with others.