Today we became young community researchers.
Our challenge was to communicate directly with local people and listen to their perspectives about Smolyan, young people, community life and opportunities for participation.
At first, approaching strangers felt uncomfortable.
You never know whether somebody will have time to answer.
But after the first few conversations, the experience became much easier.
We worked in international teams, asked questions, listened and compared different answers.
Some conversations were short.
Others unexpectedly became much deeper.
We heard different opinions about what people appreciate about Smolyan and what they believe could improve.
The activity reminded us of something important:
When we speak about community development, we should not start by assuming that we already know what everyone needs.
We have to listen first.
This is also an important principle of youth participation.
Young people often say:
“Nobody listens to us.”
Today we realised that active citizenship also requires us to become good listeners.
We discussed youth opportunities, Erasmus+, non-formal education and participation.
For some local people, seeing a group of young Bulgarians, Romanians and Greeks carrying out activities in Smolyan was itself a conversation starter.
That made us understand another impact of international mobility.
An Erasmus+ project does not affect only its official participants.
When activities move into the community, local people see international cooperation happening in front of them.
Europe suddenly becomes much more concrete.
After returning to the group, we compared our observations.
There was no single answer to the question “What does Smolyan need?”
And that is probably exactly the point.
Communities are complex.
Different people have different priorities.
The role of active citizens is not to find one magical solution.
It is to create spaces where people can communicate, participate and work together.
Today we practised exactly that.
Disclaimer: Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the competent programme authorities. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.