By Joelita Rocha

Girawa is proud to announce the launch of its “Youth Club Project”, starting in Lins, Condor and Taubaté city in Brazil.  It aims to contribute to building the Planetary Health Next Generation Network, through providing support to the Planetary Health Ambassadors interested in implementing a Youth Club in their local communities for youth aged between 11 and 18 years. It began as a pilot project in February 2023.

The Girawa team works to support six (6) Ambassadors  providing  mentoring and teaching materials to implement the Youth Clubs:

• Five (5) Ambassadors belong to the Brazilian Planetary Health Ambassadors Program of the Planetary Health Brazil Group linked to the Advanced Studies institute of São Paulo University (GSP-IEA-USP);

•  One (1)  Ambassador belongs to the Planetary Health Campus Ambassador Program (PHCAs) the Planetary Health Alliance (PHA) based at Harvard T.H.

Mentoring is carried out through online meetings once a month,  messaging platforms and  shared documents online. The Ambassadors are mentored to:

• Coordinate the Youth Club activities;
• Promote workshops to the youth with the educational materials and resources provided by the Girawa Team;
• Motivate the youth to engage in actions that contribute to human and environmental health, wellbeing and peace;
• Motivate the youth to create and manage their social media – Instagram, Facebook and YouTube to post their activities;
• Motivate the youth to create digital Magazine-like “Fanzines” with articles about their activities;
• Motivate  the youth to participate in Girawa meetings to connect with others Clubs, share their experiences and ideas;
• Write monthly releases to the Girawa Team about the activities developed.

The educational materials provided to the Ambassadors are used in activities with the youth and have 5 modules. They are delivered as powerpoint presentations and shared online. Each of these modules also included suggested practical activities at the end of each class to reinforce the theory that had been learned by students.  The 5 modules cover the following topics: Mental health – Nutrition – Air pollution – Climate change – Vaccines.

First Semester 2023

Started with three Youth Clubs led by three Ambassadors:

1. Lins Youth Club 

Member- age:

• Emilly Grazielly de Paula Pereira -16;
• Marina Lima Carvalho -16;
• Letícia Vitória Gomes Valentim- 16;
• Vasmila Andrade Alexandria -11;
• Maria Luisa Rocha Lima-13;
• Victor Hugo Vieira dos Santos – 15;

Ambassadors – Affiliation:

•  Joelita Palmeira  Rocha and Maria Eduarda Palmieri Sakamoto – Center University Lins – UNILINS, São Paulo

2. Condor Youth Club

Members – age:

• Rafaela Cristina Monteiro – 16;
• Pedro Samuel Feliciano Zakevicius – 16;
• Eliza Toledo Marcondes – 16;

Ambassadors – Affilliation

• Aline Cristiane Monteiro de Oliveira – Universidade  Fatec Jacarei, São Paulo

3. Brazil Youth Club: The Brazil Youth Club aims to connect all clubs implemented in Brazil by the Ambassadors. 

Members – age:

• Emilly Grazielly de Paula Pereira -16;
• Marina Lima Carvalho – 16;
• Letícia Vitória Gomes Valentim- 16;
• Vasmila Andrade Alexandria.11
• Rafaela Cristina Monteiro, 16;
• Pedro Samuel Feliciano Zakevicius – 16;
• Eliza Toledo Marcondes – 16

Ambassadors – Affiliation

• Joelita Palmeira  Rocha and Maria Eduarda Palmieri Sakamoto – Center University Lins – UNILINS, São Paulo;
• Aline Cristiane Monteiro de Oliveira – Universidade  Fatec University  Jacarei, São Paulo

Social media:

• https://instagram.com/csplins?igshid=MmIzYWVlNDQ5Yg==
• https://www.youtube.com/@cspbrasil

Ongoing efforts to launch

We expect that through the volunteering work of the Girawa team and the supporters, the network will:

• Provide mentoring and teaching material for three more Ambassadors to implement three more Clubs until December 2023;
• Contribute articles for Girawa magazines and other forms of media where will publish articles about activities in order to mobilise and encourage other students about Planetary Health issues;
• Create the Youth Club Project guidelines in order to launch further Youth Clubs globally in 2024  from the result and the experience of the Brazil Youth Clubs implemented in 2023.

Take a look below at images and videos from the Youth Club activities in Lins, Condor and Taubate in Brazil!