Youth exchange on democracy and sustainable survival skills
What does it really mean to decide together? Young people from four countries found out that democracy is not abstract: it starts with every individual choice.
Why
Inspired by survival scenarios and democratic principles, Survive and Decide used crisis management, problem-solving and intercultural dialogue to show that cooperation, critical thinking and empathy are as vital to survival as they are to democracy.
What happened
- Democracy in daily life: the group took real decisions together, with proposals, debate, voting or consent, and review.
- Shared governance: rotating roles gave everyone a turn at responsibility, representation and accountability.
- Sustainable survival skills: water, food, hygiene and shelter with a low impact, including building and cooking on a rocket stove.
- Real trade-offs: comfort against impact, speed against quality, individual wishes against the good of the group.
- Building together: furniture made from old pallets, cooperative games, and a visit to a historical reenactment in the town.
- Cultural nights, language exchange and daily reflection, documented in the participants’ own logbooks and Youthpass.
To prepare the exchange, the group leaders met at La Buona Terra in April 2026 for a planning visit, where they tested activities and built the programme together.
Results
- Practical experience of making decisions as a group, and of using shared resources such as water responsibly.
- Participants rated their satisfaction with their own participation 8.5 out of 10 (34 responses); they gave the highest learning score to other cultures (8.0 out of 10).
