Consultancy program developed by the University of Montevideo (Uruguay) on communication for sustainable development, between Communication undergraduate students and members of environmental youth organizations in Uruguay.
This is an academic enterprise aimed primarily at developing a knowledge exchange between youngsters and the strengthening of youth organizations to help accomplish national goals of sustainable development. Therefore, the target groups are, one one hand, advanced students of Communication and Media Studies, and, on the other hand, environmental youth organizations. In March 2021, a national call for organizations was conducted by the Faculty of Communication of the University of Montevideo along with the National Institute for Youth (Ministry of Social Development), with the support of the Ministry of Environment and UNICEF. As a result, 8 organizations were selected to take part in the project. During the first academic semester of the Southern Hemisphere (March – June 2021), teams of students of the subject ” work with different environmental organizations in order to improve their communication strategies and contents. Along with general communication strategies and communication for development strategies, the modules focused afterwards on Social Marketing or Behavior Change Communications, relations with the press and with public decision makers. We use class time and homework activities, adapted to virtuality. The planned exchange involves non formal interactions and also research activities aimed at creating knowledge about youth environmental activism and their communications, which will be analyzed by professors supervising the project and reported to the allied institutions in order to inform policies.