Action Club Projects for Young People aged 12 years and up


Needs and capabilities

Adolescence is a time of great change for all young people. The important thing here is that this change needs to be positive, and adolescence provides an opportunity for one of the richest periods of self development.

Puberty brings with it increased bodily awareness and strengthens the ego as we naturally become more aware of ourselves as a self, as distinct from others. It also brings with it the natural urge to test and strengthen the willpower. The opportunity here is for them to be guided to take their mind off themselves (particularly their body awareness) and use their willpower constructively and creatively on physical activities. For example, teaching them not to focus on what others may or may not think of them, but to learn that true greatness comes from keeping the mind off yourself and keeping it on supporting and drawing out the strengths of others and not their weaknesses.

Another crucial opportunity for positive self development in the lives of young people that is often overlooked and consequently wasted is that idealism and the need to overcome injustices, with a little encouragement, develops naturally above the age of twelve. Normally their idealism is sentimental rather than practical. At this time they also have a lot of energy and they need to channel it. They need something to do; they need a cause or causes. Through action clubs their idealism is channeled into practical, constructive actions that produce positive results. Indeed, doing good deeds without any expectation of personal reward encourages in them the natural self development of good character.

Adolescence is the time to learn and develop vital qualities in the pursuit of a happy and successful life such as self-control, self-reliance, positive thinking and unselfishness; whilst overcoming such weaknesses as fear of failure, negativity and apathy. (Failure needs to be viewed as a tool of learning. Once it is accepted and understood then it can be left in the past and the lessons learned from it can become a stepping stone to higher achievements)

To draw the best out of young people we need to project positive expectations onto them; allow them to make mistakes and learn from them; give them challenges and we need to try our best to be all the positive qualities we want them to develop. For example, an adult who is not always truthful themselves will not succeed in passing the quality of honesty onto young people. The environment of an action club really does make it a lot easier to provide all these needs successfully.

And can action clubs help teenagers who have already developed destructive behaviour and bad habits? Action clubs offer for them a vital lifeline. But it will take more effort, patience and most importantly faith in each young person's potential. Never accept their negative self-image. Their negativity is usually a sign of disillusionment because they have been deprived of such faith.

An excellent resource on stages of maturity for this age group can be found from Education for Life: Chapter 15: The Stages of Maturity & Chapter 18: The Willful Years. (The above information has been almost exclusively taken from this)

'There are no great things, only small things with great love. Happy are those.'

— Mother Teresa

Basic project ideas:

(Please note that some of the ideas link to articles written by people in specific countries often with their own country in mind. If you live in a different country and the core ideas are useful for your action club but some of the information provided is not relevant, then simply use http://www.google.com to find the corresponding information and resources for your country)


Environment
Special projects for action clubs in countries with disappearing rain forests and woodlands
Special projects for action clubs in countries with coral reefs
Special projects for action clubs in countries with mangrove forests
Special projects for action clubs in countries with disappearing wetlands
Special projects for action clubs in farming communities
Special projects for action clubs in countries with endangered marine mammals and their habitats
Advocacy
Bringing the community together
World peace projects
Seasonal projects
Practical hands-on work
Working with adults, young people and younger children in need
Special activities for action clubs in countries with severe poverty
Reducing global poverty
Working with younger children
Constructive problem solving in the community
Community health and safety
Special projects for action clubs in countries with obesity problems
Special projects for action clubs in cold countries where snow and ice form
Special projects for improving health in impoverished communities and countries
Working for and with animals


Environment

Run a 'No Junk Mail Please' campaign. Help local residents to put 'No Junk Mail Please' signs and stickers on their mail box. Give them information and assist them if necessary to get their names and addresses off junk mail lists

Run a campaign to encourage the community to use canvas bags instead of disposable plastic and paper bags. You can even sell canvas bags to the community if they don't already have them and use the profits for other worthwhile causes

Start a campaign to encourage and assist people to switch their ordinary incandescent light bulbs for energy efficient ones. (A very effective way of reducing your community's energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In the UK changing a 100W bulb for a £5 energy efficient bulb saves about £100 over its life time of 10,000 hours)

Run a general campaign to help local residents and businesses reduce their personal impact on global warming. (See also this link) For example, encourage local residents and businesses to turn off electronic appliances on standby mode. In the UK a typical household leaving one television on standby for 168 hours a week produces 16kgs (35lbs) of carbon dioxide

Start a campaign to encourage local authorities to investigate the dimming of street lights in your community or certain streets after midnight

Organise a campaign to help hotels, motels, hostels etc. in your area become environmentally friendly. Here is a separate link to some information the action club can provide them with as part of the campaign

	Run a 'Choose Natural Cleaning Products' campaign to help members of your local community to become aware of environmentally friendly but effective cleaning products that are also cheap to acquire
	Organise a campaign to help the members and the community to create green roofs layered with soil and plants on top of their homes, buildings and work places

Organise a campaign to help the community learn about eating more vegetarian meals to conserve natural resources and help reduce poverty in developing countries

Collect unwanted mobile phones and recycle them or pass them onto those who may need them for emergency purposes, for instance elderly people

Organise a campaign to help your community to conserve water. You can also help them to store rain water that would normally drain into storm water drains and be wasted. This can then be used to water gardens when water is scarce

	Tree Planting, creating gardens and planting flowers for the public's enjoyment or to bring colour and life to public areas that need it. (You may need to get the permission of the local authorities for this)
	Clearing and cleaning vacant lots and land that has been neglected and become an eyesore

Collecting litter especially from such places as river banks, parks and beaches. Anaylise its likely origins and causes and organise a campaign to keep the areas clean

	The removal of non-native plants and other invasive species that can threaten local nature habitats and wildlife parks
	Create a habitat for wildlife

Make biodiesel from waste vegetable oil which can be collected from local restaurants etc. Making biodiesel is fairly simple to make at home. You could also sell the biodiesel to fundraise for your other projects. (See also this link for making a mini-processor)

Organising composting projects for members' homes as well as campaigns to inform and help the local community set up the same. (See also this link)

'Compost through worm farming' campaign with a small-do-it-yourself worm farm. The advantage of this is that the waste is turned into a liquid which can be drained off and used as liquid fertiliser on gardens

	Organise a campaign to help people in your local community save money while producing less rubbish and recycling
	Run a 'Re-Use, Re-Fill and Re-Charge' campaign to help your local community reduce their waste contribution to the planet

Organise a recycling project for all members and the community

Organise a campaign to recycle computers and peripherals

	Organise a campaign to help your community to master the basics of plastics recycling
	Run a campaign to recirculate old and unused books

Organise a campaign to encourage local businesses to be more environmentally aware of what they can do; for example paper recycling

	Organise a cigarette butt clean-up campaign to educate people about the environmental damage caused by cigarette butts as well as encouraging the use of pocket ash trays
	Organise a campaign to stop mercury getting into the environment and wreaking havoc
	Organise a campaign to encourage car pooling in your community

Organise a campaign to reuse, recycle and retread used tyres

Run a campaign to collect unused furniture in your community for redistribution to people who can't afford to buy furniture

Help migrating birds recover from a continued decline in numbers because of human environmental destruction and lack of natural rest, recovery, feeding sites

	Help scientists to research, rescue, rehabilitate and protect endangered species in your local area
	Help scientists to conduct environmental research projects in your local area
	Help Park Rangers conserve the environment

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Special projects for action clubs in countries with disappearing rainforests and woodlands
(For example Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, Thailand, Australia to name but a few. These projects are vital as the adults concerned are far more likely to listen to and work with their own local young people, than community outsiders)

Find out all about your local rainforests and woodlands including what damage is being done to it and find out what needs to be done to protect and regenerate it. Then go and speak to local people who earn their living off it as well as parties who are responsible for damaging it and get them all together to educate them. Then get their cooperation so you can all work together to reforest and protect existing areas

Special projects for action clubs in countries with coral reefs (For example Indonesia, Australia, Egypt, Thailand, Belize to name but a few. These projects are vital as the adults concerned are far more likely to listen to and work with their own local young people, than community outsiders)

Find out all about your local reef including what damage is being done to it and find out what needs to be done to protect and regenerate it. Then go and speak to local people who earn their living off it as well as parties who are responsible for damaging it and get them all together to educate them and help them all work together to protect and regenerate the reef

Special projects for action clubs in countries with mangrove forests (For example India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, Ecuador, Brazil, Guatemala and Malaysia to name but a few. These projects are vital as the adults concerned are far more likely to listen to and work with their own local young people, than community outsiders)

Find out all about your local mangrove forest and what damage is being done to it and find out what needs to be done to protect and regenerate it. Then go and speak to local people who earn their living off it, as well as parties who are responsible for damaging it; for example shrimp farmers, charcoal collectors, loggers etc. and get them all together to educate them and help them all work together to protect and regenerate the forests

Special projects for action clubs in countries with disappearing wetlands (For example the US, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany, Estonia, Tunisia, Brazil, Mexico, Australia to name but a few. These projects are vital as the adults concerned are far more likely to listen to and work with their own local young people, than community outsiders.)

Find out all about your local wetlands including what damage is being done to them and find out what needs to be done to protect and regenerate them. Then go and speak to local people who live in them or earn their living off them as well as parties who are responsible for damaging the wet lands and get them all together to educate them. Then get their cooperation so you can all work together to regenerate and protect existing areas

Special projects for action clubs in farming communities

Run a campaign to educate and encourage local farmers toward sustainable organic farming

Special projects for action clubs in countries with endangered marine mammals and their habitats

Many species of sea turtles are endangered. A lot can be done to protect them and their habitat

Many species of dolphins face extinction because of human activities such as the use of drift-net fishing and pollutants that find their way into the water and them and destroy their habitat

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Advocacy (It is always the duty of strong people to stand up for weak and vulnerable people. All people go through stages in their life of being weak and vulnerable. For example, when they are very young, very old and when they are sick or injured or forced into a foreign environment)

Work with Amnesty International and get action club members to write letters and emails to stop individual political prisoners, human rights activists (and very often their families) from being imprisoned, tortured and executed. (See also this link)

	If you or the members of your club come across a serious injustice or a cause that needs to be brought to the public attention then write a letter or letters to the editor of your local newspaper or radio and television broadcaster
	If you or the members of your club come across a serious injustice or a cause that needs to be brought to your government's or community leader's attention then write a letter to them. Try to get the members to keep their emotions out of the letter by keeping the focus on the issue and not the person or persons responsible. Especially, try to offer constructive ideas or solutions to the problem that earns people's respect, good will, willing cooperation and friendship rather than trying to force their submission with angry words. Everyone makes mistakes and poor decisions at times, because human beings by nature are not perfect
	Start up a neighbourhood watch group to look out for the security and protection of the weak and vulnerable members of the community; for example, elderly people

Bringing the community together

Often when people move into a community where they don't know anyone, they can become isolated and lonely. One solution to this would be to use the action club as a welcoming commitee

'Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.'

— Mother Teresa

Organising and putting on plays and concerts for the community. This can give the members the opportunity to use their creativity; especially if they write the plays and determine what music will be played.

World peace projects
(To be successful spiritually as human beings we need to master of our emotions and not become enslaved by them. One who is the slave of fears, anger, hatred, greed, selfishness, ignorance, egoism and so on needs to overcome these enemies of inner peace by 'waging war' within. In that we learn to discern the truth in all situations and act wisely and skilfully. One who has attained emotional maturity can channel their emotions into constructive and skilful actions guided by wisdom and live happy, successful lives; even when the world around them is far from peaceful. For more information on this please feel free to contact us.

	Organise a world peace campaign against all violence, all hatred and all war
	Help the action club members learn how to actively overcome physical and verbal violence with soul force

'Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation.'

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

People in armies all over the world are often ordered to leave their own countries and risk being killed and maimed fighting offensive wars in foreign lands. (We are not in any way referring to defensive United Nations peace keeping missions mobilised to protect civilian populations). Wars often damage the mental health of those involved, especially if people are put in situations where they have to maim and kill other human beings. Organise a campaign using soul force to help persuade those responsible for offensive wars to bring soldiers safely back home to their families. Help families in your communities whose loved ones don't come back, or come back deeply scarred and traumatised. It is estimated that 18 veterans of all wars kill themselves every day, amounting to 6,500 a year. (See also this information.)

'Just as a man would not cherish living in a body other than his own, so do nations not like to live under other nations, however noble and great the latter may be.'

— Mahatma Gandhi

Organise a campaign against all countries having nuclear arms. Using nuclear weapons to defend any nation can only lead to the suicide of all humankind. Even their limited use would likely have a catastrophic effect on the world's climate. Their perceived usefulness as a deterrent is far outweighed by the consequent pressure put on other nations without nuclear arms to become armed to counter the threat of being bullied or attacked by other more powerful nuclear armed nations. This creates much unease throughout the world. Also, the voice of powerful nations against nuclear proliferation is rendered hypocritical and therefore weak if they themselves have or seek nuclear arms. Soul force can be the only weapon used to defend a nation if humankind is to avoid sowing the seeds of its own destruction

'Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.'

'It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.'

'The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.'

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Seasonal projects

Run a campaign to educate and encourage people to give environmentally conscious holiday gifts

Run a campaign in your community around holiday and festive times to prevent drink driving related accidents and deaths

Practical hands-on work

	Helping to put together emergency supply packages for disaster relief
	Help archeologists by assisting with excavation and restoration projects

Help low income families and homeless people build their own houses

Working with adults, young people and younger children in need

Working with elderly people, the sick and hungry, young people with learning disabilities (not adults) and other groups that offer the chance to further develop social interaction skills. For example, gardening, raking leaves, washing windows for a senior citizen etc.

'Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.'

— Mother Teresa

Organising and putting on plays and concerts for people in places where they don't get out much like care homes etc. This can give the members the opportunity to use their creativity; especially if they write the plays and determine what music will be played

Write letters for people who need some upliftment, support and encouragement. For example, widows and widowers, women in battered women refuges and homes, people in hospitals etc.

'Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.'

— Mother Teresa

Help victims of domestic violence who have fled to refuges. Most often they leave their homes in a hurry and leave all their possessions behind. They benefit immensely from care packages with basic items e.g. soap etc. Your action club could also write them letters of support and encouragement. Women in this situation often feel worthless and unloved. A warm letter of support and encouragement from young people who care can have a huge impact in aiding their recovery by helping them back onto their feet to start a new life

Help children in foster care develop a positive sense of identity

Start a campaign to encourage people in your community to become mentors and friends to foster care teenagers who reach adult age and have to leave their foster care home

Get your action club to help work with homeless children and young people who the members will easily be able to identify with

Start a campaign to recruit volunteers to go and help out at orphanages and clinics for orphaned and abandoned children in impoverished communities

Organise a campaign in your community to recruit volunteers to cuddle babies without parental care in orphanages, hospitals, nurseries etc.

Help younger school children with there homework as well as any other problems they may face growing up that the members faced when they were that age and know all about. (mentoring)

Help teach younger children living in slums whose parents are too poor to send them to school by teaching them to read and write

Collect school supplies for schools in impoverished communities

Collect toys to be given to underprivileged children and children in hospitals

Organise to collect colouring books and crayons for hospital emergency wards

Get together with elderly people in your community and knit teddy bears for orphans

Put together baby-supply-kits containing basic items such as reusable diapers and gentle soap for new born babies born into impoverished communities

Inform people in your community about autism and encourage them to volunteer to work with and inspire autistic children

Help to educate people in your community about deaf children so they may get a chance to lead a normal life and not be treated as dumb and useless social rejects

Help blind or visually impaired people; for example read books and / or newspapers to blind or visually impaired people and /or record it on tape for them to listen to when they like

Start a campaign to help educate people in your community to reduce any ignorance about homeless people to ensure they are helped back to their feet with dignity and not made into dependant beggars through pity

Organise a campaign to collect used clothes for redistribution to the needy

Organise a campaign to help food banks stay stocked

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Special activities for action clubs in countries with severe poverty

Start a campaign to recruit volunteers to go and help out at orphanages and clinics for orphaned and abandoned children in your community

Reducing global poverty

Start a campaign to inform local banks and credit unions how to use banking to end poverty in their community. To do this just give them a copy of this inspiring article. Ask them to reprint the article in their internal staff newsletter

Run a campaign to educate people about the true causes of world poverty. This way the help given to impoverished people, communities and nations can lead to much greater success because it is formed around a greater understanding of the driving forces of world poverty. (Click for more information and contacts)

'There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.'

'To deprive a man of his natural liberty and to deny to him the ordinary amenities of life is worse then starving the body; it is starvation of the soul, the dweller in the body.'

'Poverty is the worst form of violence.'

— Mahatma Gandhi

Working with younger children

Organise for your action club members to visit schools in your community to teach children to be kind to animals

Help set up and facilitate team sports for children and help them to develop the qualities of good sportsmanship

Help plan volunteer projects for members' birthdays and help them do the same for their brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces

Constructive problem solving in the community

Graffiti and vandalism usually disempowers the community by harming people's ability to take pride in their community. It often causes valuable community members to leave and draws gang culture and drug problems. Action clubs can do a lot to overcome this

Community health and safety

Organise a campaign to prevent bullying by introducing child mediation programs into schools in your community. (See also this link)

Organise a campaign to prevent cyber-bullying amongst children and young people

'If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.'

— Mahatma Gandhi

Run a campaign to show anti-violence videos in your local schools. Richard Attenborough's Film: Gandhi (1982) starring Ben Kingsley, is also recommended to get a visual reproduction of the great man’s use of non-violence to solve community and national problems.

Organise a campaign in your community to convince women who are the victims of domestic violence to get help

Run a campaign to prevent child abuse

Organise a campaign to prevent child abduction in your community

Run a campaign to get the 'Amber Alert' system introduced to your community and then spread awareness of it

Start a campaign to encourage local homeowners and businesses to offer their homes and premises as safe havens for children in case of emergencies

Organise a 'Walking School Bus' to allow young children to walk to school safely

Run a campaign to prevent teenage suicide. Also look to recruit at risk teens to your action club

Run a campaign to educate people about recognising the symptoms of strokes and how to act quickly

Organise a campaign in your community to help mothers infected with HIV/AIDS get proper prenatal care to prevent the virus being passed onto their newborn babies

Take your action club grocery shopping in your community for elderly people and sick people who may become malnourished without help

'Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.'

— Mahatma Gandhi

Run a campaign to encourage people to donate blood to save lives

Organise a campaign to encourage people in your community to consider becoming organ donors to save lives

Run a campaign to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning and deaths. Particularly vulnerable to this are the elderly and low income earners who have gas appliances that should be condemned and replaced, but they don't realize the threat these pose

Run a campaign to encourage new parents in your community to learn how to use baby car seats correctly (As many as 8 in 10 in the US are thought to get the proper use of these seats wrong)

Make emergency contact cards for people in your community so if they arrive in hospitals unconscious or unable to communicate, the hospital staff will know who they are, what their medical needs are and how to contact their loved ones

Start a campaign in your community to educate people about heart attacks and what signs will tell you someone is having one and what you can do

Get together with elderly people in your community and make home-made baby blankets. Better still run a campaign to get even more people involved

Run a campaign to recruit people in your community to go and volunteer to work with children with special needs at one or two week holiday camps

Run a campaign to encourage local businesses to consider employing adults with development disabilities

Run a campaign to collect all the unused eye glasses in your community for redistribution

Run a campaign to help children who have lost their hair by collecting hair to be made into special wigs for them

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Special projects for action clubs in countries with obesity problems (For example US, UK, Australia to name a few.)

Start a campaign to educate parents about the dangers of child obesity and how to prevent it

Take pressure of hospitals in your community and save lives by organising a basic health and nutrition campaign in your community. Young people and children will have more chance of being listened to than adults; as they have a right not to lose their parents and loved ones through preventable illnesses.

Special projects for action clubs in cold countries where snow and ice form

	Start a campaign to educate people about the dangers of antifreeze poisoning and how to prevent it
	Organise a campaign to help elderly people by shoveling snow

Special projects for improving health in impoverished communities and countries

Start a campaign to encourage medical doctors, dentists, optometrists, nurses, anesthetists, laboratory technicians, physical therapists, and sanitation engineers etc. to volunteer to work in impoverished communities. (See also this link)

Encourage local dentists and dental students to volunteer to improve the dental health of children in impoverished communities

Working for and with animals

Work at local animal shelters, dog walking, petting cats, playing with kittens and feeding animals. (Check with those who run the shelters first to find out about any health issues that may be of concern; for example, outbreaks of contagious illnesses)

Help to get cats and dogs at animal shelters adopted. (Click for more information on adopting dogs) (Click for more information on adopting cats)

Help get people in your community to foster new born kittens and take the pressure off over crowded animal shelters especially in spring and summer

	Take gentle natured animals to visit people in care homes etc. Or better still organise a campaign to get everyone in the community with friendly pets to participate. See also Pets as Therapy
	Create posters to help prevent animal cruelty to neglected chained dogs

'The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.'

— Mahatma Gandhi

Help to encourage local pet owners to get pet identification tags for their pets

Help lost dogs and cats get back home (Only for countries that are free from rabies)

Run a campaign to prevent cruelty to factory farm animals. Encouraging people to eat more vegetarian meals is the most effective answer to this. But a lot can be done to help non-vegetarians to help prevent cruelty to factory farm animals by choosing meat and dairy products from farms that take more care with their animals' welfare. (Click for more information and contacts)

Run a campaign to encourage consumers in your community to buy safe, cruelty free products

Organise a campaign to help inform retailers and shoppers in your communities how and why to avoid items made from real fur

Run a campaign to get pet owners to have their pet dogs and cats spayed or neutered. This reduces the need to put unwanted animals down. It also reduces the amount of animals left to live miserable lives on the streets until they die of cold, hunger, disease or worse

Help vets trap, neuter and return feral cats in your community

Make preparations to protect, save and rescue animals in your community if disaster strikes

Involve your action club in big cat rescue and care

Still stuck for ideas? Have a read of some of the real life projects young volunteers have taken on.

We need to grow our list above and to do this most effectively we need your help. If your action club serves a worthwhile cause we have not yet listed, please note down the step-by-step instructions you took as well as a description and email it to projects@oneworldonepeople.org. Please also feel free to include photos. We can then post your project on this website for other action clubs to take inspiration from and copy. That way your good idea can spread all over the world and make an even bigger difference.

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