Vi Behövs translates to We Are Needed, and works to strengthen youth as individuals and their sense of belonging to society. We believe that the basis for wanting to act in a crisis is empowerment and knowledge. It is our belief that we need the involvement of young people in crises in order to manage them successfully.
The goal of Vi Behövs is to empower youth with leadership skills, team work and knowledge about crisis preparedness in order to increase the strength of the civil preparedness in Sweden.
People between 16-24 years of age who want to create a safer society are welcome to join the training which lasts up to six months and we especially seek out young people who experience a high threshold to get involved in existing platforms that deal with crisis preparedness.
How we work
We are convinced that the feeling of participation and belonging to society is a protective factor to prevent young people turning to destructive environments. Democracy is based on individuals in society feeling that they have the opportunity to influence, that society is as much theirs as anyone else’s. If you feel part of society, you are also inclined to protect it. However, problems arise when everyone does not feel listened to or included. If you feel that you don’t count in society, the motivation to protect it decreases.
Vi Behövs is divided into three stages, based on Fryshuset’s model for youth participation which aims to increase the individual’s protective factors and increase the feeling of empowerment in bringing about change.
These three steps are all important because it is together that they enable the movement of young people in order to be able to participate as a resource in a crisis and get involved in the issue of society’s preparedness. Based on the model, we have built a structure that enables local and national involvement when it comes to crisis preparedness.