Capitalizing on his own experience, Jerónimo’s idea is to deeply change the perception and actions of citizen commitment to something attractive and “cool.” To pioneer a fun and trendy approach to changemaking and position citizen commitment as a trendy lifestyle, Jerónimo first organizes focus groups with young people and social organizations on a regular basis, to understand and stay in touch with trends and expectations from both sides. Next, he works closely with professional designers and communication agencies experienced in street marketing and hip-hop language to anchor changemaking messages in youth norms and expectations.
Jerónimo has launched creative communication campaigns on a large-scale, beginning with all the universities across Switzerland, using flyers or social networks. He also engages “favorite” teachers to spread the word or organize flash mobilization, such as covering lecture halls for a few hours with large branded signs to spread Euphoria’s message and ignite interest. For example, the latest campaign, “Primary Screams,” gathered hundreds of people to scream at the same time in the street or at school to let go their frustrations, express their willingness to act for social change, and wake up those around them. Thanks to the originality of his approach, Jerónimo sparked the interest of various media and his messaging had greater public impact.
After the first step of mobilization, Jerónimo gets young people to participate in Euforia activities and learning sessions. From a few hours to five days, they are designed to be fun, transformative experiences of social change. Whether it is through personal development workshops, launching simulations of social ventures, or matchmaking with volunteer opportunities in existing organizations, they aim to restore youth’s confidence in their potential to be changemakers and facilitate a path toward concrete action. Jerónimo has tailored three main types of strategies to fit different levels of commitment: (i) “Imp!Act” gathers 250 people ages 18 to 28-years-old and offers space to launch a social project, get involved as a volunteer, or just show up for a new sense of citizen engagement (ii) “Step into Action” targets younger groups and is designed as a one day forum for high school classes. The first “Step into Action” in 2011 gathered 800 children (iii) “BEAT” events are small workshops on various topics imagined by youth and framed as a toolkit to be easily reproduced. For example, organizing around the topic of “chocolate fondue” to discuss Fair Trade and discover concrete offers of commitment together.
Young people then fully manage the changemaking activities in Switzerland’s main cities. Jerónimo engages them in the long-term in his organization, and creates a two- to three-year evolving path from volunteering to facilitating workshops, leading programs, and taking part in the strategy. By giving them growing responsibilities and providing them with skills and action toolkits, he transforms Euforia’s active members into youth leaders and “changemaker multipliers,” as he calls them, equipped with the necessary skills, competencies, knowledge and tools to proactively shape social change in their communities.
Jerónimo wants to ensure that young people have access to the existing great value propositions of commitment that have already been developed by citizen and youth organizations. To achieve this, he has joined more than 80 organizations—from Greenpeace to Infoklick—that tackle global challenges while offering local concrete engagement opportunities. He improves their outreach to passive youth by inviting the organizations to his Euforia events, but also works with them to shift their practices toward a better adaptation, integration, and recognition of youth in their strategies.
Founded in 2008 while he was still a student, and on a voluntary basis until 2010, Jerónimo now heads a 500,000 CHF (US $561,300) budget organization with five staff and over 100 volunteers. He has launched the changemaker network online to strengthen the movement in one place and aims to reach the first 10,000 participants over the next two years.
Jerónimo is also restructuring his economic model to generate revenues and be more sustainable. Partnerships with top companies such as Credit Suisse or the Boston Consulting Group are under progress to adapt his changemaking activities for business employees, as well as to create a “coaching offer,” with experienced corporate staff mentoring young changemakers.