Bosnia-Herzegovina
Site: Brčko
Topic: Inclusion of Special Needs Students in Schools.
Seventeen years ago civil war shattered the peaceful lives of families in the region formerly known as Croatia. Muslim, Croat and Serbs, who were lifelong friends, become bitter enemies fighting for survival. Following the cease fire an arbitration panel declared Brčko, a small border town, to be a neutral district, beyond the rule of the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Republic of Serbska. Today Brčko is a success story, where former enemies live side by side in a city that was so fiercely contested it was dubbed a "black hole".

The teenagers on Brčko District’s Project Citizen team include Muslims, Croats and Serbs – sons and daughters of who were born during the conflict and are known as “the children of the war.” The social issue the team confronted is discrimination of special needs students in schools. The Brčko team presented government officials with hundreds signatures from citizens supporting their petition to integrate special needs students into mainstream classes and provide necessary equipment (hearing devices, wheel chairs, etc.).

The local government has accepted the team’s petition and is considering revising the regulations regarding students with special needs.

Colombia
Site: Alejandría
Issue: Establish a Community Constitution.

In the mid and late 1990s the idyllic village of Alejandría Colombia was ravaged by the battles inflicted by the drug cartels. Hundreds of family members were kidnapped, tortured or killed. Today the village is struggling to reclaim its proud heritage as peaceful ranchers, farmers and coffee growers. All of the families of the teenagers on the Project Citizen team are haunted by the violence. Many of the team members give comfort to the victims of the war by listening to the heart wrenching stories and sharing their pain.

The town is faced with many social problems, any one of which would be a challenge to the team. To address the widespread problems the team decided on the unique and difficult task of writing a comprehensive constitution for the village of Alejandría. The Code of Citizens Coexistence includes recommendations on all of the issues they face.

The petition was unanimously approved by the city council, accepted by the townspeople, and is now used as a model for other towns and villages throughout Colombia.

India
Site: Delhi
Issue: Restore historic monuments.
India’s proud heritage is reflected in the majestic monuments throughout the city. Unfortunately many of these memorials and tombs are sadly neglected and in terrible disrepair. The Project Citizen team at the Ramjas Foundation School took on the challenge of restoring the monuments near their school. Their campain included extensive interviews with residents living in the overcrowded housing areas surrounding the monuments and meetings, often times confrontational, with government officials.

The students were successful in convincing officials to repair the tombs, erect gates and station guards to protect the monument from drug dealers and vandalism. In addition the students established an ongoing tutoring program for the children living in the slums near the monument.

Indonesia
Site: Yogyakarta
Issue: Taxation of Silversmiths.
A monetary crisis in 1997 sent the Indonesian economy into a steep decline. The production and export of silver artwork and jewelry, historically a valued treasure and tradition in the area, decreased dramatically. In 2002 things got worse; a ten percent tax was levied on raw silver materials, causing many small silver industries to close and putting craftsmen out of work. The result was a dramatic economic and social hardship on the families of the artists living in the community of Kotagede in the city of Yogyakarta.

After interviewing silversmiths, craftsmen, and business owners, the Indonesian team petitioned the local governing body to eliminate or reduce the added tax on the industry. The regional government endorsed the young people’s petition and sent it on to the central government for consideration. The national legislature is reviewing the team’s appeal for tax relief.

Jordan
Site: Al Karak
Issue: School Violence.  
For most of the members on the Al Karak team the Project Citizen program was the first time boys and girls collaborated in school – especially on a social issue. The sensitive topic selected by the Jordanian team was the issue of increasing school violence that includes student against student, teacher against student and student against teacher. In meetings with elementary school children the teenagers uncovered the extent of the problem in their community.

Working together the teenagers established an education and awareness program for the elementary school children that has expanded to schools throughout Al Karak. In addition the teenagers valued the interaction and relationship of both sexes and multiple faiths included on the team.

Russia
Site: Samara
Issue: Teenage Gambling.
In Samara Russia the Project Citizen team attacked the serious problem of the uncontrolled expansion of gambling casinos, especially in residential areas throughout the city. Gambling parlors are readily accessible to anyone at any age and are having a cancerous effect on the entire society. After studying the existing regulations, interviewing gambling addicts and their families and meeting with officials and, counselors, the team presented a petition to the government to change the regional and national laws.

The team’s grassroots campaign included appearances on local television and radio programs, articles in newspapers and public forums. Very quickly Russian society was discussing limits on gambling. In response President Putin enacted legislation that will close casinos in Samara and throughout Russia and establish state-controlled gambling centers in four designated cities.

Senegal
Site: Ross Bethio
Topic: Access to Clean Water.
Students at the Ross Bethio Middle School in Senegal attacked the life-threatening problem of unsafe drinking water. In the village most people bring water from the river to their homes using donkey-drawn barrels The animals increase the contamination of the water and the resulting diarrhea, dysentery, skin ailments and other diseases.

The students organized a protest march of more than 300 citizens and presented a petition to government officials demanding the completion of an unfinished water tower and distribution of clean water. As a result the tower has been completed. Now the students are pushing for a filtration system to clean the water and pump it into their homes.

The United States
Site: Vancouver, Washington
Topic: Teenage Obesity.
The students at Shahala Middle School in Vancouver Washington are well aware of the teenage obesity epidemic throughout the nation. In response they proposed an across-the-board change in the school lunch program for the Evergreen School District that would require an eighty percent reduction in the use of trans fat in the foods served in school cafeterias.

The school board accepted the proposal and the team members collaborated on a new nutrition policy for the entire district.