Who are we?
POV21 Magazine is a magazine that belongs to POV21 (Point of view 21) NGO that wants to be representative of the points of view of teenagers but especially to let them bring a change in their community and to teach them how to be true leaders.
We are a team of high school teenagers and students who manages their own online magazine by the hundreds of thousands of views every month and which organizes charity events, with social or educational specificity. We are aware that the younger generation can bring a defining change in our society, so our activity has always been about values that could help them to do that: unity, initiative, meritocracy, and the acceptance of the differences of opinion.
How did it all start?
The POV21 project started in Bistrița, Romania, in the spring of 2017, and for the first teenagers which joined in it started as a game, a way to spend time in a productive way or to do what they can’t do in school: to develop their creativity.
We focused from the beginning on the 4 values mentioned above, so our activity made it’s debut with a series on Bistrita’s TV channel AS-TV in which we debated topics of interest to teenagers: sexual education, toxic relationships, democracy, etc. We continued this show weekly, for two years, until April 2019, but that didn’t stop us from starting other projects.
At the same time, we organized the first edition of the Comunitarium Gala, an event in which olympics with a precarious financial situation was awarded. After that, in 2018 we started the POV21 Magazine, where we allowed young people to express their points of view to thousands of people, but also to gain journalistic experience or to get involved civically through articles based on their opinions.
If at the beginning our team didn’t have a headquarters of its own and we had to borrow a room from the Babes-Bolyai University from Bistrita, with the publication, our notoriety and team expanded nationwide.
At the moment, the POV21 team consists of more than 100 members from different cities, such as Cluj, București, Bistrița, Suceava, etc. And continues to grow day by day.
Our members have learned to be leaders, to take responsibility, they emphasized the civic spirit and became people full of initiative and this is observed in the activities they carry out, as well as in the articles written by them.
How has POV21 Magazine started?
We can say that out of the desire to expand internationally and globally, but especially because we have talented young people who are passionate about foreign languages. In addition to the English edition (POV21 Magazine), we have also launched the following editions: French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.
The English language magazine appeared in early 2020. Members from different parts of the world came to our newsroom. We have about 40 active members. We also have readers from all over the world, especially from the USA and the United Kingdom.
We are active on Facebook, Instagram and we aim to reach Twitter as well.
Complete activity:
To date, POV21 has produced dozens of shows with debates on controversial topics and live general culture contests.
Since 2017, POV21 has been established at three Comunitarium Galas where 40 top students from rural areas of Bistrița-Năsăud have been awarded, and, for the rural environment, 3 editions of the Ruralis competition were organized, in which over 600 students have participated so far.
In 2018, we started the POV21 Library campaign, which aimed at setting up a school library in rural areas, in Runcu Salvei. The project continued with the second edition in 2019, where the efforts were directed towards the endowment of another school library, in Nuseni. 4,000 books were collected at both libraries.
Also in 2019, the first edition of TEDxBistrita took place thanks to POV21. For the first time, the people of Bistrita were able to attend a TEDx conference in their city. The public perception was accompanied by many appreciations due to the unique theme: how we should change the education system to meet the requirements of the future.
From the start, the activity of POV21 offers numerous outdoor events to the community from Bistrita, which is why he organized recreational events with live music, nights of astronomical observations, or projections of outdoor companies:
We have also organized a charity show in Năsăud for a girl with leukemia, where we raised about 2000 euros. But also two events outside Bistriţa-năsăud:
- The literary creation contest POVestește-ne, te facem auzit (Tell us, we are making you heard ) (2020, Fălticeni)
- Spookfest (2019, Sighetu Marmației)
The most important and visible component of the organization is POV21 Magazine launched in 2018, in which are found the most current and interesting topics for the public, from various fields such as philosophy, literature, movies and books reviews, interviews with personalities, humour, travels, sport, personal development and the events of the moment.
In March 2020, POV21 exceeds the threshold of 100,000 unique visitors per month. Every day, new articles are published in our magazine that provides an average of 70,000 unique views per week.
Due to the organized events, successful partnerships, direct distribution of content by readers, and advertising on the platform, POV21 grows significantly. Less than two years after its founding, in August 2019, The POV21 association reaches 1st place in views in the NGO category.
Currently, the online magazine is in the top 150 blogs in Romania and is expanding internationally, publishing in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German.
What do we offer to society?
The problem is the society we are addressing is the profound lack of leadership and self-knowledge among young people. We always encourage members of our team to take the initiative, to take on as many responsibilities as possible, to allow themselves to make mistakes.
We work in our NGO according to a corporate model, and through the involvement of young people in the departments of Social Media, Writing, PR, Design, Fundraising, and last but not least, the Writers’ Academy, the association has strengthened a strong leadership spirit. The knowledge acquired by members starts from copywriting & journalism, SEO, copywriting, photo & video editing.
Also, the use and interpretation of performance indicators, such as Google Analytics. Moreover, to improve the online presence of POV21 projects, young people have specialized in launching advertising campaigns through Facebook Business, Facebook Pixel, and Google AdSense.
This way, they have the opportunity to grow in a competitive, dynamic environment, in a perpetual change with the demand on the labor market. Here, they have the chance to learn the secrets of productive management, to communicate and mediate conflicts, to develop and to develop others. All in an environment that our members perceive 88% as an open one, where their opinions are heard and can signal problems with the confidence that they will be resolved.
Currently, POV21 Magazine differentiates itself from other online magazines by the entrepreneurial hub character that offers members not only the opportunity to express their opinions on a national online publication but also to learn organizational aspects and skills useful in the labor market.
Also, unlike the competition, the average age does not exceed 17-18 years and our magazine was developed on trial error, not with specialists. Compared to the requirements of the labor market, in POV21 Magazine young people not only can excel professionally, acquiring relevant skills but can learn, early on, the components of a corporate environment.
We are POV21 Magazine!