by Dmitri Teperik, National Centre of Defence & Security Awareness, Estonia.
Introduction
As someone deeply involved in media and information literacy and the education of young people, I’ve noticed how much our fast-changing world demands more than just knowledge – it needs imagination. At the start of 2025, when global stability feels more fragile than ever, the way young people consume, question and participate in media isn’t just an academic concern—it’s foundational to how we build resilient societies.
Across Europe, and especially here in the Baltic states, I sense the ground shifting under our feet. The global order feels less stable, old certainties are dissolving, and a growing sense of insecurity is creeping into our everyday lives. These changes aren’t just geopolitical – they touch us at a deeper level, altering what psychologists might call our “sociopsychological variables.” In plain language: they shake our confidence, our trust, our sense of belonging.
That’s why our Baltic team of experts keeps coming back to the idea of glue. What is it that holds us together when everything else seems to be pulling apart?
For me, belonging is that glue. Without it, resilience—the ability to adapt, endure, and recover—becomes fragile. Belonging is more than feeling accepted; it’s about trust, appreciation, and the assurance that we’re part of a bigger story. If we lose that, resilience crumbles.
Listening through new lenses
When we started working with young people across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, we deliberately included ethnolinguistic minorities in the conversation because minority communities – especially Russian-speaking populations – tend to retreat into silence. I’ve seen how that silence erodes trust, widens divides and makes societies weaker.
Paraphrasing poet Lucille Clifton, we asked ourselves: How can we create a better future if we cannot first imagine one?
That’s where the project Baltic Youth Resilience came in. These weren’t just ordinary seminars; they were interactive spaces where young people, gathered in Klaipeda, Vilnius, Riga, Daugavpils, Tallinn and Narva, explored foresight techniques, risk landscapes and national development strategies. They discussed everything from climate change to artificial intelligence, from democracy to identity, from personal well-being to European solidarity.
The results were inspiring. 93% percent of participants said the events were useful. More importantly, their sense of agency grew. They started to see that shaping the next 10–15 years isn’t just something politicians do – it’s something they can do. Optimism rose, fears of the future declined, and conversations about hope became more grounded.
The three layers of glue
As our team listened to them, we kept picturing resilience as three layers of glue:
- Geopolitical glue: trust in security, alliances and protection.
- Economic glue: a fair distribution of opportunities and resources.
- Social glue: the everyday trust built through dialogue, empathy and recognition.
If one weakens, the whole structure is at risk. But when all three are nurtured together, they create a fabric that can withstand shocks.
Why youth values matter
One theme kept surfacing: values. Shared values don’t just sit on paper; they shape behaviour, influence policies and create a sense of fairness. Across the Baltics, young people spoke about trust, care and fairness as the core values they want for their future. They saw democracy not as a luxury, but as the only viable system for sustainable growth. They were clear: inclusivity, education and technological progress must go hand in hand with human dignity.
This aligns with the UN’s 2024 Pact for the Future, which calls young people “critical agents of positive change.” I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I’d go further: without young people, there is no future worth imagining.
Yes, challenges are enormous. Demographic decline, disinformation, climate change, war on our borders, the volatility of AI and global markets – the list goes on. But as I saw in those summer seminars, today’s youth are not passive. They think critically, they demand fairness and they are willing to lead.
Building a better future
So where do we go from here?
First, we must create more spaces for dialogue that include minorities, vulnerable groups, and youth. Second, we need to invest in foresight education – teaching people to imagine different futures and prepare for them. Third, we must treat belonging as a daily practice: listening to each other, bridging divides and creating opportunities for real connection.
Because resilience isn’t just about bouncing back. It’s about building forward – together.
The start of 2025 reminds us how fragile our societies can feel. But it also shows us how powerful the glue of belonging can be. If we trust, include and imagine together, we can strengthen the Baltic social fabric so it not only survives the pressures of today but thrives in the uncertainties of tomorrow.
Reflecting on all of this, I believe the glue that will hold our societies together isn’t just in laws or institutions- it’s in relationships, stories, trust and the media we share and co-create. When we include minority voices, when we help young people learn how to imagine possible futures, when media becomes less a tool of passivity and more a space for agency – we don’t just survive instability, we transform it. For media communities, educators, civic leaders and young people alike: let’s see media not just as what we consume, but as what we build together. Because our future depends on it.
The article is based on the study report “GLUED: Linking Resilience and Youth Futures in the Baltics”.
Author
Dmitri Teperik, Senior Policy Expert & Development Trainer on Future Literacy for Societal Resilience, Cognitive Security, Strategic and Crisis Communications.
Dmitri Teperik has over 15-years-experience in contributing as a director or a leading subject-matter-expert to various international research projects, interdisciplinary studies, development cooperation programmes, professional trainings and outreach activities on comprehensive resilience and complex measures against hostile influence and disinformation.
