72-hour campaign (rural youth)
The 72-hour campaign is a campaign by the Lower Saxony rural youth that has been held every 4 years since 1995. It gets its name from its duration. The 72-hour campaign has its origin in the Catholic rural youth movement (KLJB) in the Oldenburg regional association, which carried out the 72-hour campaign for the first time in May 1993.
During the campaign, the participating local groups have to set up something sustainable for their region within 72 hours. So far, the various tasks ranged from building a large swing or an exercise path to drawing up a cycle path map for the area.
Which task the teams have to cope with remains a secret until the start of the campaign. They only know the agreed meeting point. An “agent” then appears there who will explain the respective project, which is oriented towards the interests of the young people and the village, to the participants. The goal should always be to create something lasting, sustainable for the village and to strengthen the community in the village through the action. More than 3,500 rural youth in 76 villages took part in the 2011 campaign. In 2015, the action, in which 98 groups took part, took place under the patronage of TV presenter Eva Brenner .
The seventh 72-hour campaign started on May 23, 2019 at 6 p.m. under the motto “Just do it!” . The patron was Günther the tractor driver .