From 29 September to 3 October 2022, the YouPart project partnership participated in the 2nd Youth Conference organized in the framework of the project, which took place in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, organized by the Czech partners Ekumenická akademie and Spolek zastáncu detskych práv. Partners from Austria (Südwind, the project coordinator, and BOJA), Greece (KAINOTOMIA and InnovED), Italy (WeWorld and Associazione Culturale Oltre), Slovenia (Drustvo Humanitas-Center za Globalno Ucenje in Sodelovanje and Zavod Mladinska Mreza MaAMa), and Serbia (Timocki Omladinski Centar and Narodni Parlament) also participated. Three-day workshops were organized involving staff of the organizations, youth workers, and young people up to 23 years old per partner country as participants.
During the first day, the participants gathered in Magistrát hlavního města Prahy, the New Town Hall of Prague, where they were welcomed by a representative of the local municipality, the project coordinator and the host organizations, who presented the agenda of the three-day activities. After that, the participants used post-it notes to express their expectations of the continuation of the work in connection with one of the Vienna Conference, which was held last June. This was followed by speeches given by the director of Amnesty International in the Czech Republic and a representative of the Fridays for Future movement, with which the participants discussed issues of youth interest. In the first day’s afternoon session, feedback was provided about what has been developed in Vienna and, then, the participants were divided into groups according to the topics they had already chosen and worked on finding the challenges they are facing and enriching their demands.
On the second day, participants gathered at the Karlínské Spektrum Youth Centre, where the day started by finalizing their youth demands per working group on the thematic categories using flipcharts. In the second day’s afternoon session, participants used the World Café training methodology, so that the acquired knowledge could be shared among the groups of participants and the demands per thematic category could be further enriched by adding perspectives of different mindsets.
The third day was dedicated to processing the feedback generated during the World Café process of the previous day. Then, the selection of the members who will form the committee to process the requests of the young people was made. This committee will be convened in two online meetings, where the youth demands will be finalized before they will be presented to the European Parliament during the 3rd YouPart Youth Conference in Brussels at the beginning of December. In the afternoon, five different guided tours of the city (e.g. the Jewish Quarter) were scheduled, giving participants the opportunity to learn more about the rich history of Prague and its citizens. The last day ended with an intercultural event, where participants exchanged ideas and enjoyed food and music from each participating country and beyond.
About the project
YouPart, a 30-month Erasmus+ project, is implemented aiming to encourage young people to become active citizens, help prevent youth social exclusion, and improve the impact of policy decisions on young people. YouPart project intends to empower the political participation of disadvantaged youth in 6 CEE and Balkan countries in three phases by providing opportunities to find and formulate demands and wishes (Engage), discuss, and connect them transnationally (Connect) and voice these demands to politicians on different decision-making levels (Empower).
Stay tuned for the 3rd Youth Conference in Brussels, Belgium which will take place on 4 – 8/12/2022!
