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Description
For many years now, individuals between 18 and 29 years old from Opolskie Voivodeship have been characterized by the lowest turnout in national and local elections. Very few youth city councils operate in this region. Our current experience in working with the youth, as well as our conversations with the young leaders show that young people often don’t know how to get involved in the first place, or what options they have. According to the research from the Marshall’s Office, the youth city councils are also suffering from the lack of mentors who could support their operations. Our survey showed that only 17% of our young respondents believe the city takes care of the issues of the youth. We will conduct seminars for the future mentors, representatives of the organizations working with the youth, as well as individuals that are responsible for shaping the youth policy on the local and regional level. We will talk about the meaning and different dimensions of youth participation, youth policy in Poland and around the world, expanding the existing councils and ways of motivating young participants. We will also organize trainings for representatives of the local government on how to work with young people and engage them in the decision-making processes. We will host a series of trainings for all ten youth city councils from Opolskie Voivodeship on what actions they can take, how to run public consultations and collaborate with the local government and how to communicate about one’s activities with the local community. We will organize a working visit to Iceland for 15 of our young participants. We will witness how youth councils operate there and we will garner experience in good practices for engaging the youth. Our Icelandic partner, Samfes, will talk to us about work with the youth and will help us during trainings and workshops. The result will be crafting of the local strategies for the youth for minimum eight municipalities participating in the project.
Summary of project results
In the Opolskie Voivodeship, young people aged 18-29 have been the least likely to participate in parliamentary and local elections for many years. Additionally, there is a shortage of Youth City Councils (Młodzieżowe Rady Miast - MRM) in this region. Our previous experiences working with youth and conversations with young leaders have shown that they often lack knowledge of how to take action and what opportunities they have. According to the diagnosis from the Marshal''s Office, another problem was the lack of mentors for MRM who would support their activities. However, from our research, only 17% of young respondents believe that the authorities in their cities care about youth issues.In response to this situation, we organized seminars for future mentors of MRM, representatives of organizations working with youth, and those responsible for creating youth policies at the local and regional levels. During these seminars, we discussed the importance and various dimensions of youth participation, youth policies in Poland and worldwide, developing youth councils, and motivating young individuals. We also conducted training for representatives of local governments and officials on collaborating with youth and involving them in decision-making processes.A series of training sessions were held for fourteen MRM from the Opole Voivodeship, focusing on the actions they can take, conducting social consultations, collaborating with local governments, and communicating their activities within the local community. Although two MRM did not complete all the activities, consultations were conducted, and a strategy was developed. A Youth Congress for MRM was also organized, providing an opportunity for participants to exchange experiences and promote the project.Additionally, we arranged a study visit to Iceland for 15 young individuals and their mentors. During the visit, we observed how youth councils operate there and gained insights into best practices for engaging young people. Our Icelandic partner, Samfes, shared their experiences and expertise during the training and workshops. The project was concluded with a final meeting, where local youth strategies were presented.According to the evaluation surveys, the workshops increased the level of knowledge among young individuals regarding the role and responsibilities of MRM, and local decision-makers experienced the significant impact of these council''s activities.
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Summary of bilateral results
Thank to cooperation with partner from Iceland, our participants: young people, youth workers, but also local decision makers – could see the solutions and youth policy tools, that didn’t exist in Poland yet, observe how it works and believe, that this kind of activities and youth work method is possible and fruitful.We were cooperating with partner not only before and during the main project activity – study visit, but also on other stages on the project, to talk about the needs and send the inspirations. As a result, good practices from Iceland was presented during the seminar for youth council’s tutors and local decision makers, during the workshops for the youth councils members and closing seminar. The main and most important common activity was a study visit, when we could get to know Icelandic youth policy assumptions and tools, visit various youth NGOs and – what is most important – youth clubs and centres, supported by our partner, what was most important for us, because we don’t have such places in our region. As a result, the inspiration from Iceland (especially about the spaces for the young people) was implemented into local youth strategies for our region, created during the project (almost all strategies include min. 1 postulate based on Icelandic inspirations).Main results of the cooperation:-getting to know new civic and youth participation tools, Icelanding working method and tools on the youth policy, especially youth participation,-awareness and understanding of importance of youth participation and different ways to develop it,-Sharing and exchanging good practices on the youth work and youth policy tools from both countries.We still use the benefits of this cooperation: 1) we are planning common youth exchange within Erasmus+ programme, 2) we are also preparing to the opening first youth club (inspiration from Iceland) in Opole coordinated by us in cooperation with regional Marshall office.