InterCity Youth Conference – Participation 3.0 was officially opened

Yesterday the long-awaited 10th edition of the InterCity Youth Conference – Participation 3.0, that was supposed to be held in November 2021, was officially opened.

The conference, organized by Intercity Youth, the European network of local departments for youth work, in cooperation with Movit, the Slovenian National Agency for Erasmus+: Youth and the European Solidarity Corps programmes, hosted by the City of Ljubljana, focuses on young people’s participation in everyday life. The main topics addressed at the conference are how to encourage and support young people in the process of co-creating activities through youth work, including policy agendas and decisions.

The first day of the conference began with inspiring words of greetings from Katarina Gorenc, Head of the Youth Office of the City of Ljubljana, who emphasized the importance of youth participation for social progress, Uroš Skrinar, Head of Movit, Slovenian National Agencies of EU Erasmus +: Youth and European Solidarity Unit , who highlighted the importance of participation for youth work, and the Chair of InterCity Youth, Jonas Agdur, who stimulated a discussion among the participants on the importance of participation.

In his keynote address, Leen Verbeek, President of the Congress of Local Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, emphasized that although youth work is often informal and often voluntary, it can’t be an afterthought, which he illustrated by good youth work practices and their impact.

The first day seminar brought interesting presentations and fruitful discussions. In five panels, participants could listen to presentations on improving participation in projects, innovative urban youth ecosystems, the Bonn process and the municipality’s contribution, the digital safe space built by young people and about municipal youth plans, involving young people in defining strategies.

The second day of the conference will bring with it two seminars and study visits to the Glej Theater, Kinodvor, the Vič Youth Center, the Borc Community Center, the Vodnik Homestead and the Ljuba and Drago Mobile Youth Center.