Presenter: Alexandre Fonseca, Salto P&I

Looking to improve youth participation in your projects? To foster the quality of youth participation under the new E+ and ESC programmes (2021–2027) and to support the implementation of the Youth Participation Strategy, we will introduce participants to the Participation Resource Pool and the Youth Participation Toolkit. There will also be space for participants to share experiences, tools and resources you find useful, as well as start a discussion on how to make the Pool even more useful in your daily work.

Presenter: Andras Farkas and Ovidiu Cîmpean, City of Cluj-Napoca, Romania

The Cluj metropolitan area embarked on an evidence-based strategic implementation process, positioning young people as a key factor in urban area development, with over 700 stakeholders mapped for collective action. With a happy city perspective at its core, it addresses the well-being, perspectives and agency of young people, supported by a well-prepared enabling environment. While focused on social innovation, it also raises challenges the youth ecosystem has not yet addressed. Is there a Cluj for youth in 2030?

Presenter: Claudius Siebel, JUGEND für Europa, German National Agency of Erasmus+ Youth

In December 2020, the 3rd European Youth Work Convention took place in the frame of the German EU Council presidency. This was the starting point for the so-called Bonn Process, aiming at the formulation of a European Youth Work Agenda (EYWA) to foster quality development of youth work. Since municipalities are the key providers of youth work, they play a central role in this. The workshop will present the origins and content of the idea to shape an EYWA, and will discuss the possible contribution of municipalities.

Presenters: Nejc Benčič, Young Dragons Public Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

The digital youth centre DigiMC, built on the Discord platform during the pandemic and based mostly on youth participation, will be presented in this workshop. One of the main parts of DigiMC is the counselling room, which is facilitated by students and follows the peer-to-peer method. “If you want to hear about our path from searching for a platform and seeking digital contact with young people to a fully functional server, we invite you to join our workshop,” say the presenters.

Presenters: Filipa Pereira and Catarina Leite, Municipality of Guimarães, Portugal

The seminar aims to expose the importance of the concept of municipal youth plans and involving young people in defining the strategy, as well as formulating and implementing policies and programs under these strategic plans. The seminar will assess and explain how a pool of youth facilitators can be the driving force for a participative and active formulation of youth policies at the municipal level and serve as a way to make these processes more inclusive.

Presenter: Gil Nunes, City of Gaia, Portugal

The Gaia Participatory Budgeting for Youth, with a budget of € 360,000, reaches almost 80,000 young people, invited to present proposals for development on its territory. Decided exclusively by young people, it is divided in three areas: creativity, culture and sport; environment and sustainability; technology and entrepreneurship. It has led to the implementation of projects such as a sensory garden, an animal park and a sports centre for the elderly. In this seminar you will get to know how it works.

Presenter: Vesna Strlič and Nives Felić, Zavod Nefiks, Vič Youth Centre, Ljubljana, Sloveni

The Vič Youth Centre works with participatory budgeting through concrete steps: collecting proposals, review of proposals, voting, implementation of projects. It is a practice through which Ljubljana’s Vič borough can increase the participation of young people as it gives them the opportunity to propose their own projects, vote for projects they consider good and thus get the opportunity to manage a certain share of financial resources themselves.

Presenter: Marko Kovačić, Institute for social Research, Croatia

In 2020, a group of stakeholders in Croatia, inspired by the Charter on Local Youth Work from the Europe Goes Local (EGL) project, launched a certification process for local youth policies. The process of developing a certificate for youth-friendly cities checks all the boxes for quality youth policymaking; initiated by the civil sector, based on expert analysis from the public sector, improved through comments by youth organizations and backed up by governmental institutions. Join us to see how we did it!

Presenters:

• Sheila Driessen, project manager for youth participation and
• Alex Bekkers, youth work coordinator, ’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands

In this seminar, the City of ’s-Hertogenbosch will present its theoretical approach to participation, how they make this seen to professionals, and the programme they use to monitor activities. We will get to know their various practices, like Citytrainers, Cityboost and Youth ambassadors, and some related figures. The participants will hear about the lessons learned and things to come, and they will also get a chance to discuss this together.

Presenters:

• Jonas Agdur, member of the EGL steering group
• Jenny Haglund, member of the Swedish EGL national working group
• Marie Falk, Youth work developer, City of Gothenburg, Sweden

In this seminar, we will first get a short presentation of the European Charter on Local Youth Work and the web-based support material Changemakers Kit. We will then learn about how the charter’s use has been supported in Sweden and about the effect it has had in the City of Gothenburg context. The participants will then be invited to discuss their needs and in what way they want to be supported in the future

Youth work in Ljubljana

Presenter: Katarina Gorenc, Head of Youth Office, City of Ljubljana

With the adoption of a Youth Strategy, the City of Ljubljana increased its support for youth work activities. This includes, among other things, the establishment of a Network of Youth Centres and a more systematic, evidence-based approach to quality development. The next goal of the city’s Youth Office is to increase the visibility and recognition of youth work as an important element for young people’s personal and social development.

Cities of learning – interactive learning platform

Presenter: Urška Česnik, Institute for a Creative Society, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Cities of Learning is an interactive platform that shows different learning opportunities in the city, collecting them into learning playlists and using digital learning badges as a tool for recognition of non-formal learning. At its core is the belief that every young person deserves an opportunity to develop the competencies of the 21st century. We invite learning providers to join the platform and help ensure young people the opportunities to develop the skills they need for the future.

Presenter: Jenny Haglund, KEKS Secretary General

Networking and sharing experiences and best practices is something that most organizations like to engage in. But how can municipalities really work together in a structured way to develop quality in youth work? What does it take in terms of common ground and organisation to start walking the talk and create real change? KEKS has over 70 municipalities in three countries as members, and Jenny Haglund will share their approach, methods, conclusions and success factors.

“Youth work – the role of local and regional authorities”.

Presenter: Jonas Agdur, InterCity Youth, Chairman

In 2021 the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities within the Council of Europe adopted a report, including a resolution, on youth work and how authorities need to act in order to develop and manage quality youth work. In this seminar we will hear about this very clear and detailed report and which expectations it puts on local authorities.

BILBAO YOUTH CITY: A young and participative approach of the City of Bilbao

Presenter: Itxaso Erroteta Sagastagoya, City of Bilbao, Spain

The Municipal Youth Plan “Bilbao Hiri Gaztea 2021/24” is one of the City Council’s priority actions to make Bilbao a youth-friendly city where young people have the best possible opportunities for development and active participation. The development of the plan was based on youth participation in defining municipal youth policies, incorporating their views on the departments involved and finally the creation of a flexible system of youth participation in many forms in the city of Bilbao.

Presenters: Noora Mäkinen, City of Oulu, Finland

The objective of the School of Politics is to spark young people’s interest in empowerment and achieving the relevant knowledge and skills required for having an impact in society. It is not about party politics, but rather about showing young people how to affect their own environment. Join our workshop and get the tools for your own work. Learn about workshops for young people and how to deepen the dialogue between councillors and young people. Welcome to the most effective school of the year!

Presenter: Zoi Mylona, City of Tripoli, Greece

How is participatory action defined? What do garbage collections and public property embellishment have in common? Individual and team work blend together and social media seem to facilitate them. The seminar aims to raise awareness on how today’s youth perceive public participation, what motivates them, and how local authorities can benefit from and reward them for their ideas, initiatives and passion by “breaking the rules”. An interactive seminar with live voting and contributions.

Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps

Presenter: Claudius Siebel, JUGEND für Europa, German National Agency of Erasmus+ Youth

The participants will learn about the new generation of European Youth Programmes (2021–2027), which could be labelled as “evolution, no revolution”. Participants will get an introduction to the main features of the programmes, the key changes and novelties, with a focus on special opportunities for municipalities. The presentation will be enriched with some examples of projects implemented in Slovenia.

Theatre producers in most European countries, including Slovenia, have noticed a gradual decline in young visitors. Through different international and national networks, the Glej Theatre is working on participatory approaches that enable them to bring teenagers and students to the theatre by involving them and letting them have a space to work and develop a theatre performance that speaks to them directly, while offering them the support of professional mentors and theatre experts. Glej’s practices are based on deliberated theatre approaches related to social competences, audience building, sustainability and dissemination.

Location: Ljubljana, Gregorčičeva 3, walking distance from the hotel

At the Kinodvor City Cinema, they believe in the formative power of film to broaden our horizons, and the Kinotrip programme was born from their desire to empower young cinemagoers to lead the way on this journey. Therefore, Kinotrip provides a space for the next generation of film fans to take charge of the cinema’s screens and curate a unique film festival and events created by the youth for the youth. In this presentation, you will be able to hear how it all started, and how Kinotrip is contributing to a vibrant youth (film) culture and community.

Location: Ljubljana, conference venue: Room Iris

Mladinski center Vič, the youth centre of Ljubljana’s Vič borough, is a place where their methods of youth work meet the youth of the local community and beyond. To engage the local youth in their work, they offer different activities, with a focus on those aimed at professional development and orientation. The Vič Youth Centre is a joint project combining the tradition of participation of the local youth from the Antonov dom centre and tools for recognising competences gained outside formal education, a focus of Zavod Nefiks. The centre strives to encourage the local youth to actively participate and co-create their space.

Location: Ljubljana, Tržaška 85, bus transfer from the hotel

On the eastern outskirts of the city, in a renovated settlement along the Spanish Fighters’ Road, an old city bus with a terrace, a summer kitchen, movable seats and a high shaft has outlined its mission. The City of Ljubljana, Young Dragons Public Institute, Ljubljana Passenger Transport and the City of Ljubljana Public Housing Fund have joined forces, and from an old, used bus no. 401 a new, open space for work and socializing was created – the name is Borc.

Today, Borc Community Center (SC Borc) is a platform for developing multifunctional skills and gaining knowledge and experience. The common thread is to connect, empower and unite creative young people, with the aim of developing the community, strengthening creativity and co-creating positive effects on the neighborhood and the population. Welcome aboard!

Location: Cesta španskih borcev 33, bus transfer from the hotel

The visit will present the Itn. festival of critical writing, which has been held for the past five years at Vodnikova domačija. It is organised by high schoolers from Slovenia, students and literature professionals. The main concept of the festival is presenting different literary works in relation to everyday life in Slovenia. The organisers will present their special tactics of organising, participatory methods for involving young adults into creating festival content and using literature as a source of social engagement.

Location: Vodnikova domačija, Vodnikova cesta 65, Ljubljana, Bus transfer from the hotel

Ljuba and Drago – until recently an old public bus, that was transformed into a cozy mobile youth center, equipped with a small kitchen, living room, fire place, DJ station and a green roof.  This story would not have been possible without cooperation of Public Institution Young Dragons, Public Company Ljubljana Passenger Transport (LPP) and the City Municipality of Ljubljana (MOL). The idea behind transformation is taken from the City of Ljubljana (MOL) Youth Strategy 2016 – 2025 which envisages the establishment of youth centers in all neighborhood communities of the city. Nowadays, Ljuba and Drago are driving through and cooperating with neighborhoods that are described as a ”gray area”. The absence of youth work in neighborhoods is usually shown in vandalism, lacking quality public areas for youth and activities for leisure time that would encourage youth to be proactive members of their communities. Core of their participatory activities is therefore connecting the needs of youth, needs of neighborhoods and needs of local communities.

Location: Ljudski dom Šentvid, Prušnikova ulica 99, bus transfer from the hotel

Presenter: Laszlo Foldi, Bureau International Jeunesse (BIJ), Belgian (FR) National Agency of Erasmus+ Youth

Democracy Reloading is a strategic partnership of 17 Erasmus+ Youth national agencies. Its online Toolkit is based on a reference framework of 24 competences required for a local or regional government to design, implement and evaluate structures and concepts to engage young people in decision-making. Participants will get to know the strategic partnership and the online Toolkit, which supports individual or collective learning of municipality staff to develop youth participation in decision-making.

Presenter: Flávio Ramos, City of Porto, Portugal

In this seminar, we take a look at #YouthUpPorto to reflect on the guiding principles, methods and quality indicators to support local youth policy design, implementation and evaluation. #YouthUpPorto was developed for the co-creation of the Porto Youth Strategy 4.0. It was open to all young people in Porto, and the shared responsibility with the Porto Youth Council developed local youth dialogue and produced a value-based, youth-centred and goal-oriented strategy that upholds youth rights, youth participation and youth work.

Presenter: Mateja Morić, Ljubljana Pride Association, Slovenia

We cannot have the youth participating unless we first ensure that these young people are part of youth spaces, programmes and activities. This becomes even more important when it comes to marginalised groups, who need our active support and allyship in order to access these youth spaces. In this workshop, we will explore the concept of inclusive organisations, as well as share and reflect on the experiences of inclusion of different marginalized groups of young people at all levels of organisation.

European Youth Empowerment – EYE Fest

Presenter: Anna Ulian, City of Pordenone, Italy

The project strives to promote debate on the future of Europe, to challenge Euroscepticism, to empower young people to be critical towards populism and to develop critical thinking skills. Participants will learn about 5 FESTIVAL as a tool for addressing different issues and sharing experiences, using LARP methodology, which was designed to mix historical events with modern mechanisms. Participants will have ample opportunities for discussion.

Youth & pop-up youth work in Croatia (the case of a post-earthquake community) 

Presenters: Nadja Matešić, Matea Marić, and Sabina Stipanec Grgić, Organisation IKS, Croatia

This seminar will take you on a trip to a country where youth work & youth workers as you might know them (actually!) still do not exist! We will do our best to give you an insight to a whole new world of NGO based youth work in Croatia. During this session, we will mainly focus on presenting our experiences in working with youth in a post-earthquake community.Fasten your seatbelts and get ready to hear about how pop-up activities can lead to a change!

Presenter: Ellen De Grauwe, Bataljong, Belgium

“Aanstekers” is a KA2 project. We made a webtool for young people to give their ideas to municipalities in a way they like it, with their smartphone. Swiping and adding as much they can. This tool was created for and by youth councils. Want to try it?