Digital discussions – youth and Europe
Empowering pan-European discussions
DD, Student Foundation, and Latvian Student Union all work towards training and empowering youth to speak their mind on matters that are important for their future. Covid and other emerging global challenges have forced organisations (including us) to rethink our current activities.
Usual physical events are not the default norm anymore. This with the combination of a bigger awareness of mental health caused young people to be more selective with where they spend their time. Since online options are now accessible, it does not make sense for young people to do everything physically.
Another aspect is that the challenges that affect young people’s lives are not limited to country borders. Covid, war, mental health, and climate challenges are all global issues that affect young people’s lives. And most decision-making on these challenges does not happen on the national level anymore. This sets the need for the discussions we are having with our organisations to be more transnational to better understand these challenges and find solutions.
The total amount of the grant is €60 000
What we dID in the project?
Our objectives with this project were to:
1) develop a new transnational virtual discussion format;
2) implement and introduce the new format via hybrid discussions between 2-3 countries;
3) build the partners’ capacity to organise hybrid events and quality discussions in the process and create opportunities for the format to be used.
With this project, we wanted to reach about 200 young people with the discussions events, train 40 young leaders to organise discussions, and reach 50 new youth/student organisations with our dissemination activities.
GAINING THE EXPERIENCE
Together with partners, we developed a new hyperlocal way for having transnational discussions and gained the skills of organising and facilitating these discussions.
Piloting the discussions
We piloted transnational discussions ourselves three times in 2022 and 2023 to inspire young people with a new way for having discussions with peers from different countries.
TRAINING STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
We empowered student organisations in Estonia and Latvia to organise public discussions and take an active role in making young people’s voices heard.
Contact:
Joanna Kurvits
Project manager
joanna (at) dd.foundation
Joanna is the project manager of the Hybrid European Democracy Festival and also responsible for the success of this project.
