Promote youth civic participation by empowering youth organisations, creating networking opportunities, mobility, capacity building and tailor-made trainings to design, through dialogue, civic engagement at local and European level to support the rebuilding of inclusive and more able to better adapt and respond to the challenges that have emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic.
All this and much more was Rebuild.
The final event of REBUILD, the “International Youth Summit”, was held on 3, 4 and 5 May in the heart of Brussels, capital of the European institutions. These were dynamic days, with numerous interactive sessions able to bring together a diverse group of passionate young people, innovators and leaders of engaging interventions, through workshops and networking opportunities in various fields, from the issue of civic engagement of underrepresented youth, to solidarity society and towards an ecological lifestyle.
This final event was designed to inspire and empower (even more) its participants and (continue) to have a positive impact in their communities and the world, by promoting all these topics at local and EU level. Participants from Italy, Spain, Greece, Lithuania, Cyprus and Martinique were able to share their insights and experiences on the above topics, exchanging project ideas and presenting their experiences in implementing their initiatives, including points of strength and the challenges they encountered.
In the European Parliament, on the final day, the winners of the contest presented their initiatives, and the Strategy Paper was presented to those present and to political leaders, a document created with young people, for young people, to ensure that the experiences learned thanks to Rebuild can be facilitated in new forms of local, national and European collaborations.
This journey has shown us that by investing in local and EU youth initiatives, it is possible to create a knock-on effect of positive and proactive change, as the initiatives have had a direct impact in improving the community in which they are implemented. Demonstrating that involving young people in the decision-making process on issues that affect them is essential.
Rebuild has shown not only that all of this is possible, but that young people are ready to get involved and prove their worth. It is up to us representatives of civil society, political leaders and adults in general to give them the opportunity to be whoever they want to be and to carry on the battles they believe in, since they are not only active for a change that concerns them personally, but they have shown that they care about a 360-degree change towards society as a whole.
About the project
REBUILD – Rebuilding society through youth engagement is a project funded by the program EACEA (Key Action 3 – European Youth Together), and is aimed at rebuilding youth civic participation after the COVID19 pandemic.
Partners
- CESIE (Italy, coordinator)
- D’Antilles et D’Ailleurs (Martinique)
- KMOP (Greece)
- Iniciativa Internacional Joven (AIIJ) (Spain)
- Active Youth Association (Lithuania)
- CARDET (Cyprus)
- Out of the Box International (Belgium)
For further information
Read the project sheet, visit the website http://rebuild-europe.net/ and follow us on Facebook, Twitter e Instagram.
Contact Alice Valenza: alice.valenza@cesie.org
