Transnational Partners Meeting of the E-Voice project: standing together to support youth after the COVID-19 Pandemic

From 6 to 9 September, 2023, E-Voice project partners and beneficiaries met in Šibenik (Croatia) for the second Transnational Partners Meeting, during which the work undertaken so far by the partners was explored. The project, under the “Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV)” programme, is carried out by a partnership of 7 countries – Italy (Gazzo), Romania (Mioveni), Croatia (Sibenik), Bulgaria (Union Of Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities – UBBSLA), Spain (Fondo Andaluz de Municipios para la Solidariadad Internacional- FAMSI), Belgium (Association of Cities and Regions for Sustainable Resource Management- ACR+) and France (ALDA – The European Association for Local Democracy). During the three days, the representatives of 6 countries gathered together to focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youngsters’ mental health through some interesting lectures and interactive workshops. The meeting aimed not only to define the next steps for the project but also provided an opportunity to deepen partners’ understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives and education of young people.

The meeting began with an insightful lecture by Professor Marko Kovačić, an expert in Youth Studies at Edward Bernays University of Applied Sciences, who pointed out that youth is now living during a “cascade of crisis“: several entangled crisis are currently challenging new generations’ mental health, which were unfolded during stimulating group activities.

Afterwards, partners had the opportunity to visit the beautiful city of Šibenik and discover more on its history, culture and development with the help of a tour guide who explained that Šibenik is a “City for Youth”: inspired by the European Charter on Local Youth Work, the Association of Cities in Croatia together with the Croatian Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes publishes yearly a call inviting cities to apply for a ‘City for Youth’ certificate. To obtain this recognition, a city has to match criteria based on the analysis of existing models in Europe: there are a total of 81 criteria, divided into 8 thematic areas concerning youth participation, demography, youth employment, mobility, health and sport, youth work and culture, education and information. In order to be a ‘City for Youth’, youth policies must be successfully implemented  in at least the 50% of the thematic areas. A great example of a city that cares about its youth! 

The 3-days meeting gave to the project consortium the opportunity to be inspired on innovative youth policies and initiatives

The last day partners had the chance to touch first hand the results of a fruitful best practice implemented by the city of Šibenik during the pandemic: the Trokut Incubator of Šibenik. It is a coworking and office space that supports freelancers, digital nomads, developers, startups, and other entrepreneurs. Its primary goal is to provide education, reskilling, and, more specifically, to strengthen the young entrepreneurial and IT community. An awesome best practice to support youth’s business ideas.

During the 3 days meeting partners exchanged methods and good practices to support youth in the post pandemic period and learned what Šibenik is implementing in this regard. The next phase of the project will take place in Sevilla (Spain) in November: stay tuned for further updates!

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