What can be understood from popular, and perhaps somewhat loose terminology, of ‘active citizenship’, when in many local communities already, it would be difficult to accuse young people of being anything but if they are to weather the climate as it has currently stood for a number of years already. For this year, I have looked more broadly in regards to this question in the sense of pursuing a number of international opportunities available to all young people, and in particular European activities that are supported by the European Union’s ‘Youth in Action’ programme. As a volunteer and representative for a number of projects in the UK already, I was delighted to find my application accepted for an exchange in the historic surroundings of Salamanca, Spain which would continue to address this rather nebulous description of ‘active citizenship’ and find some of those answers with a diverse mix of other young citizens across Europe.
Titled as ‘EYouth’, the project brought together twenty-four participants across: Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, and of course, least forgetting, the UK. With the project hosted by a number of trained facilitators, the week began with a surprise of each receiving a tablet for us to use during the course and keep afterwards. One of the initial aims of the two-part exchange, this being the first, was to develop our personal ICT skills in how we should be active for our social action projects in our local areas. A crucial aspect for developing our personal and social skills in the course of the week was to speak out to the group (in front of cameras which never left our side for the time there). Undoubtedly, the challenges acted as a way to assess our confidence in communication within the given time constraints we had, but also an efficient strategy to feedback into our individual ideas, which encompassed projects around sexual health, arts and culture, advisory boards and creating a database of international opportunities for young people.
The purpose of the exchange itself though perhaps had more secular motives behind the hopeful ambitions of the European delegates in our sunny environs. Countries such as Spain still confront an eye-watering 57% of their youth unemployed, with others like Portugal showing no sign of improvement in their figures of mobility. In the exception of a robust economy like Germany, it is more than reasonable to see why the European Commission are prepared to invest in projects which encourage young people to take matters into their own hands when we may be victims of a situation now impossible for individual governments to solve alone. The agenda of our programme also featured a visit to Salamanca’s Plenary Hall Town Hall, where two councillors led a presentation on why Generation Y have to believe in the European Union now than at any other time. Even they though were unable to answer the most pressing question of all: the future. An article from a local Salamanca news outlet, which publicised our visit, claimed that we were at “risk of social or economic exclusion.” We can only hope initiatives such as this can be part of a longer term solution.
