Urban Solutions Seminar 2013

Urban Solutions Educational Videoclips

Urban Solutions Seminar 2 gathered lots of expertise which we’ve translated into short educational video-clips, that can be used at other training courses and youth events.

The video-clips are giving short inputs & statements about different topics, like:
•    What is social inclusion?
•    What is (true) participation for you?
•    What are the challenges in your Urban Area?
•    What do young people want?
•    How can you(th) make a difference?
•    The bridge between decision makers and young people
•    New ways of (online) participation
•    Intercultural mediators and communication
•    Is the police your friend?

You can watch them all here!

Date & venue

• From 15 to 19 October 2013
• Live seminar in Athens, Greece - virtually on blog and Twitter.

Topic

The first cross-sectorial seminar on social challenges in urban areas took place in May 2012, in UK. The concept of bringing together different stakeholders (local policy makers, researchers, Youth in Action officers, urban youth projects and young people) has proven to be very successful and appreciated by the participants.

The second "Urban Solution Seminar" had young people involvement in decision making and sharing and giving power to young people (empowerment of young people) in the cities, as a topic.

Aims of the seminar

To reflect upon how to involve young people in decision-making process in (sub)urban areas and the role of young people, youth work and other stakeholders in sharing/giving power to young people..

Main Objectives:

• DIALOGUE - to provide a space for young people to get in dialogue with other city stakeholders and discuss “burning” issues;
• ANALYSIS - to get a better understanding of what happened in Athens and other big European cities in last few years (political context behind, institutions involved,...);
• LOCAL - to get to know local reality, through some young people real stories and project visits;
• INTERVENTION - to explore how the voice of young people can be heard, how can we transfer ownership to young people. (share good practices, inspire future action, recommendations,...);
• ACTION - to stimulate future action and follow-up (e.g. action planning, commitment, funding possibilities,...)

Outcomes & Evaluation

"Eye opening in meeting new people whose view perspective is very different."
"I came as a youth volunteer and came out inspired."
"I have one concrete idea to cooperate with another organisation. It gave me new energy to move on and keep being passionate about my job."
"Nice mixture of theoretical and practical input, from the local area as well the European. Many interactive parts."
"I loved the idea of participation of the social media team in the seminar."

• Those are just some important issues, ideas, methods that Urban Solutions participants took home. To find more what did they learn and how did they experience Urban Solutions Seminar, download here the evaluation summary!
• Urban Solutions Seminar, via Twitter, actively reached out to involve more people in the discussions via our live blog at the seminar - where you can still consult all shared urban resources: http://urbsol2.tumblr.com/
• See the photo's, here!
• All intrested in could also stay updated via the SALTO Inclusion & Cultural Diversity Facebook page: www.facebook.com/SALTOInclusionDiversity
• The participants had a chance to discover a local reality by visiting some very inspiring local/youth/art/ and cultural organisations.
• The professional social media team also made an educational video exploring the topic of youth participation in the urban areas - will be availabe soon!

Programme

Download the programme of the seminar

Programme elements

(Sub)URBAN AREAS

• Similarities and differences between (sub)urban areas in Europe
• Everybody’s city? Places and spaces in the city (use of public spaces, whom do they belong to, young people relation with the city…)
• Young people in (sub)urban areas: issues, contributions, what do they do in the city, what kind of the city do they want?
• Athens: get to know local reality

EMPOWERMENT & PARTICIPATION

• What are we talking about? Terminology & definitions: participation, citizenship, democracy,...
• Sharing power with young people and participatory decision-making process
• Political context and institutions who have the power in the city, role of young people, youth work & other stakeholders.

GOOD PRACTICES

• Sharing good practices & methods to intervene in the city (what has been done already, how it can be done differently, inspiration...)
• Local project visits and young people's real stories
• Resources for participatory projects in (sub)urban areas
• Use of social media for participatory youth projects

NETWORKING & ACTION

• How different stakeholders can be working together better?
• Different kinds of cooperation and organisation in the city (individual, group, movements, alliances…)
• Where & how to find finances for youth projects in the (sub)urban areas (YiA Programme…)
• Future projects

Participants' profile

The seminar brought together 35 participants, amongst which:

• Young people (+18 old) who have some experience in a participative youth project (participant, leader,…; local, regional, international)
• Policy makers (or civil servants implementing policy) of cities dealing with/linked to young people (youth services, employment, urban planners,…)
• Youth workers directly working with youth in disadvantaged (sub)urban areas
• Teachers, educators, social workers,… working with youth in disadvantaged (sub)urban areas
• Police, community officers,… from disadvantaged (sub)urban areas
• Researchers working on topic of youth in urban areas and youth participation.
• National Agencies' staff with experience and motivation to work on a topic
  
   

Team

The "Urban Solutions Seminar 2" was co-organised by SALTO Inclusion, the Greek NA, the UK and Polish national agencies for the Youth in Action programme and SALTO Participation. It was part of SALTO Inclusion's strategy on urban youth interventions (2012-13).

The organising team was composed of 2 facilitators, 2 social media staff and SALTO and National Agency staff.

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