In our previous post we shared some of the highlights and great ideas from the ECI Youth Forums we facilitated this year.
With having 30-40 young people per forum, discussions are highly interactive, and throughout the day everyone has a chance to share hers or his thoughts, ideas, concerns.
These forums are not just a discussion about climate change, carbon footprint and/or sustainability. When you put into the context countries we are active in (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kosovo (under UN Resolution 1244), Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine), you realize that, for the vast majority of these countries, such forums create a space for young people where they can:
- debate in a democratic way, by backing up their opinion with valid arguments
- become aware of the issues, activities, initiatives and case studies in their own community, country, and region
- be exposed to experiences, cultures and ways of life from other regions, countries, towns
- connect with peers
- agree to agree or disagree
- get inspired in their thinking and incubation process:
- research
- learn
- explore
- connect
- act
- present opinions and studies, get access to information, and be allowed to form their own opinion(s)
- learn about corporate and governmental responsibility
Our Youth Forums continue, with upcoming forums in Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Belgrade (Serbia) this November. The forum schedule for 2012 will be announced later this year.
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