Baltic Sea youth activists come to Stockholm to develop the “Baltic Sea Youth Platform”
From 2nd until 3rd of December, 15 youth representatives from the Baltic Sea region came to the CBSS Secretariat in Stockholm to set the cornerstones for the “Baltic Sea Youth Platform” (BSYP). The platform, coordinated by the CBSS Secretariat, will provide tools to strengthen and connect youth organisations around the region.
Recent youth demonstrations all around the globe have shown that young people’s visions are often still not sufficiently involved in the political decision-making process – also in the Baltic Sea Region. This is despite of the fact that many organisations have become more and more active in promoting young people’s engagement in different sectors. So how can young people streamline their efforts and make their voice better heard in the future?
To answer these questions, 15 youth activists came to the CBSS Secretariat in Stockholm. In an interactive workshop, they worked on the development of the “Baltic Sea Youth Platform” (BSYP), a project designed to provide tools to effectively connect and empower youth in the region.
During the workshop, the participants mapped challenges and common goals in the development of the platform and discussed the responsibilities of different partners. While questions regarding strategic partners, political outreach and public communication were lively debated, all participants stressed the importance of a common workspace to plan and implement projects, draft policy recommendations and transfer knowledge about best practices amongst youth organisations in the region. As such, they agreed, the platform can help to coordinate and advocate the voice of young people better and increase the participation of youth in the society and decision-making processes.
Theoretical input and guidance were provided by Kaarina Williams, Senior Adviser for Regional Identity, Olga Zuin, CBSS Programme Coordinator Baltic 2030 and CBSS interns Aline Mayr, Mathilda Högling, Elina Ibo and Svenja Scholz. The workshop participants represented the Nordic Council of Ministers office in Lithuania, the Union of Baltic Cities (UBC), the Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation (BSSSC), ReGeneration 2030, ESN Finland and different youth councils in Germany, Lithuania and Finland.
More photos of the BSYP Development Workshop are available here.
About the Baltic Sea Youth Platform (BSYP)
The Baltic Sea Youth Platform (BSYP) is a project established as a reaction to requests expressed by several youth organisations in the Baltic Sea Region. Together, they wished to find ways to more efficiently reach out to political decisionmakers. The BSYP is designed to work as an umbrella coordination mechanism for youth organisations from different sectors and provide tools to reach that goal. Its aim is to improve the political impact of youth on Baltic Sea policymaking, to enable knowledge transfer amongst the organisations, and to facilitate innovative projects planned and implemented by youth.
The BSYP will be coordinated by the CBSS Secretariat.