Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue

The Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue (BSYD) 2023, organized for the 10th time by the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) and funded by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, aimed to foster intergenerational collaboration on resilient democracies. This year’s primary focus was on enhancing collaboration among subregions and reaping the benefits thereof.

Held at the Academia Baltica in Oeversee, near Flensburg, Germany, from 5-9 November 2023, BSYD 2023 invited young people aged 18-27 from CBSS member and observer states to join in. Over the five-day event, 21 young people from across the Baltic Sea Region gained valuable insights into collaboration on regional and national levels within the BSR.

Through discussions, activities, and excursions, participants explored national and regional collaboration structures such as the CBSS, the Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation (BSSSC), and the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR). They received expert advice from academics and practitioners, engaged in conversations about contemporary security and environmental challenges, and contemplated the future landscape of collaborative efforts and the mutual benefits for all parties involved.

Output:

• Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue 2023 – Young ideas for enhanced subregional cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region with ideas highlighting the potential for positive changes for regions already engaged or who could potentially engage in the BSSSC.

The 2022 BSYD addressed the topic of “Civil Security – Your engagement in a safe and secure Baltic Sea Region”. Organised by CBSS and Hamburg Fire and Rescue Services, the event took place in Hamburg, Germany on 21-25 November 2022. 20 young practitioners and students from the civil protection field and from across the Baltic Sea Region held a fruitful dialogue and generated a large variety of ideas on security in the Baltic Sea Region and mutual engagement between youth and other stakeholders in the region. Stemming from geopolitical developments and the priorities of the current German Presidency of the CBSS, a dialogue on civil security was considered fitting and important.

Participants discussed with experts topics such as submerged munitions, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, international projects in the field and youth engagement in general. Based on that and their own experience and ideas, the young participants produced recommendations in the form of an “Engagement Roadmap”, which can assist stakeholders in the region to better interact with youth and develop their ideas.

Output:

• Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue Engagement Roadmap 2022 with recommendation for a safe and secure region.

The 2021 BSYD had to be held online once more. However, it combined the momentum of the previous year’s competition and the incredibly important component of interpersonal collaboration and connections across the region: the 2021 edition took form of a cross-country group assignment on the topic “Looking forward, looking back – 30 years of Collaboration in the Baltic Sea Region”, with a motivating, since competitive component. The participants created outputs in smaller groups, based on three lectures (plus activity boxes) that focused on Regional Identity, Safe & Secure Region or Sustainable & Prosperous Region respectively. The outcomes included much from research over project proposals to a board game and social media campaigns, and as another component essays were written. A jury came together to decide on the winning contributions which were awarded with an Interrail ticket at an online award ceremony with contributions from across the region. Outputs:

• “Imaginarium Balticum” – an illustrated journey by Lok Hang Abraham Chan, Daria Larionov, Silva Laure.
• “Safe Travels in the Baltic Sea Region” a board game by Caroline Alder, Hildegard Lukas and Aleksandra Glazkova.
• “Maritime clusters as a tool to reach sustainability and prosperity in the Baltic Sea region” – a study by Borys Sadowski, Karolina Sass, Vivian Tamm, Anna Ilina.
• Learning Diary entry by Aida Bradauskaitė.
• “Baltic Sea Region Youth Tour” by Emilia Curyło, Isabella Glušauskaitė, Kristina Golubenko, Christian Neubacher.
• “The Baltic Sea Youth Expedition” by Ilja Belovolovs, Zuzanna Burzec & Justina Jemeljanovaitė.
• “Simo, the Baltic Seal” – an informational Instagram account by Nadine Sippach, Luiza Rakhmatullina, Joy Laubenheimer.
• Learning Diary entry by Josephine Alder.
• Research and project ideas by Lilybell Evergreen, Khira Strauß, Dayana Atazhanova.
• “Through the Baltic Eyes” – a project idea for a Baltic Sea “guest book” by Simona Jakaitė, Teresa Garcias, Andreas Schoop, Viktoria Xomiakova.

The BSYD 2020 was originally planned to take place in Norway, with a focus on the most Northern border region between Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

Due to the pandemic, the youth dialogue could not take place physically and the project was changed and adjusted to the situation. It took place as an online competition and award ceremony under the headline “Creating a sustainable future together”. Young people were creatively engaged in thinking about the region and their common future through delivering outputs in the form of posters, essays, children book chapters or project pitches. A jury decided on the winning contributions, and everyone came together for an online award ceremony with speeches, music contributions and introduction of the winners who had the opportunity to tell their peers about their work.

All of the contributions were published in a booklet (“Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue 2020”) as a result and the posters have a chance to be added to the catalogue of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.

Outputs:

• Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue 2020: Let’s Create a Sustainable Future Together!

The 2019 edition was designed in a creative workshop format under the umbrella of the EUSTORY Next Generation Summit “Winds of Change – Transitions in Europe” organized by the Körber Foundation taking place in Berlin, Germany on October 15-19, 2019. The CBSS has cooperated with the Körber Foundation in previous Baltic Sea Youth Dialogues (2014 and 2015), so cooperation was refreshed for the 2019 event. As the Körber Foundation had already started developing the format of the 2019 EUSTORY Summit, the idea was born to integrate the BSYD into this framework.

The BSYD under the heading “Getting Glocal – the Baltic Sea Region since 1989” was to deal with the past 30 years which also mark the starting point for the early years of Baltic Sea region-building after 1989. The fall of the Soviet Union and the following re-emergence of independent nation states was accompanied by tension, rivalry and struggles for regional hegemony in the region. At the same time, transitions opened the way for new forms of cooperation connecting the regions and countries surrounding the Baltic Sea.

The EUStory summit focused on transformation and transition having taken place during the past 30 years in Europe. A five-day long programme was implemented which gave an opportunity to 20 young participants from various backgrounds to meet in Berlin, Germany, 30 years after the fall of the wall that separated Europe and the Baltic Sea Region severely. The participants came from Russia, Latvia, Germany, Estonia, Denmark, Poland, Ukraine, Sweden, Finland and Belarus.

In 2018 young people from the Baltic Sea Region gathered at Akademiezentrum Sankelmark (Oeversee, Germany) for the 5th edition of the Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue to explore identities and to discuss questions on borders and culture, cooperation, minorities and more. During these days they got to know the Council of the Baltic Sea States and its work and increased their knowledge of and participation in the decision-making processes in our region.

How do people live along national borders? How do they deal with ethnic minorities and immigrants? What is identity and is there regional identity of the Baltic Sea Region? 23 participants met in the Danish-German border region of Sønderjylland-Schleswig, an interesting example of co-existence and cooperation, and learned about the German minority in Denmark and the Danish one in Germany. During lectures and interactive group work they also discussed the Roma and Frisian minority, migration issues in the region, the experience of the region Sønderjylland -Schleswig and the work and cultural policies of the European Union. In a workshop regarding migration issues in the region participants developed their own policy recommendations. At the traditional part of the Youth Dialogue, the simulation game “Be a CBSS official for one day”, the participants discussed the Vision Group Report and future development of the CBSS at a simulated meeting of the CBSS Committee of Senior Officials (CSO).

The Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue 2017 was run by the Council of the Baltic Sea States Secretariat in partnership with the Aleksanteri Institute (University of Helsinki), and NORDEN Association St. Petersburg. The project took place on 20-26 November and for that, the CBSS invited 15 young teachers from the Baltic Sea Region and beyond (Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Russian Federation; Belarus and Italy) to Finland and Russia. The project was very well received by the participants. One of the main highlights of the project was the CSO meeting simulation, where the participants took the roles of a Senior Officials to solve a hypothetical issue arising in the BSR via multilateral diplomacy, which will be repeated in this year’s edition, too, but with another focus.

In 2016, the project Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue consisted of three separate parts: Solidarity Academy-Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue 2016, a concert of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic orchestra in Gdansk and the Bridge it! -programme.

The main part of the Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue 2016 was from 13 – 20 November 2016, 16 young aspiring journalists from the Baltic Sea Region and beyond met in Gdansk at the European Solidarity Centre for the Solidarity Academy – Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue. During the project the students from Belarus, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom and Ukraine, already working as freelance journalists in their home countries or abroad, were invited to deepen and share their knowledge during the workshops in Gdansk and Kaliningrad. In connection to this, an evaluation seminar and a panel discussion on the project were held at the ‘Felleshus’ of the Nordic Embassies in Berlin on 28 March 2017. During the evaluation seminar, the individual development, the people-to-people contacts, and emerging networks were pointed out as significant results by all the facilitators. To broaden one’s own horizons and having a chance to actively engage in artistic and social discourse was stressed as one of the most important achievements of the project by all the project participants.

One of the results of BSYD 2016 was a publication “Meanwhile in the Baltics” – which is a collection of stories from the participants of Solidarity Academy – Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue 2016 can be accessed here.

The second edition of Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue took place from 2 – 9 September 2015 when the Polish city of Olsztyn welcomed fifty young Europeans from 19 countries. The topic of the youth dialogue was “Homeland reconsidered – new loyalties and redefined identities in Europe”. The Hamburg-based Körber Foundation and the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) continued the cooperation that was successfully started with the already mentioned first edition for the Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue.

The first Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue took place from 10 – 17 September 2014 when 25 young Europeans from 10 countries of the Baltic Sea region met in Tallinn, Narva and Ivangorod. The lead project partners were CBSS and the Körber Foundation. During the first edition of BSYD the young participants discussed and explored the history and future of borders and identities. Tallinn and especially the twin cities of Narva in Estonia and Ivangorod in the Russian Federation set the scene for their venture. In addition to workshops and roundtable discussions on history and identity the participants also worked on an Instagram exhibition of the event titled “Balticeye” (#balticeye). The exhibition, which opened on 1 October 2014, documents the participants’ views on their generation, shared past, life on borders and identities. The exhibition can be viewed via link www.balticeye.net.