Youth Forum for the Mediterranean

Launched in July 2008, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is an inter-governmental organisation that brings together all 28 countries of the European Union and 15 countries of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean, with the aim of enhancing regional cooperation and dialogue in the Euro-Mediterranean region in order to collectively address three interrelated priorities: regional stability, human development, and integration.

Comprising nearly 60 per cent of the total population, young people constitute one of the greatest assets for stability and development in the Euro-Mediterranean region, and play a significant role in energizing growth, poverty reduction and societal well-being. Their active participation in intercultural exchanges and dialogue is also essential, as young people are important ambassadors of the shared values that the UfM seeks to promote in both the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean.

Youth are thus at the core of the UfM regional strategy: its Roadmap for Action, adopted by its 43 Member States in January 2017, is indeed centered on young people’s potential to promote stability, development and more inclusive societies. In this framework, the UfM Secretariat works with youth as active players and partners in its efforts to promote effective regional cooperation in the Mediterranean. It fosters youth employability and entrepreneurship, higher education, vocational education, training, health and mobility via specific youth initiatives and ‘mainstreaming’ cross-sector initiatives to ensure youth issues are taken into account when formulating, implementing and evaluating policies and actions in all the UfM’s fields of activity.

The UfM collaborates closely with international and regional organsations working with and for youth, as well as with youth-led organisations and platforms and networks to scale-up youth projects and initiatives for development in the Mediterranean at regional level and increase their impact on the ground.

To learn more: https://ufmsecretariat.org/youth-day-2017/

Following up on the II UfM Regional Forum, organised under the theme “Mediterranean in Action: Youth for Stability and Development” to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and after consultations  with youth organisations on key issues in the Euro-Mediterranean area, the UfM launches, in cooperation with the Tarragona City Council, the first Youth Forum for the Mediterranean. This four-days partnership-building activity will bring together representatives of youth-led organisations, platforms and networks from the Euro-Mediterranean region to develop regional cooperation projects led by youth in three key UfM areas of action:

• Women empowerment
• Youth employability and employment
• Sustainable development

In these fields, the UfM Secretariat acts as a catalyst of projects, providing continuous support for the implementation of the projects through technical expertise, networking opportunities and visibility, regional dialogue to create synergies for partnerships, and taking stock of particularly innovative ideas in view of up-scaling them to a more regional level.

The objectives of the Forum are:

This Forum aims to provide the participants with a comprehensive knowledge of the UfM action-driven methodology (3 P’s methodology), as well as with a series of competences and tools, to create and promote effective links between the Euro-Mediterranean policy frameworks and their operational translation into concrete projects and initiatives on the ground.

More precisely, the Youth Forum for the Mediterranean will provide a space for Mediterranean youth working on the three areas above to further learn about the mandates and objectives adopted by the 43 UfM Member States in these fields, and develop their projects ideas, through the UfM methodology, into three region-wide initiatives that respectively address each of the strategic issues tackled.

The specific objectives of the Forum are:

• Foster networking and intercultural exchanges between youth organisations and platforms from both shores of the Mediterranean, build trust and create space for project-building;
• Empower and develop knowledge, skills and competencies of youth leaders and youth workers by exchanging and promoting realities, methods and good practices in terms of regional cooperation and project development in the Mediterranean;
• Bring youth into UfM networks for sectorial action and disseminate the UfM action-driven methodology and tools;
• Enhance youth-ledregional cooperation projects for development and stability in the Euro-Mediterranean region, connecting them to the relevant UfM policy frameworks to ensure coherence, effectiveness and impact on the ground, as well as sustainability;
• Bridge youth-led organisations and platforms with regional cooperation actors, such as the UfM and its partners, to promote youth participation in an action-oriented regional agenda.

The XVIII edition of the Mediterranean Games, a multisport competition organized within the Olympic movement, will take place in the historic city of Tarragona from the 22 June to the 1 July 2018. The Mediterranean Games are organized by the Spanish Olympic Committee, the Spanish National Sports Council (CSD), the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Provincial Councils of Tarragona and Barcelona, as well as the City Council of Tarragona, with the recognition of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The different sport events will be distributed in 16 venues of the territory and feature 33 sport disciplines, 4,000 athletes from 26 different nationalities, 1,000 judges and international representatives, 1,000 journalists, 3,500 volunteers and more than 150,000 spectators.

The Mediterranean Games are nevertheless not only limited to sports, but are part of a long-term strategy to position the city of Tarragona as a meeting point of cultures and dialogue in the Mediterranean region. Tarragona 2018 will indeed go beyond sport competitions to impact the territory with a significant economic, cultural and social legacy. In this framework, the first Youth Forum for the Mediterranean aims to become a yearly meeting point of youth-led organisations, platforms and networks across the Euro-Mediterranean region to network and exchange, on the basis of sports values (Integration-Development-Diversity- Support).

The XVIII edition of the Mediterranean Games, a multisport competition organized within the Olympic movement, will take place in the historic city of Tarragona from the 22 June to the 1 July 2018. The Mediterranean Games are organized by the Spanish Olympic Committee, the Spanish National Sports Council (CSD), the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Provincial Councils of Tarragona and Barcelona, as well as the City Council of Tarragona, with the recognition of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The different sport events will be distributed in 16 venues of the territory and feature 33 sport disciplines, 4,000 athletes from 26 different nationalities, 1,000 judges and international representatives, 1,000 journalists, 3,500 volunteers and more than 150,000 spectators.

The Mediterranean Games are nevertheless not only limited to sports, but are part of a long-term strategy to position the city of Tarragona as a meeting point of cultures and dialogue in the Mediterranean region. Tarragona 2018 will indeed go beyond sport competitions to impact the territory with a significant economic, cultural and social legacy. In this framework, the first Youth Forum for the Mediterranean aims to become a regular meeting point of youth-led organisations, platforms and networks across the Euro-Mediterranean region to network and exchange, on the basis of sports values (Integration-Development-Diversity- Support).

How to apply: eligibility criteria and selection process

The UfM Secretariat invites youth-led organisations, platforms and networks from the Euro-Mediterranean area to send 2-3 members/representatives to participate to the Youth Forum for the Mediterranean.

The selection of participating organisations and their representatives will be carried out by a selection committee comprising members of the UfM Secretariat, the City Council of Tarragona, the University Rovira i Virgili, and the pedagogical team of the Forum, according to the following eligibility and selection criteria, to be fulfilled by the deadline for applications:

– be a youth-led organisation/platform/network active principally in one of the 43 UfM Member States[1];
– have open and ongoing activities and/or projects in one of the three areas tackled by the Forum;
– have background knowledge and experience in international youth work and regional cooperation projects;
– have background knowledge and experience in terms of Euro-Mediterranean policies and of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Eligible organisations should nominate 2 to 3 representatives on the basis of the following eligibility and selection criteria, to be fulfilled by the deadline for applications:

– have between 18 and 30 years old;
– be able to work and communicate in English;
– play an active role in the initiative/project carried by the sending structure and presented during the Forum, and plan to continue this work in the near future;
– be able to attend the whole duration of the activity.

The selection process will seek gender and geographical balance.

[1] Albania • Algeria • Austria • Belgium • Bosnia and Herzegovina • Bulgaria • Croatia • Cyprus • Czech Republic • Denmark • Egypt • Estonia • Finland • France • Germany • Greece • Hungary • Ireland • Israel • Italy • Jordan • Latvia • Lebanon • Lithuania • Luxemburg • Malta • Mauritania • Monaco • Montenegro • Morocco • Netherlands • Palestine • Poland • Portugal • Romania • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain • Sweden • Syria (self-suspended in 2011) • Tunisia • Turkey • United Kingdom

Please note that only shortlisted applications will be contacted, and that due to the large number of applications, individual requests will not be addressed unless those seeking assistance for the application process.

 Eligible organisations are invited to send the completed application form by Sunday 10 June (23:59 UTC+2 – Barcelona time)
                          

Practical information: travelling days and expenses

Arrival day is 6 July 2018 (before 14:00) and departure day is 9 July 2018 in the afternoon from the Barcelona Airport.

The travel, transport from Barcelona to Tarragona, board and lodging of the selected participants for the entire duration of the Forum will be covered by the UfM Secretariat, the City Council of Tarragona, the Port of Tarragona and the University Rovira i Virgili. It is expected that background organisations support expenses related to local transport in the home country (from and to the origin of travel). Participants will be lodged in double rooms. A free evening for attendees to explore the local area is foreseen, and therefore the dinner will not be provided by the organisers that day.

An info-pack with further details on logistics and programme will be shared with the selected participants.

[1] Albania • Algeria • Austria • Belgium • Bosnia and Herzegovina • Bulgaria • Croatia • Cyprus • Czech Republic • Denmark • Egypt • Estonia • Finland • France • Germany • Greece • Hungary • Ireland • Israel • Italy • Jordan • Latvia • Lebanon • Lithuania • Luxemburg • Malta • Mauritania • Monaco • Montenegro • Morocco • Netherlands • Palestine • Poland • Portugal • Romania • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain • Sweden • Syria (self-suspended in 2011) • Tunisia • Turkey • United Kingdom