Youth from the Mediterranean meet to design cooperation projects for the promotion of youth employability, women’s empowerment and sustainable development

• The 1^st Youth Forum for the Mediterranean took place in Tarragona from 7 to 9 July in the framework of the XVIII Mediterranean Games. It brought together 45 Mediterranean young leaders from 20 countries.
• The official opening session was held on 6 July at the UfM headquarters, in Barcelona, with the participation of the designated UfM Secretary General, Nasser Kamel, the President of the Port of Tarragona, Josep Andreu i Figueras, the Dean of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Mª José Figueras, the Chief commissioner for the Mediterranean Games 2018, Javier Villamayor Caamaño, and the Commissioner in charge of youth and cooperation in the City Council of Tarragona, Ivana Martínez Valverde.
  

Barcelona, 3 July, 2018. The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the Tarragona City Council jointly organized the 1^st Youth Forum for the Mediterranean on 6-9 July in Tarragona.  Held in the framework of the XVIII Mediterranean Games, the Forum brought together 45 representatives from youth-led organizations, platforms and networks from 20 countries to share their experience, best practices and innovative ideas with a view to developing regional cooperation projects led by youth in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

The Forum aimed to foster intercultural dialogue among youth organisations from both shores of the Mediterranean, and create space for project-building. It provided the participants with a comprehensive knowledge on how to develop a regional cooperation project from its concept to its implementation. Each session encouraged collective thinking and exchange of methods and good practices on regional partnerships and project development, by bridging youth-led organisations and platforms with regional cooperation actors, such as the UfM and some of its key partners. The Forum ultimately promoted youth participation and action in the Euro-Mediterranean area and its action-oriented regional agenda.

Fostering a common vision and exchanging with senior experts from the region, the young Mediterranean practitioners were expected to present their ideas for potential regional projects that can be labelled by the UfM, in line with the current Euro-Mediterranean policy frameworks and focusing on the main strategic priorities of the Union for the Mediterranean, namely youth employability, women’s empowerment and sustainable development. The projects developed during the Forum also seek to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

“The Youth Forum for the Mediterranean is an incredibly relevant platform where to foster the so much-needed common approach to common problems that are affecting our communities. What motivates me is that it was be an occasion not only to share best practices but, most importantly, to plan ahead concrete actions on the ground that will eventually act as multipliers of change within our local communities”, says Federica Giordano, representative of Forum Nazionale dei Giovani, the Italian National Youth Forum.

Representing nearly 60% 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 development. Their active participation in regional cooperation and dialogue is essential as they are important ambassadors of the shared values that the UfM seeks to promote in both the Northern and Southern shores of the Mediterranean.

Youth-led organisations participating in the Forum: 

• Mediterranean Youth Climate Network (MYCN), Euro-Mediterranean
• Young Mediterranean Voices, Euro-Mediterranean
• The Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU), Europe
• Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Alumni Network, Tunisia
• Womenpreneur, Belgium
• Forum Nazionale Giovani, Italy
• Eyouth, Egypt
• Conselho Nacional da Juventude de Portugal
• International Center for New Media / European Youth Award, Vienna, Austria and Tunisia
• Kunsill Nazzjonali Taz-Zghazagh – Malta Youth Council
• το δΙΚΤΥΟ_ Ενεργοποίησης Νέων Κατερίνης – The Network of Youth Engagement in Katerini, Greece
• High Atlas Foudation, Morocco
• WeYouth Organization, Tunisia
• Min ila, Lebanon
• Water Heroes, Palestine
• Office franco-allemand pour la Jeunesse // Deutsch-französisches Jugendwerk, France and Germany
• Youth Commission for Diplomacy and Collaboration (YCDC), Turkey
• Representatives of the Universidad Rovira i Virgili, Spain