Conference

Youth to Youth: Unleashing the Potential of Youth Activism and Building Bridges Across the Euro-Mediterranean

17 - 17 June 2019

Palau Macaya, Barcelona

Conceived and funded by the IEMed, the Youth Forum, gathering over 40 participants from over 10 countries, offers a unique opportunity to debate and exchange with policy makers and other young experts on key issues in the Euro-Mediterranean area and to contribute to policy shaping in the region.

The Forum aims to build and empower a thriving community of young researchers in Euro- Mediterranean affairs and increase the visibility of their work.

Composed of two parallel working sessions, practical workshops and a plenary session, the forum offers young researchers a chance to share their experiences and issue concrete proposals on relevant topics.

This year´s edition of the forum focused on online and offline youth activism in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Pictures by

Nicolás Carvalho Ochoa

Funded by

Agenda

9.00 - 9.30 Welcome & Presentation

9.30 - 12.00 Working group sessions

Youth online activism – a driver of change?

The first decades of XXI century, and in particular since the economic crisis, saw increased mobilisations on online platforms of young people across the Euro-Mediterranean eager to make things change. The aim of the session is to track current youth online activism and initiatives in selected Euro-Mediterranean countries, identify trends and major issues around which young people in the Euro-Med region mobilise, determine the factors enabling or hindering the increased online activism (i.e surveillance, online literacy), as well as reflect on to what extent youth online activism translates into increased political engagement offline.

Youth offline activism : similarities and divergences across the Euro-Med region

Last years have witnessed an increased offline activism and mobilisations of youth both in Europe and in the MENA region. Some similar patterns can be observed across the Euro-Med region including the tenuous political affiliation or ideological references of those mobilisations and the focus on practical and concrete goals. The session will aim at analysing those patterns as well as of the profile of mobilized youth across the Euro-Med and the level of regional cooperation and connections between them. It will also dwell on how authorities and more traditional segments of civil society reply to an increased youth offline activism.

12.30 – 14.00 Workshops

How to write policy briefs?

The workshop aims at familiarising the participants with techniques and methodologies to write impactful policy briefs. It will consist of a theoretical part and a practical one.

Design thinking for research

The workshop aims at familiarising the participants with visual and design thinking tools and methods, which can be used in order to develop and support analytical and creative skills for research projects. It will consist of a theoretical part and a practical one, consisting of a visual presentation of research to other attendants.

15.00 – 16.30 Presentations of the results of the Working Groups Sessions and debate

Rapporteurs will share main conclusions and recommendations from the working group discussions. Plenary discussion regarding the outcomes.