In the last Together Thursdays blog we looked at what participation means and the different areas of life you can participate in. This week I want to talk about the different opportunities for youth participation that Rural Youth Europe has going on right now outside of our normal events.
COCOREADO
You can read all about the COCOREADO project and the Horizon 2020 scheme that funds it in a previous blog which you should go and check out if you have not already read it for a more in-depth view of the project.
Briefly though the COCOREADO project is about rebalancing the position of the farmer as a price setter by creating shorter supply chains and reconnecting the producer and consumer. The COCOREADO project will do this with a unique focus on youth ambassadors which is where youth participation comes into play.
COCOREADO will recruit 40 young ambassadors from throughout the food supply chain and bring them into the project as full partners in order to ensure that real people and particularly youth are at the centre of the solutions being created. The COCOREADO ambassadors will be the face and voice of the project and attend 3 meetings throughout Europe over the course of the 3.5-year project. These trainings will be held in Belgium, Latvia and Spain and will provide training to the ambassadors as well as a space for them to co-create with the project partners.
The call for COCOREADO ambassadors will go out in mid-September. The main criteria will be motivation to work for change and to be part of a network which you can use to help spread the project voice. We will make sure you all remember to apply closer to the time but in the meantime you can check out the project website below for updates and news.
The 25 Percent
Young people make up 25 percent of the population of Europe, but do not have 25 percent of the representation and often struggle to have their voices heard. The 25 Percent was created by young people, for young people, determined to help all of us raise our voices and change the world.
Young people have been left out of decision-making for far too long. Time to make a change. We’re creating a new movement, one where all of us can make our voices heard.
The first step is to get in front of decision makers. This year, we’ve got a unique chance to take our seat at the table and represent real ideas for a brighter tomorrow from young people at the Conference on the Future of Europe.
The 25 Percent project will gather 15,000 ideas from young people on the future of Europe. The ideas will be gathered and collated into 15 proposals by 150 youth participants at the final Council of the Future of Europe event next year. This gives your ideas and the subsequent proposals visibility to the very highest level of EU legislators with the proposals directing the future of EU policy.
The idea is to gather ideas from all young people across Europe but to also focus on those least asked and those with the least say. It is our opportunity and responsibility at Rural Youth Europe to put this focus on rural youth and make sure their voice is heard and their needs are met.
Our goal is to provide over 1000 ideas from the rural youth and to do this we want your help. We have our own special link below for sharing ideas, this will help identify Rural Youth Europe’s contribution to the project and to make sure we know how many ideas gathered are from the rural youth so we can gauge their impact.
https://the25percent.eu/share-your-idea-form/?source=rye
Together Thursdays
As well as the above projects that we are doing as part of a consortium we also have our very own project on the go, Together Thursdays. You can read more about the project and how we want it to influence our policy work in the blog post below.
https://www.ruralyoutheurope.com/2021/03/18/youth-policy-involving-rural-youth-in-decision-making/
In short though we want to raise awareness of how EU institutions impact the lives of the rural youth. We want to look at the important work these institutions do and the ways in which they can improve life at a grassroots level. At the same time, we want to find what obstacles to participation exist for the rural youth, which are the greatest fears and barriers to the future and what areas are EU and national institutions not doing enough.
We are developing the Rural Realities form in order to find out from you what kind of participation is available, what kind isn’t, what the greatest obstacles to the future are and areas where you wish your voice was heard but isn’t. This form will launch at the end of this month, and we will make sure you all know where to find it and how we will use the impact from it to generate policy and feedback.
If you have any questions about our involvement in the above projects or how you can participate please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me or any other members of the Rural Youth Europe team!
This week’s blog was put together by John Gillon, Rural Youth Europe’s Project Manager. If you would like to discuss any aspect of the blog with John, please e-mail projects@ruralyoutheurope.com
This blog is part of the Together Thursdays project, co funded by the European Union.
