The YOUth & EU project

YOUth and EU coming together – YOU&EU – is an Erasmus+ project which came up from the “Youth Survey 2021” published by the Eurobameter previous to the European Year of Youth. In this way, the results showed that youngsters were not aware about the impact that EU has on them and their day-to-day lives, as well as majority part of youth thought that they have nothing to say in the European Union. Thusly, YOU&EU raised with the collaboration of a three countries partnership formed by Finnova (Belgium), Benaguasil City Council (Spain) and Europa Union Frankfurt (Germany) to foster the lack of interest among youngsters and to change their ideas regarding the importance, impact and opportunities that Europe has in their lives, giving them tools to disseminate and enhance EU communication among youth.  

OBJECTIVES 

Considering it, YOU&EU framework was designed to cover the following objectives:  

• To provide basic knowledge about the European Union and how it influences our daily life. 


• To improve the knowledge of youth in European policies with a special focus on youth. 


• To involve young people in all spheres of the EU by providing them with opportunities for employment, training, and mobility Encourage youth participation in decision-making and political life at local and European level. 


• To improve the channels of communication between the political sphere and young people. 


• To promote European democratic life. 


• To create international networks in the field of youth work. 

ACTIVITIES 

Then, in order to reach the proposed goals, four main presential activities were carried out, named: 

• What about EU? | It was carried out in Frankfurt, Germany, held by Europa Union Frankfurt. During this activity participants could learn about different important and relevant topics for youth which are currently a trend in EU policy, such us human rights, the Green Deal or the digital transition, favouring the debate and ideas exchange among them.  
• Opportunities at EU | Performed in Benaguasil, Spain and held by the Benaguasil City Council. Following the project, this activity was aimed to the environment and EU funding, promoting their participation within great problems like the climate change, and demonstrating the importance of their collaboration.  
• Taking part at EU | This activity was executed in Brussels – the centre of the European policy – and it was held by Finnovaregio Foundation. Due to this, the activity was completely aimed at knowing how institutions work, what they offer to youth and their impact among youngsters, making a strong point to their communication ways to reach youth and involve it into EU affairs.  
• Closing event | Held by Finnovaregio Foundation and, again, carried out in Brussels, at Finnova headquarters, the YOU&EU closing event was an activity which involved some EU institutions’ members, EU volunteers and young trainees who shared European experiences with participants. Moreover, the event included the Good Practice Guide presentation, which is the main result of the project.