From February 7 to 14, the FCV will host a small group of young adolescents in Barcelona, who will enjoy a week full of activities within the framework of the job shadowing- practical learning experience titled ‘Youth Leadership for Change’, which takes place within the framework of the two-year project ‘Empower for change’, coordinated by the Georgian entity ‘Academy for Peace and Development’, with the support of the Erasmus + program of the European Commission.
Although in June 2018 the FCV welcomed 12 people, top representatives of 4 municipalities of Georgia and two entities of the same country, on this occasion, the participants are young people between 14 and 18 years of age, who have received a specific training dedicated to participation, citizenship and advocacy, and who have chosen Barcelona to continue learning about these issues, using, on this occasion, first-person experience as the main source of their learning.
The program includes meeting other young people of their age, activists, and collaborators of non-profit organizations and informal groups, young people who participate in FCV activities, young people responsible for councils and participatory and decision-making bodies, as well as who manage public services and resources for young people like, as example, the Barcelona Youth Council, the Information and Assistance Center for young people of Ciutat Vella district or ‘Drassanes’ Civic Youth Centre.
During the week we plan to meet, also, with experts and political representatives, to learn about the activities of youth information desk points and community-based organizations with a strong young accent, as well as to know the processes of participation for the elaboration of policies.
The group will also participate in the activities of events such as, for example, the Youth and Association Major Festival (‘Festa Major Juvenil i Associativa’) in the old harbor (‘Moll de la Fusta’) on Saturday, February 8. They will visit entities in the neighborhoods of Poble Sec, Raval, Gràcia and Nou Barris, interact and meet young people who are not part of any organization and have difficulty participating and, as part of the most leisure and cultural program, will know the main tourist attractions in the city.
Their main task, as well as leveraging experience to develop their citizenship and leadership skills, is to learn from successful practices that can enable participation of young individuals in decision-making bodies and processes. Upon returning to Georgia, the group has the assignment of making specific proposals, as part of the action plans and youth policies in their localities, marked by youth depopulation.
For more information on the activity, you can send an email to projectes@catalunyavoluntaria.cat (Lluc).