EKO is happy to announce that one more very important seminar has been successfully completed. The project took place in Youth Centre Piispala (Kannonkoski), in Central Finlandl. In a really ‘warm’ and great environment 30 youth workers from different countries gathered to develop their  knowledge and to find methods for engaging young people in civic participation. The project was implemented from 30th of January till 3rd of February 2023 by the host organization Piispala and participants from 8 more countries including: Slovakia, Spain, Georgia, Greece, France, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Armenia, Malta and Turkey.

Piispala is the biggest of the nine national Youth Centres in  Finland. Their mission is to promote youth activities and support the good life of children and young people. They also serve as a  versatile centre of leisure, sports and wellbeing for families, seniors, businesses and sports groups. Their main target group is camp schools and they conduct and develop youth work on regional, national and international level. On international level they carry out ESC and  Erasmus+ projects.

The training based on non-formal education activities was planned in order to meet the needs faced by youth workers through networking and creating synergies with different organizations, members of the relevant communities and decision-makers to engage youth in the society and civic participation. Youth workers need to be able to engage effectively with young people, in terms of inspiring and motivating them and promoting the active role of youth through interactive governance and digital innovation.

The main objectives and activities of the project

The topic of the seminar was: Engaging young people through interactive governance and digital innovation. The main aim was to organize a 3-day seminar for youth workers, teachers, youth leaders and social workers that would develop their knowledge and enable them to find methods for engaging young people. Experts and lecturers of the seminar will be experts and researchers from the ALL-YOUTH project and leading Senior Researcher, PhD, Tomi Kiilakoski from The Finnish Youth Research  Society. The programme of seminar included lectures, discussions, group work shops and craft and sport activities. The seminar also enabled participants to create international networks for future co-operation. There was also a Tour de Table where everyone shared their fliers, brochures, typical snacks and drinks of their country and spoke and shoed the work of their organizations.

“All Youth Want To Rule Their World’’ Research Project 2018–2023. ALL-YOUTH is a multidisciplinary research project which explores the capacities of young people (aged between 16 and 25) and the obstacles that hamper their engagement with society. It also intends to explore the visions of  youth regarding sustainable future, growth and well-being. The main goal of that project is to create possibilities and to enable young people to participate in making their own communities and the society. The key ideas for sustainable growth are responsive governance and rule of law, digital innovation and  sustainable development interventions such as bioeconomy.

An amazing opportunity and great experience for EKO’s team

The project was an unforgettable experience that enabled EKO’s members to develop themselves, both individually and collectively and helped them to establish themselves as active participants in public life. Georgios, Stavroula and Zinonas were the members of the Greek team whom we really wanna thank for all their contribution and collaboration throughout the project!

As EKO, we are also very grateful for that amazing opportunity given to the Greek team and we thank our partner Piia Pyykkinen, as well as the rest members of the hosting organization Piispala, for all their hard work and for creating such an impactful project!

Kiitos – Thank you – Ευχαριστούμε