On Thursday 3rd February, the Border Focal Point Network organised the sixth episode of the “Beyond Borders: Breakfast Debates” series. 2022 is the European Year of Youth and central to this is the recognition that full cooperation and social cohesion can only be possible with the involvement of young people and their active participation in civic life. This edition of the series focused on how youth can play an active role in promoting cross-border cooperation in their region.

A key part of the agenda saw presentations from speakers of two youth engagement examples, namely, the ALCOTRA Programme (FR-IT) and the RoBulUs project (RO-BG). Maria Rosaria Valentini emphasised ALCOTRA’s history of success in engaging youth and the programmes plans to extend this even further by giving even more space to young people in the 2021-2027 iteration of the programme, for instance by launching micro-projects for youth. Tzvetalina Genova, speaking on behalf of the RoBulUs project, identified lack of education on civic participation as a key obstacle to youth engagement. To enhance engagement the project developed various tools including a mobile app for civil participation with up-to-date information on available opportunities and an e-mail channel to communicate directly with local authorities.

If you would like to take a further look at their presentation slides, which provide an overview of their projects please find them here:

If you could not join us for this event or if you would like to watch it again, the recording is available here.