CONNECT: Empowerment for the political and civic participation of young migrants

DYPALL Network was present in the last phase of the international cooperation project  “CONNECT: Empowerment for the political and civic participation of young migrants” that involved partners from four African and five European countries with the support of the European Commission.

The meeting took place from 22nd – 27th June 2018 in São Tomé and Principe, one of the smallest countries in Africa. Apart from the evaluation of different project activities and outputs developed during the two years of this cooperation project, it also provided space for the partners to interact with local organizations and public authorities. This has lead to the realisation of the importance of continuing work on the theme of political empowerment of young people, particularly focusing on minorities, since the focus on such groups is almost unexisting. The partners have come to the conclusion that there is still a lot to be done and that this kind of exchange of practices and approaches can be really beneficial for all organizations involved.

São Tomé is a country where more than 70% of the population are children and youth, so we can imagine the impact that empowering the participation of this large part of the population could have. Working on increasing youth participation in decision making would not only contribute to engaging the majority of the population in building their society but would also to developing good governance and more quality democracies, and this is relevant both for African and European countries. There is still a lot to do in this area on both continents as well as a lot we can learn together on this topic.

This was a unique opportunity for DYPALL team to be able to contribute with their experience to such cooperation project and to support all the partners and organizers in such an amazing learning adventure that joined both continents.