YOUTH TAKES THE FLOOR: A TRAINING COURSE ON HOW TO INCREASE YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN DECISION-MAKING

Youth Takes the Floor: a training course on how to increase youth participation in decision-making was organised by DYPALL Network from 20th March – 26th March 2022 in Braga, Portugal.

Youth leaders, youth workers and municipality officers responsible for youth from 13 countries of the Council of Europe were able to actively take part in sharing space to better understand the role of young leaders in our democracies and improve the decision-making processes at the local level. The participants developed competencies to create and support youth participation structures and instruments that enable young people to influence and be engaged in the design of local youth policies.

During the training, participants visited Braga Youth Centre, which aims to be a high-quality standards reference for work with young people. They also got some insights about the organization of the 1st national encounter of Local Youth Councils in Portugal, led by Braga and Porto municipalities. 

Moreover, participants learned more about financing their projects over funds such as European Youth Foundation. The training also contributed to a better understanding of youth workers on how to develop their work ín youth participatory structures at the local level by integrating and exploring digital platforms such as Democracy Reloading Toolkit or The Changemakers Kit, developed by Europe Goes Local, that can enhance youth participation.

The training course was co-funded by the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe and organised with the support of Braga Municipality.