About youth.shaping.EUSALP

youth.shaping. EUSALP

To shape the future of the Alpine Region, the ideas of young people are needed. EUSALP is therefore working to embed the voice of young people in EUSALP activities in the long term.

In November 2017, the Bavarian EUSALP presidency organised a Youth Congress at the 1st Annual Forum in Munich. The Tyrolean EUSALP presidency took over and made the topic of youth involvement its priority. It invited young people to the 2nd Annual Forum in Innsbruck under the motto “shaping.future.together. with the next generation”. Based on the initiative of the Tyrolean presidency, the EUSALP General Assembly committed on its meeting on 20 November 2018 in Innsbruck to involving young people in the activities of EUSALP (Joint declaration on the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP), Innsbruck, 20 November 2018).

Initiated by the Tyrol and supported by the Swiss Federal Office for Spatial Development, the Office for Foreign Affairs of Liechtenstein, the Association Alpine Town of the Year and CIPRA International, the process “youth.shaping.EUSALP” was kicked off. True to its motto, co-determination is taken seriously from the very beginning. In the context of two workshops on 19 November 2018 in Innsbruck and on 29 and 30 March 2019 in Liechtenstein, 30 young people from all seven EUSALP states developed together with EUSALP representatives concrete proposals on how they want to participate in EUSALP. The young people elaborated three proposals:

  • Inform and connect. Young people see the need for communication that reaches them through various channels. They propose direct information in schools, an interactive online platform on EUSALP (“WikiAlps”) and communication via social media (especially Instagram).
  • Meet and share. Young people want to meet to share common experiences. EUSALP should therefore offer meeting opportunities related to EUSALP projects and topics.
  • Act together. Young people do not only want to discuss or participate in meetings, but also act together and with EUSALP stakeholders to create tangible results.

Based on these proposals, youth.shaping.EUSALP is organizing the following youth activities:

These activities are now implemented together with the decision-makers of EUSALP, with the support of the European Commission, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the EUSALP presidency and under the leadership of the Tyrol. In particular, the aim is to ensure that the concerns of young people are taken into account in the future decisions and actions of EUSALP.

The political General Assembly officially adopted the Youth Council in its meeting on 10 December 2020. Applications are possible from February 2021, the first Youth Council will be constituted in July 2021. The first EUSALP Youth Camp will take place in France in summer 2021. The online tools will be continuously developed and expanded together with the young people. For example, monthly online youth meetings have been taken place since October 2020 to prepare the youth activities together with the youth themselves and to network the young people with each other and with EUSALP. Support for the implementation of concrete project ideas is also one of the young people’s concerns, as they have many innovative ideas for which they often lack resources and contacts. One answer to this wish is the PITCH YOUR PROJECT competition, which will take place for the fourth time in 2021. Under the motto “Your Alps! Your future! Your project!”, the European Commission and the Tyrol call on young people between 16 and 25 to submit their project ideas for an attractive, modern and sustainable development of the Alpine region in 2020.

Team

Project leader
Project assistant

youth.shaping.EUSALP wants to develop ways to involve young people in the activities of EUSALP, to raise awareness for EUSALP and to encourage young people to think about their connection to the Alpine region. This will is based on the idea that young people know best what they need to live in a prosperous and ecologically intact Alpine region in the future. Involvement should not be reduced to a passive role, but young people should take on an active part in the discussion of Alpine issues and on the future of their own region. Moreover, EUSALP can be a laboratory and a flagship for the practical implementation of the often raised, but rarely realized call for a stronger voice of young people.

From the perspective of EUSALP, the aims of youth.shaping.EUSALP are to:

  • enable innovative, visionary ideas
  • bring EUSALP closer to the needs of the Alpine citizens
  • foster constructive collaboration and interaction
  • stimulate concrete actions and projects
  • create links to motivated and informed young people
  • make young people think about their connection to the Alpine Region
  • reflect diversity in the Alpine Region
  • increase the visibility of EUSALP
  • find young multipliers
  • make EUSALP fit for the future
  • ensure long-term sustainability of EUSALP

From the perspective of young people, the main aims are to:

  • enable raising of awareness and communication
  • appreciate the commitment of young people
  • connect young people from all over the Alpine Region
  • take up the ideas of young people
  • support the realisation of concrete actions and projects
  • offer a space for exchange, interaction and joint work
  • help young people develop and improve skills necessary for cooperation

For more information, see the reports below: