In Munich, the EUSALP Youth Council got ready for the Annual Forum 2022!

General information 

They were 20 members of the EUSALP Youth Council who met in person in Munich between 14 and 16 October 2022. When you consider that the youth council consists of 27 young people, you can see the general motivation of this group of young Alpine citizens. Here is a short summary of the event and what we were able to discuss with the participants.

Program of the 2 days in Munich:

To give participants time to travel, the meeting started on Friday evening and ended on Sunday lunchtime. We were lucky enough to be hosted by the Bayerischer Jugendring. Several types of activities were planned throughout the weekend.

We were welcomed by one staff member of the Bayerischer Jugendring. She introduced the work of this youth organisation and we were able to ask some question about their vision of youth involvement.

Internal and external communication:

The members of the EUSALP youth council worked on various issues.

First of all we listened carefully to the testimonies of the members of the youth council who had participated in events since our last meeting. So we had the testimony of the youth council representatives at the last executive board. We also got feedback on the participation of young people in the EUSALP action groups.

This was an opportunity to keep everyone informed of the various exchanges taking place with the youth council partners. Then we discussed how to facilitate communication with the EUSALP action groups. For this we created a document with the names of the youth advisors in charge of communication with each action group.

We also took stock of the members available for the upcoming events to which young people are invited. The youth council’s timetable is very full and we are not too many to be 27 members.

Work on thematic groups: 

The youth council is organised into 4 thematic groups. Throughout the year they work on projects with the help of digital tools. These tools are practical and allow them to move forward, but nothing can replace a face-to-face team meeting.

We have therefore left a large part of the time to work in groups. The members of the youth council were able to make progress on the projects in progress. Here is an overview of the projects discussed during the meeting in Munich.

Thematic group 1 works on economic development. Members of the EUSALP Youth Council 2021, had initiated the project to work on the theme of depopulation. In order to address this issue more seriously, they decided to organise an event in partnership with the Lombardy Region and EUSALP Action Group 2.

They took advantage of the working time in Munich to finalise a few organisational points and to complete the questionnaire survey that they would like to distribute at the event.

This event took place on 10 November 2022 and you will find more information soon on our website.

Thematic Group 2 is currently working on several projects to continue to raise awareness of more carbon neutral mobility. For this purpose, the group is in contact with the members of the AlpTick project, which is run by members of the CIPRA youth council. During the Munich meeting, a member of CIPRA’s youth council came to work with the members of thematic group 2. They were able to reflect on how to create synergies between our two youth participation bodies. A further meeting is planned.

Thematic Group 3 continued the work on the blog about climate change and natural resources. The new members of the youth council wanted to bring the cultural aspect to this thematic group. They therefore decided to change the name to environment and cultural heritage. Based on this, cooperation with several action groups is planned. Several ideas for activities and events have emerged and are on the agenda of the youth council.

Thematic Group 4 continues to work on 2 main projects. The first one is to create and structure a network of youth structures and initiatives in the Alpine region. This objective requires some time and resources. A first questionnaire was distributed to gather information. After collecting the relevant material, the objective is to make it available on an online platform.

Finally, the second idea is to organise a hitchhiking competition that would bring together young people from all the Alps in a common challenge. Along the way there would be challenges and meetings. The idea is still being discussed at the moment in order to clarify the next steps.