European Youth Week – join the game!

Creative Youth Information Award category

European Youth Week – join the game!

Organisation

Stowarzyszenie "Europa Iuvenis" / Europa Iuvenis Association

Country

Poland

WEBSITE

https://www.facebook.com/europaiuvenis

Project link

https://www.facebook.com/europaiuvenis/posts/pfbid0YjUrG84cukq2Pb2nvnsrcbUYtseyK5DzB61pDP1fxbPxo32TLk58yHdB934mJQLAl?rdid=hLGskaIxbkDGo0pE#

General Overview

The project “European Youth Week – Join the Game!” consisted of a series of activities organised on the occasion of European Youth Week (EYW) and the 20th anniversary of Poland’s membership in the EU, aimed at young people aged 13-25 from the Opolskie region.

These were the first celebrations of European Youth Week in our region in 10 years. We used this opportunity to create a platform for dialogue on topics that are interesting and important for young people, and to promote European cooperation – especially in the year of the 20th anniversary of Poland’s membership in the EU and the European Parliament elections.

Main objectives:

Celebrating European Youth Week and underlining its message: “Voice your vision”
Drawing young people’s attention to the European Parliament elections, showing why it is worth taking part, and encouraging them to vote
Promoting European integration and highlighting the benefits of EU membership and the positive impact of belonging to a united Europe
Promoting and showcasing the European character of the Opole Voivodeship
Disseminating knowledge about EU initiatives aimed at young people

The project included various activities:

European-themed board game tournament (Time to Move, EU on Board, Eurochances, European Jenga)
Series of Eurolessons in secondary schools promoting participation in the European Parliament elections, based on games
Workshops on European topics supported by foreign volunteers European cultural evening
Open Space conference for young people, non-governmental organisations, and decision-makers on opportunities for young people on the occasion of European Youth Week
Open concert by young local artists to celebrate European Youth Week
City game on Europe Day and the 20th anniversary of EU membership, highlighting the benefits of Poland’s EU membership, regional opportunities for international cooperation, European cultures, and promoting participation in the European Parliament elections
“We Like Europe” tournament for youngsters from primary schools

Altogether, to celebrate European Youth Week, we organised approximately 40 activities for around 800 participants.

Thematic Category Correspondence

(50 points max)

How does this initiative (project, event, material) correspond to the thematic category

The project corresponds to the category “Creative Youth Information” because it was based on very diverse, often unusual forms aimed at young people, allowing them to get to know the idea of European Youth Week (EYW), the opportunities for young people offered by the EU, and the benefits of belonging to a common Europe, while also encouraging them to vote in the European Parliament elections. It was based on forms attractive to youth – games, tournaments, concerts, and debates conducted in original formats. For example, the European knowledge tournament for primary schools took the form of a popular television game show in a modernised version.

While organising the game tournament, we first invited game studies students to participate and test Eurodesk games. Using their feedback, we then organised a tournament for secondary schools. The city game transformed the map of Opole into a large map of Europe, where participants could travel to meet representatives of different countries (foreign volunteers hosted by EI), learn about their customs, cuisine, etc. Even the Open Space conference had an unusual format – it was opened not with traditional speeches, but with 3-minute presentations in Pecha Kucha style, where representatives of regional organisations and institutions presented the possibilities of European cooperation they offer for young people.

The conference culminated in a city game on youth activity, which ended at the Museum of Polish Song. Here, the inspiration for tasks related to social activity and European values came from the lyrics of famous Polish hits. We ended the entire EYW celebrations by inviting participants to the European Football Championship on Xbox at the mini youth centre we run.

Almost the entire project was organised by a group of Polish and foreign volunteers working in EI – young people aged 16-25, with the support of our European educators.

Impact

(30 points max)

How did your project impact young people / your community?

The project allowed young people to become truly much more interested in European issues (not just theoretically, but practically!), which is particularly important in the Opolskie region, where international cooperation is still developing and there are not many initiatives, for example, within the Erasmus+ programme. The project showed young people that Europe is not something distant, but an adventure, the power of cooperation, diversity from which we can draw, and opportunities that we can use – and at the same time, we can all have an impact on what happens in it. The Open Space debate and subsequent game showed young people that their voice matters and that they can discuss “big” issues (such as dealing with Euroscepticism or the issue of refugees) in partnership with decision-makers, as well as how to develop their own activities.

They realised that their activities could be combined with the development of their passions and discovering the world. The project encouraged young people to discover and travel – in recent months, we have regularly heard questions about whether we will ever repeat such a city game or tournament. We are also in touch with some of the young people and teachers, and we know that, for example, for young people from primary schools, the tournament tasks became a motivation for family European trips (because they sent us photos from visiting places that were the subject of quests during the tournament).

Above all, like no other, it motivated us to use European opportunities. After the Eurogames tournaments, several youth teams and a dozen or so young people contacted us with questions about what they need to do to take part in the Erasmus+ programme, and with two of these groups, we are already finalising preparations for their own youth exchanges.

Green Focus

(10 points max)

Did your project have any green focus and/or did you implement any eco-friendly measures when organising it?

When organising the events, we took care of waste segregation and recycling. Where possible, we tried to replace paper materials with multimedia (e.g., the European city game was partially based on a mobile application; the European knowledge tournament included multimedia quests). We limited printed materials and reused the same materials several times during different workshops. When travelling to workshops and Eurolessons, we used only green transport. In accordance with our practice, all gadgets and gifts were ecological – we ordered them from the Vocational Activity Centre run by a local foundation, where all products are created locally by people with disabilities. As a result, the gifts and gadgets were ecological, functional, everyday-friendly, high-quality, and durable items with a social dimension. The concert, as part of the EYW, was organised in a club-café run by the local association, where the food is only ecological and vegetarian.

Creative Youth Information Award category