True Story

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Comune di Pordenone

Organisation:

Comune di Pordenone

Country:

Italy

About organisation:

The Municipality of Pordenone is a local public entity. Pordenone is the 3rd main city of Friuli Venezia Giulia Region.It is very active in youth policies. It has been hosting for more than 20 years the Youth Information center, an important point of reference for young people who are looking for a job or for volunteering, study and travel opportunities. For this reason it joined Eurodesk and Euroguidance network, and took over from 2017 to 2021 the management of the Europe Direct center, gaining relevant experience in the field. In the last years it hosted and organized many activities related to youth information and mobility opportunities to engage local schools and organizations, in collaboration with Eurodesk Italy (National meetings in 2016 and 2021) and Erasmus+ Italian National Agencies. The municipality is implementing many projects regarding youth policies and working to strengthen services with the aim of making Pordenone a more attractive city for youngsters.

Title of the project

True Story

Start date:

2/2/2022

End date:

31/12/2022

Objectives:

TrueStory is a project of the youth policies department of the Municipality in collaboration with the Eurodesk centre to give a voice to the young people of Pordenone.Through the local web radio Wideline, youngsters expressed ideas, aspirations, emotions, and discussed the main issues of the city regarding their area of interest. The main concern of the municipality in this project has been listening to young people’s dreams and ideas, with the goal to reshape a modern city oriented to the youth needs.Specific objectives:•Involve young people by giving them the opportunity to express themselves on freely chosen topics•Design a youth project implemented and managed by young people•Create a physical and virtual space for young people to meetThe broadcast took place every Thursday live from Wideline Radio venue and each episode lasted about 40 minutes. In every episode a group of max 4 youngsters discussed with a youth worker that had the role of facilitator.The active role of the youngsters in shaping the title and format of the broadcast has been considered a key element in the implementation of the project: they always chose the main themes usually different in every episode and created the schedule of each episode with speeches, interviews, phone calls, debates and music tracks, with the opportunity to express themselves freely and with their language. Therefore TrueStory shaped itself on the real needs of the youngsters to be communicated and shared with their peers.

Why the project was: empowering young people, adapting to changing realities, or thinking out of the box:

The initiative stems from the idea that youth policies should be implemented starting from the needs and expectations of young people and not descend from above by adults. In a new context affected by the past COVID pandemic, that accentuated the sense of isolation especially in the younger generations, the city needed to find a different way to interact with them without being perceived too formal and institutional, so going beyond traditional schemes of a public administration.The radio has been chosen as a smart and creative tool able to connect students, young people, schools and associations of the city. In this way, never experimented before in Pordenone policy design, the municipality didn’t just involve young people in the decision making, but stimulated them to be the proactive part of a process set up in an informal and free space where they didn’t feel under judgement. True Story gave them a space to speak and to be listened to, enhancing their capacity of finding solutions, making new proposals and feel free to express themselves in a peer-to-peer approach. In a friendly context, young participants surprised us with proposals that are not so hard to realize.The unconventional approach of True Story had a positive influence both on young people and the city itself, as new projects and ideas took place thanks to what emerged from every episode. Their ideas didn’t remain as a dream book, but really influenced Pordenone’s policies.

How the project was inclusive:

As previously described, the first aim of True Story was to give space to youngsters’ voices, so the topic was chosen independently each time by the speakers. However, as the Eurodesk centre we encouraged the participation and gave the stage in two episodes (nr. 25 and 30) to some European projects’ young participants that had international experiences. In their contributions emerged the importance and the need of knowing better the various opportunities that Europe gives them, because such experiences enrich them as human beings and are an occasion to grow up and put them in contact with other young people from all over Europe. Their contribution was essential to encourage other young people to participate and get involved in a peer to peer approach, so that they became “ambassadors” and information providers of EU mobility opportunities through the radio. In this framework, Eurodesk was promoted and presented as the active service that fosters international experiences for youngsters and youth organisations, and that can help them to get involved in European mobility opportunities. Eurodesk often emerged spontaneously during the broadcast, while speaking about city services for young people and/or international experiences.

Green aspect:

One of True Story's objectives is to listen to boys and girls on issues related to the youth world and on their idea of the city. A dynamic city like Pordenone that wants to grow cannot in fact transcend a future that young people have designed green, linked to environmental issues, and full of eco-compatible spaces and opportunities that allow them to develop real and lasting relationships. During the live radio, the issues related to climate change and environment were discussed through youngsters point of view, focusing on greener behaviours and approaches that were directly encouraged by them. In some episodes also have been treated topics linked to sustainability. The municipality as well promoted through True Story sustainable ways of living and working, adopting all the actions necessary to ensure a positive impact on the city's environment.

How the project has given a European dimension to your event and ensured the visibility and promotion of Eurodesk?

As previously described, the first aim of True Story was to give space to youngsters’ voices, so the topic was chosen independently each time by the speakers. However, as the Eurodesk centre we encouraged the participation and gave the stage in two episodes (nr. 25 and 30) to some European projects’ young participants that had international experiences. In their contributions emerged the importance and the need of knowing better the various opportunities that Europe gives them, because such experiences enrich them as human beings and are an occasion to grow up and put them in contact with other young people from all over Europe. Their contribution was essential to encourage other young people to participate and get involved in a peer to peer approach, so that they became “ambassadors” and information providers of EU mobility opportunities through the radio. In this framework, Eurodesk was promoted and presented as the active service that fosters international experiences for youngsters and youth organisations, and that can help them to get involved in European mobility opportunities. Eurodesk often emerged spontaneously during the broadcast, while speaking about city services for young people and/or international experiences.

Impact:

In 40 episodes, TrueStory analysed every week with the youngsters their concerns and ideas related to training, mobility, job opportunities, dreams and aspirations in a complex and constantly evolving society. The radio paid great attention to individual needs, stressing the fact that at the basis of everything there is the need to communicate and fulfil oneself through human relationships, considering as well that those people were recovering from the pandemic that changed the few certainties of this age group. In the end 121 young people from Pordenone (or working/studying there), mainly aged 15-22, chose TrueStory as their means to express. Thanks to TrueStory, the strengths and the weaknesses of the city emerged in a public and spontaneous way. The portrait made by the guests of TrueStory is in any case positive: Pordenone is popular for its livability, for its safety and cleanliness, for the educational, artistic and musical offer. Some sore points emerged only on transport and the lack of self-managed spaces to devote to study and creativity. As the episodes had been listened to by local policy makers, the municipality is already considering what emerged in the urban planning, with the aim of making Pordenone more attractive and empowering for young people. Just to give an example, the municipality is modifying scheduled times and dimensions of the buses, as one of the weaknesses emerged by the radio broadcast was the lack of efficient public transportations.