Youth and social change - Involved Youth Coalition

Youth and social change:
building democratic, peaceful and inclusive Europe
through leadership in youth work

The training took place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, on 09.05.2016 – 17.05.2016 and was organized by  The Youth Society for Peace and Development of the Balkans (YSPDB)

Aim of the TC was: To provoke attitude changes and to rise participants capacity for proactive participation toward building of a democratic, peaceful and inclusive public environment

Objectives:
- To raise the knowledge and understanding of the participants with social change concepts, factors that provoke it and the actors involved in it;
- To reflect on the role of the youth work, youth movements and youth organizations toward social change in communities;
- To raise the comprehension of the participants of the historical and current social, economical and political tendencies and how they affects the youths;
- To provoke discussion, concerning the role and participation of youth organizations and workers in dealing with the refugee crisis in Europe.

- To discuss the role and the effect of the EU integration as a mean for social and political change;
- To build a base of fundamental leadership skills toward proactive engagement in positive social change;
- To develop activities and initiatives for positive social change in local/national/European dimension


Results:
- Created individual and group visions for the future and ways to achieve them;
- Increased awareness of the opportunities and challenges facing today’s youth;
- Increased knowledge about the core democratic values;
- Participants and their organizations have skills and capacities to actively engage and manage community projects;
- Increased understanding of the EU integration and its role for social and political change;
- Initiatives and actions for social change at local/national or European level;
- Established international contacts and networks between youth NGOs