Young Active Citizens in Action

 

Sillamäe Society for Child Welfare (SSCW) in cooperation with the Peace Child Estonia and Integration Foundation organised a culture cooperation project „YAC in ACTion!“

The purpose of the project is to bring together young people of different backgrounds and ethnicities to jointly address the issue of a young person’s role in the society today and to advance tolerance and understanding through different cultural events. The programme of the project includes: four training courses on active citizenship, youth leadership and non-profit work in different counties around the country; a youth camp in Remniku, near Lake Peipsi, for in-depth analysis; a 3-day culture festival for the cultural dimension of the project and an international conference as the final big event.

Ida-Virumaa Culture Festival 21.09.2009 and 26-27.09.2009

The cornerstone of the project was the Ida-Virumaa Culture Festival held on 21.09.2009 and 26-27.09.2009, in one of the poorest and most conflicted county in the country. The first day of the Festival was dedicated to celebrating International Peace Day and included organising peace seminars in several local schools. The main programme on the 26th and the 27th included a Youth Walk on the streets of Narva, an Information Fair on the local NGOs and the main concert which included ethnic culture associations and young people’s song and dance clubs from different cities across the country. The Festival was held in two languages: Estonian and Russian. The aim of the Festival was to show the different facets and all the creative potential of the great county of Ida-Virumaa.

International Conference “Youth Participation: Challenges and Opportunities" 21st and 22nd November 2009 Tallinn University, ESTONIA.

The final event of the project was the International Conference called “Youth Participation: Challenges and Opportunities” held on 21st and 22nd of November 2009 in Tallinn, Estonia. The purpose of the conference was to bring together Estonian and European youth activists and representatives from local, national and international governmental institutions and in addition, representatives from the academic sector, to jointly address the question of Youth Role in the Society and how to advance youth participation on different levels of society. The two days mainly focused on political and societal participation. The programme was divided between three panel discussions. Among the guest speakers featured were representatives from Estonian Youth Work Centre, Tallinn’s Sport and Youth Department, Estonian Youth Council, European Community programme Youth, Estonian Ministry of Culture, Peace Child International, Estonian Union for Child Welfare’s Youth Assembly and the University of Exeter.

The project was created by Sillamäe Society for Child Welfare and is financed by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Science, European Foundation for Integrating Third Country Citizens and Integration Fund. The main partners in the project are Estonian Union for Child Welfare and Peace Child Estonia.