Paluu juurille

Background Our organizations represent small rural municipalities in Finland and Iceland. Pyhtää is a seaside municipality in the countryside located 120 km away from Helsinki, Finland. Marine way of life and archipelago at our sea area has a big part in the community of around 5,400 people. The municipality of Húnaþing vestra is located in the northwest of Iceland. The total area of the municipality covers over 3,000km2 and contains a total population of around 1,200. Agriculture is one of the main economic pillars of the municipality. Living in a small rural area often has associated stigma linked to perceptions of poverty or lack of education and cultural refinement. Because of their remoteness, rural areas are often excluded from development policies that are written in cities and/or the capital. Rural areas are more vulnerable to out-migration as young individuals and families move to larger cities for work or for education. Small communities--such as Pyhtää and Húnaþing vestra--need to strategically pool resources and assets together to build resiliency and to combat some of these challenges. Objectives Our overall project aim is using a best practices approach from Finland and Iceland to: (1) encourage youth to be more involved in the decision-making processes of youth projects; (2) have more influence into matters which affect their lives and future; and (3) prepare youth to be able to cooperate with different cultures and in an international environment. We want to learn together how we can support youth in rural communities to help them find and use their voices. Implementation We conducted several workshops and meetings during our six transnational meetings. The workshops were organized around a central question that we wanted to explore. 06-10 September 2021. KICK-OFF meeting in Iceland with the youth leaders: The workshop topic was on youth work policy and youth work practice in Iceland. 20-26 October 2021. Workshop in Finland with all of the participants: Youth opportunities for influence and participation in Pyhtää. 13-24 April 2022. Workshop in Iceland with all of the participants: Youth participation in decision making in Iceland. Here we worked together on developing our skills for civic engagement. 06-12 June 2022. Workshop in Finland with all of the participants: Guiding young people to the future path. 22-28 October 2022. Workshop in Iceland: Civic Engagement, Future in Decision-making, and out Strengths with all of the participants. This workshop began with a discussion with the Minister of Education and Children and the Reykjanesbær youth council in Reykjavík, Iceland. 26-30 November 2023. Closing meeting and discussion of Twining our communities with just the Youth Workers. Achievements 06-10 September 2021: Kick-off meeting: We worked with the community of Húnaþing vestra to create an Asset map. https://www.hunaklub.org/news/tengslakort-ungmenna-i-samfelaginu. 20-26 October 2021. Workshop in Finland with all of the participants. Here we met with different organizations in formal and informal learning. We also met with the Helsinki Youth Council and learned about youth civic engagement in different aspects from these organizations. 13-24 April 2022. Workshop in Iceland with all of the participants. Here we learned about public speaking and how to introduce ourselves to new people. We prepared a presentation to speak with the municipality political council. 22-28 October 2022. Workshop in Iceland: Civic Engagement, Future in Decision-making, and out Strengths with all of the participants. Here we learned about what youth work and community work is and how this is important for youth engagement in their communities. We created a YouTub video https://youtu.be/yHc0QJEf3gc about our work. 26-30 November 2023. Closing meeting. We spoke with our Mayors from Phytää and Húnaþing vestra about twining our communities.