Youth with a voice

Background "Youth with a voice" was a project of an international youth initiative with the aim of giving young people the knowledge, time, resources and help to show their voice to the world and use it to create diverse podcast episodes. This project was created by more than 19 young people from three countries - Latvia, Romania and North Macedonia, aged between 15 and 27 years. There were young people with and without experience in creating podcasts, with experience in international projects and without any experience, as well as the interests of young people were different and the conversations created by them are also unique. Objectives In general, the implementation of this project had various challenges, however, we managed to implement it and the main goals of the project were achieved. The goal of the project was achieved - the participating young people were given the opportunity to create a platform - a podcast with several episodes, through which they would reach other young people, involve them in learning about today's important topics and creating real solutions. 19 young people participated in the project, at least 6 from each country, as well as people who participated as guests or support persons. Through the creation of podcasts, the directly involved young people will show initiative in creating new content, expressing their opinion, participating in local and European processes, creating conversations and moving the long-term project forward. The participants gained experience in a long-term and innovative project, which provided both them and the organizations they represented with experience in the implementation of such an international project. During the project, young people developed digital competences, personal, social and learning to learn competences, cultural understanding and expression competences and entrepreneurial competences. The acquired experience and developed competences will be important in the professional and private life of young people in the future. Through podcasts, young people wanted to reach young people who were involved in discussing important, interesting topics and would also be interested in the activities of organizations and the activities offered. The organizations gained experience in creating and implementing an international youth initiative, motivating participants and organizing a joint international project, overcoming various challenges in the process. The experience gained in the long-term project gave inspiration and learning from the experience and increased the organization's ability to involve young people in the creation of future projects as well. Implementation As the main activities of mutual and local cooperation, podcast making activities and cooperative learning process. During the meetings and project activities, young peoplethrought nonformal acitivities learned from each other, develop their skills in communication, showing their voice and expressing their thoughts, conducting conversations, creating and editing podcasts, as well as organizing project activities and informal activities. Through tasks in groups and practical application of knowledge, participants exchanged experiences, shared their knowledge and developed their competences. In total, 4 international meetings were held - 3 of them virtually and 1 final meeting in person in Latvia. Achievements The main output of the project is podcasts created by young people on topics such as mental health, stress, the power of thoughts, dream work, work and positive influence in sports, young people's lives in social networks, young people's opportunities and experiences with language learning, viewing habits, lifestyle and healthy living, martial art, opinions about music, diversity, how to live with the cold, information about local activities for young people at day and night in Macedonia. You can listen to podcasts here – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ0GmUd1daCwhx1s0jrnDsQUFBrGNNO5r. By creating 19 podcasts participants had support, but they made the ideas themselves, organized the process, also created the music, intro and outro audio with text, as well as the design for these episodes. It was decided together what kind of podcasts they want, ideas, length, language options, subtitles, overall plan and concept,. It was decided that within each country the podcasts will be described similarly, they will have the same beginning and end, as well as the visual basis of the design, but each can be individual and express themselves creatively in form and expression.