Organising a study session at the Youth Centre of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg was an important step in the dvelopment of the DYPALL network. For 7 days the event brought together representatives of NGOs and of municipalities from countries all around Europe, with the aim to create and/or strengthen partnership between the two sectors and to work on developing projects together.
The study session focused on several major aspects: exploring the local realities of the participants, discussing and understanding youth participation by looking at mechanisms and actors that are involved in the process, learning about various practices around Europe that enhance youth participation and working in groups in order to design activities for future cooperation. The study session had the pleasure to greet several guests during the week: Bruno Antonio, the Executive Director and President of ECOS and coordinator of DYPALL and Milosh Ristovski, Executive Director of Center for Intercultural Dialogue held parralel workshops on presenting local success projects for youth participation. Among the other guests we can mention Muriel Grimmeissen, the Co-Secretary to the Current Affairs Committee, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, and Karen Palisser-Payne, from the European Youth Foundation Secretariat.
The biggest achievement of the study session is that it offered the space for the participants to work together on developing ideas for projects that will strengthen the structure and the outreach of the DYPALL network and will contribute to furthering its aim and objectives.
Iskra Doneva, who participated in the study session as a representative of a Municipality in Skopje, shared said about her presence in the study session the following:
The visit of the European Youth Centre during the DYPALL study session in Strasbourg for me was a very rich and pleasant experience. First I’m very grateful to trainers for interesting and interactive contents of sessions which I find very useful to implement in my professional work. I was really happy to meet all these people from the group, we had a great brainstorming on how to appreciate and implement different and inspiring practices for the same goal. It also was a great opportunity to network with them for new projects and initiatives. All of that seasoned with a lot of fun and enjoying the charm of Strasbourg.”