The International Organization for Migration (IOM) organized an EU-wide seminar of the European Commission-funded project entitled “Active Citizenship: Enhancing Political Participation of Migrant Youth” (ACCESS), which IOM Helsinki has implemented during 2013-2015 in cooperation with partners in Czech Republic, Finland, France, Romania and Spain. The purpose of the EU-wide seminar was to disseminate the project results, in terms of how the project has contributed to the capacity building of migrant youth and partner municipalities involved. Furthermore, the seminar gave insights gained through the Peer Review’s conducted and launch the Online Self-Assessment Tool and the Discussion Paper produced by the project.

1. ACCESS
Active Citizenship:
Enhancing Political Participation
of Migrant Youth
EU – wide seminar in Brussels,
13 May 2015

2. ACCESS empowering migrant youth

3. Launching the Self-Assessment Tool
(SAT)

4. SELF-ASSESSMENT TOOL (SAT)
Disseminate project
outcomes
Share good practises in
multiple languages
Opportunity to compare
and assess own practices
>> www.accessyouth.eu <<

5. PROJECT OUTCOMES
Insights into country level
activities
Access to all reports produced
 Discussion paper (EN,FR)
 Peer Review City Report
 Municipal background report

6. SAT Questionnaire
Reflect your answers to
results from other cities
BARCELONA
HELSINKI
MARSEILLE
PRAGUE
CLUJ NAPOCA
Insights to municipalities
strengths and good
practices
Selected statements under
each themes

7. COMPARISON AND RESULTS
Results are based on the
analysis of interviews
NO ANSWERSNOYES
View results of each
stakeholder groups in
each municipality

8. STRENGHTS AND GOOD PRACTISES
Insights into each Peer
Review category
 Participation
 Impact
 Motivation, Trust, Belonging
 Capability and Knowledge
 Strategy
Strengths and Good practises
to replicate in other cities

9. REPORTS
Your SAT results
 Statements and your answers
 Results of each city
Using SAT materials
 Explore ways for youth
participation
 Opportunity to replicate good
practises across Europe
 Strengthen existing structures

10. ACCESS Peer Advisors - Helsinki

11. ACCESS HELSINKI

12. TEAM SCHOOL/ ACTIVE YOUTH/ COSMO

13. ACTIVITIES

14. OUTCOMES
 Confidence
 Active participation
 Critical thinking

15. ACCESS Peer Advisors, Spain

16. • Different ages and nationality
– Ages: 22-33 years
– Nationalities: Peru, Ecuador,
Morocco, France, Armenia,
Colombia, Pakistan, Brazil, Chile, and
Mexico
Topic 1. Backgrounds

17. 1. Active participation of young people
2. Political participation
3. Entrepreneurship and leisure
4. Non-formal education.
Topic 3. Subjects

18. Topic 3. Activities
 Dissemination activities : facebook, twitter, Google+…
 Meetings with existing NGOs and Barcelona institutions :
– Entrepreneurship institutions Youth Council (CJB)
– Seminars empowering young’s to participate in consulates,
– Participation on existing meetings with experts and politicians

19.  All the networking like Barcelona Activa, Pla Jove, Punt de informacio Jove, etc.,
don’t have a proper communication thought specially to encourage and promote
entrepreneurial young people.
 We must give a real voice to young immigrants in the city
 Participate in instructor training courses and incorporate young trainees for
training monitors or other similar formations.
 Make a paper on the concept of citizenship and the involvement of political and
associative level in the city of Barcelona
Topic 4. Recomendation

20. ACCESS Peer Advisors, France

21. ACCESS Peer Advisors, Czech Republic

22. ACCESS Peer Advisors, Romania

23. awareness-raising
and building of networks
empower and enable youth

24. Migrant youth involvement
at local, national and international level
Policy Improvements
Awareness-raising and building of networks
Migrant youth involvement
at local, national and international level
Policy ImprovementsCapacity building
Awareness-raising and building of
networks

25. New tool
New source of information
New „stage” for multicultural actors
Thelaunchingof"Clujmulticultural"Platform

26. International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination - 21 March
Community
Involvement
Local impact
Public opinion

27. influence
solutions
involvement
assess and improve
Meetings with policy makers
Changes

28. ACCESS Peer Review

29. WHY ADVANCE THE PARTICIPATION
OF YOUNG PEOPLE?
1) they are residents and have the right to participation.
2) participatory democracy requires early education into it leading to active
participation also in adult age.
3) they are experts on their own life circumstances and listening them
results in better services for them.

30. PARTICIPATION - DIMENSIONS
 Political participation can take place in formal or informal arenas.
 There are multiple forums and channels for participation.
 The rules for participatory forums can be based on law, agreement or
practice.
 Some forums are general, some specifically for young people.
 Political action has collective and individual forms.
 Participation can happen on invitation (from the top-down) or out of own
initiative (from the bottom up).
 Political action can happen reactively or proactively.

31. PARTICIPATION - FORMS
 Representative participation
 Participation through attendance
 Advocacy based participation
 Project-based participation
 Open participation
 Deliberative participation
 Activism

32. PEER REVIEW METHOD
 Peers: municipal officers and young persons
 Discussed and agreed on the aims and the framework of the review
 Identified the parties and persons to be interviewed in their own city
 Interviewed their peers in cities they reviewed
 Evaluated the structures and practices in the city & made
recommendations utilizing their own insight and expertise

33. PEER REVIEW VISITS
 In Helsinki, Barcelona, Marseille, Cluj Napoca and Prague (district 14)
 Between Oct. 2014 – Feb. 2015
 Three days long visits
 20 interviews in each city (0,5-1 hour)
 Interviewees: members of youth council (or equivalent), other young
residents, municipal officers, politicians, representatives NGOs and
migrant communities

34. INTERVIEWS
 Interviews were based on prepared sets of open questions formulated for
different target groups
 Additional questions and follow-up questions were formulated by the
interviewers for each interview
 After each interview an initial analysis of it was made by the working
pair
 All findings and recommendations were discussed and agreed by the
whole review group

35. INITIAL ANALYSIS = EVALUATION
1. evaluating strenghts, good practices, weaknesses &
formulating recommendations (open formulation)
2. assessment of indicators (structured)

36. KEY CONCEPTS -> INDICATORS
 Participation
-> rigths, structures, opportunities
 Impact
-> results of participation
 Motivation & inclusion
-> requirements for participation
 Capability & knowledge
-> necessary for participation
 Strategy
-> enhancing participation

37. INDICATORS - PARTICIPATION
 There are participating structures specifically for young people (e.g. youth
council or equivalent). YES
 The youth council (or equivalent) has active connections with wider
community of young people in the municipality. YES
 There are multiple ways for taking part, telling own views and making
initiatives (e.g. hearings, internet based channels, youth participatory
budgeting etc.). YES
 Young people with migrant background are specifically encouraged to
participate. NO

38. INDICATORS - IMPACT
 Young people do get feedback on their initiatives. YES
 Young actors, including migrants, are pleased with the contacts and
networks created during their action. YES
 …feel that they gained important knowledge through their action. YES
 …feel that they gained new useful skills through their action. YES
 Youth council (or equivalent) is regularly consulted on topical matters by
the municipality. NO

39. INDICATORS
MOTIVATION AND INCLUSION
 Local politicians meet with young people, including migrants from time
to time. YES
 Migrant communities are encouraging young people to participate in the
society. YES
 NGOs involved with young people are willing and capable of integrating
migrants in their activities. YES
 Municipal actors are conducting multiple measures in order to promote
young migrants’ involvement in the city. NO

40. INDICATORS
CAPABILITY AND KNOWLEDGE
 There are information and counselling centres or points (physically or
virtually) for young people in the city. YES
 There is enough knowledge available for municipal officers about young
residents, including migrants and their situation. YES
 Young interviewees feel that they have good knowledge of how the
municipality works. NO
 There is training for politicians in working with youth council and
meeting young people, including migrants. NO

41. INDICATORS - STRATEGY
 There is a strategy for engaging young residents in the society at local
level. YES
 There are reasonable resources for the implementation of the strategy.
YES
 The leadership of the strategy is on a high political level. YES
 The implementation of the strategy is monitored. YES
 Young people, including migrants are involved in executing of the
strategy. NO
 …in monitoring the implementation of the strategy. NO

42. IDENTIFIED STRENGTHS / 1
 There is a Youth Council in the city. Its members are highly motivated
and committed to their work. They are actively trying to get the young
people’s voice heard. Municipal officers assist them with grant
applications and other administrative issues.
 City administration and city district(s) recognize the need to adjusted
approach to youth with use of modern technologies and web based tools.

43. IDENTIFIED STRENGTHS / 2
 Youth Act aims at guaranteeing that young people have to be listened
before and during the processes of decision making.
 There is education from early age up to high schools to involve young
people in participation.
 A lot of associations are active in neighbourhoods and they promote
projects for migrant youths.

44. IDENTIFIED GOOD PRACTISES / 1
 The youth is informed by the municipality after every forum on what has
been discussed and about the results.
 The department manages a system, where individuals, groups of people
or organizations can submit their initiatives or project proposals. These
initiatives can be carried out with the assistance of the municipality.

45. IDENTIFIED GOOD PRACTISES / 2
 The making of the plan on youth participation in participatory manner, in
collaboration with all important actors, such as local city districts, Youth
Council and NGOs.
 Participatory budgeting makes resources accessible to youngsters for
their projects.
 The democratic process of electing young representatives to the Core
group of the participation system for the young people.

46. IDENTIFIED WEAKNESSES / 1
 There is no Youth Council in the city.
 There is a significant lack of information of the different ways to
participate and of access to political information among youngsters. The
lack of knowledge is especially high among migrant youth.
 The participation structure for the youth is solely a consultative body
without decision making power, and therefore many young people and
even some politicians and decision makers don’t take it very seriously.

47. IDENTIFIED WEAKNESSES / 2
 The city has no systematic mechanism for how the young people’s voices
are heard and neither there is the mechanism for processing the
initiatives.
 Strategy and projects are not focused on young migrants, only generally
in youth, and don’t analyse, whether they reach young migrants. Policies
are not differentiated for migrants and for youth that have a worse
economic condition.

48. RECOMMENDATIONS
1. More consultation, co-decision and binding mechanisms
2. More promotion and support for the participation of young people
3. More information and civic education for the youth
4. Specific support for youth with migrant background
5. More support for the activities of young people and youth organisations
6. Training for politicians on working with youth
7. Better strategy, policy and administrative cooperation

49. Thank you!
Outi Lepola
Dr. Soc. Sc., Senior Researcher
outi.lepola@youthresearch.fi
www.nuorisotutkimus.fi/en

50. Panel Discussion: Strategic entry points for promoting
civic and political empowerment of migrant youth

51. Closing remarks