ForYouth Project Kick-off Meeting

The Municipality of Alba Iulia, as the project leader, organized the official launch event of the ForYouth project on 12 May 2025. The project, titled ”Finding new ways to engage, connect and empower youth” (ForYouth), is funded by the Interreg Europe Programme 2025–2029, under Policy Objective 6 – Better Governance, Specific Objective – Policy Governance.
The ForYouth project aims to support European regions in developing and improving public policies that foster young people`s involvement in civic and democratic life. Through a collaborative process of learning and the exchange of good practices between public authorities and civil society actors, ForYouth seeks to bridge the gap between young people and decision-making institutions. This way, young people will be encouraged to contribute meaningfully to the progress and development of society.
The online launch event brought together, alongside the project leader, representatives of the seven project partners:

• City of Šibenik – CROATIA
• Intermunicipal Community of Beira Baixa – PORTUGAL
• Municipality of Storfors – SWEDEN
• Municipality of Murcia – SPAIN
• University of Economics in Bratislava – SLOVAKIA
• City of Magdeburg – GERMANY
• Municipality of Sireți Village – MOLDOVA

Together, the partners will analyze existing policies, identify challenges, and develop action plans to establish sustainable mechanisms for the active participation of young people in their communities.
During the launch meeting of the ForYouth project, the Municipality of Alba Iulia presented the overall objectives of the initiative for the next four years. This was followed by the introduction of the project partners, as well as discussions on financial matters, communication strategies, and the dissemination of activities.
The involvement of youth is crucial in all areas of policy that affect their lives, as outlined in the EU Youth Strategy (2019–2027). The project proposes to develop schemes and instruments that resonate with young people, encouraging them to amplify their voices in decision-making processes by leveraging resources, and fostering cross-sector collaboration.
The innovative character of the project is given by the topic and also by the structure of its partnership. The topic, as the alignment of urban strategies with the youth interests has been a gap in the regions concerned and the partnership - as it reunite regions with so extreme particularities regarding youth: some characterised by extremely reduced birth rate and ageing population, and on the other hand, some where unlike many other areas, there is a high number of young population.
The overall objective is to improve the policies that enable an active participation of youth in the decision-making processes and life of the communities, leading to shaping an environment where young people feel empowered to contribute meaningfully to societal progress and development. This main objective will be achieved by focusing on:

• Addressing the barriers and administration blockages in making youth feel valued and in convincing them to consider the prospect of settling in their birthplaces and have active involvement in the community;
• Engaging the stakeholders;
• Transferring the knowledge and experience from those advanced regions to those with a lower solutions for youth;
• Creating tools and mechanisms based on the experience gathered;
• Reaching social inclusion, young emigrants inclusion, young diaspora inclusion.

All of this will be done in the framework of territorial cooperation among partner regions and by the sharing of good practices on the youth involvement.