Youth Up North is a national project to strengthen young people's influence and participation for a vibrant countryside. Read more HERE
From Leader Gute/We Rural Builders in Gotland, the operations manager participated Ellen Lundqvist and two young Gotlanders who are engaged in rural development: Erica Karlström and Charlotte Aav. They gained experiences and knowledge for the continued youth-oriented work within Leader Gute and We Rural Builders in Gotland.
In the article below, Charlotte summarizes the impressions.
YOUTH UP NORTH – A MOVEMENT WHERE YOUNG VOICES ARE HEARD
To attract a young population to live and thrive in the countryside, engagement and concrete actions are required. This has been identified and actively worked on by Youth Up North together with three rural municipalities in the inland of Norrland for three years. Listening to, inviting, and realizing young people's proposals and thoughts about local community development are success factors to focus on. Only the young themselves know what it is like to be young today, and therefore they must be involved in decision-making regarding their own reality.
In April 2023, people from civil society, business, and the public sector gathered in Arjeplog to take part in the project that Youth 2030, together with the municipalities of Arjeplog, Boden, and Dorotea, has been working on for the past three years. The project was funded by the Kamprad Family Foundation and the Stenbeck Foundation, and the goal was to engage the young population of the villages in as many different aspects of community development as possible.
The project has resulted in concrete structural changes within the municipalities that allow the work to continue after the project's end. The most significant lasting change is that the municipalities have hired a youth consultant each to continue working as a natural link between decision-makers and young people. The positions will be funded with their own resources.
Clear dialogue is crucial
The project has pinpointed a crucial factor for genuinely creating change: clear and continuous dialogue is required between decision-makers and young people.
To reach the young, it was important for politicians and decision-makers, as well as other adults, to start engaging on the young people's platforms. Inviting high school classes to the municipal building turned out to be the wrong strategy. Instead, meeting young people in school environments, at youth centers, or in connection with leisure activities created natural meetings and conversations. Establishing relationships takes time and needs to be maintained for the climate to open up.
The next step became not just to talk but also to take action. To gain continued trust from the decision-makers, the young needed to receive confirmation that their opinions actually mattered. Several different meeting places have been established at the young people's request in the various villages, and they are used frequently. Another lasting change that has been implemented is politician lunches in school cafeterias where politicians eat lunch and discuss community issues with students.
Important for a vibrant countryside
Working actively to involve young people in community development is important from several perspectives, according to Youth 2030. To strengthen democratic processes, entrepreneurship, and creativity among young people, they need to feel seen. Investing in youth is investing in the future and is a prerequisite for a continued vibrant countryside.
It is partly about getting young people to stay in their hometowns but also about encouraging those who move away for studies or other jobs to see opportunities in returning home later. The hometown should offer as many opportunities as a life in a big city but with different conditions.
Ideas to take to Gotland
Applying these thoughts and ideas could be a way to strengthen young people's influence in the Gotlandic communities.
Leader Gute annually finances rural development projects, and now it is time to get young people involved in this. Knowing that ideas can become reality by turning to the right organization could change a lot for young people. If young people learn early that there are several paths to realize their visions, they can be filled with hope for the future and a desire to work for their hometown. But this requires adults to ensure that new initiatives are implemented and to help young people move forward. Adults hold the resources, experiences, and knowledge to strengthen young people's position in society.
A step towards making young people feel included in the local community's development could be to learn how a project application works with the help of Leader Gute. What is required to find funding for projects and how does one work strategically to achieve the desired results? With the right guidance, we can have more confident and competent young leaders who move from thought to action. What do young people want to develop and what can adults do to enable the change?
Text and photo: Charlotte Aav