International SaYouth project promote young people's opportunities to influence and participate in decision-making. The project's first study visit to Italy took place on April 26-30, 2022. They went on a trip Veera Bohjanen From the board of Nuva ry's Ostrobothnia district and Mikko Jokipii From the government of Liiver.
- As an experience, the SaYouth study visit was eye-opening and it was interesting to get to know the local culture. I learned about local voluntary associations and their activities. They were a little different than in Finland, so you could get good snacks there to take with you to your activities in Finland, Bohjanen says.
Bohjanen serves on the board of Nuva ry's Ostrobothnia district, vice-chairman of the board of Ostrobothnian high school students, and chairman of the board of the student union of Seinäjoki high school.
- It was eye-opening to get to know the daily lives of very different young Europeans and the problems that were very similar to young people in rural areas as in Finland. The problems of young people have always been the same, but the corona era has in a certain way made them even more visible. A generation of young people has grown up who have not been able to access experiences in the same way as previous generations, says Jokipii.
Everyone participates in the project the participants are different from each other. There are municipalities as well as organizations of different sizes from different parts of Europe, from different organizations. However, everyone has the same goal of promoting young people's opportunities to influence. Networking increases the dialogue between young people and the authorities from the local level to the European level, improves knowledge of democracy and promotes participation in civil society and voluntary work.
- One of the goals of this project is to build some kind of application or tool to facilitate the influence of young people and the influence between young people and the authorities and between young people and decision-makers. In Italy, we saw many good implementation methods for how the community has been able to influence rural areas. In the same way, here in Finland there are many good examples of that, says Jokipii.
- The best thing was meeting new people, especially local young people, and the delicious food. I highly recommend going on a SaYouth study visit! The trip expanded my own world of thought and I gained memorable experiences from the trip, says Bohjanen.
It is planned for 2022 several international meetings and study tours in different countries. Liiveri will receive a number of international guests from August 31 to September 3, 2022. Participating in SaYouth offers good opportunities to create international contacts and promote ways of influencing young people in our region as well.
SaYouth offers young people in the Ilmajoki, Jalasjärvi and Seinäjoki areas and those who work with young people the opportunity to learn new things and network internationally. If you are interested in international cooperation and the promotion of ways to influence young people, you should get to know the project in more detail and be brave in connection with Liveri.