Baltic Sea Youth Platform

About

Running from February 2020 to December 2022, the Baltic Sea Youth Platform (BSYP) was a project funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ programme to increase the involvement of young people in Baltic Sea Region politics. During its implementation, the BSYP developed into a brand connecting youth events and initiatives throughout the Baltic Sea Region. A distinctive feature of the BSYP was that it was co-initiated and coordinated by young people.

The focus of the Baltic Sea Youth Platform was:

• to improve the political impact of youth on decision-making in the Baltic Sea Region.
• to develop tools for better knowledge transfer, as youth involvement in policymaking is subject to high fluctuation in human resources.
• to serve as a facilitator for various innovative projects relying on the interests and capacities of youth in a broad range of policy areas.

What is the BSYP?

The BSYP functions as an umbrella coordination mechanism for several youth organisations and youth initiatives in the Baltic Sea Region horizontally across sectors in connection to the different policy areas and horizontal actions of the EUSBSR. 

The BSYP is youth-driven and initiated by the young visionaries of the region. Through the BSYP young adults will have a safe space to come up with concrete actions and project ideas to allow for an increased participation of youth in the society. The BSYP functioned as a platform to reach out to decision makers to share these ideas. The platform contributed to the development of sustainable policies for future generations and the creation of future experts with the cohesion and stability of our Baltic Sea Region at heart! 

Young people have to be encouraged to state their opinion and we want to ensure that their voices are louder than ever and heard by everyone!

History

The Baltic Sea Youth Platform developed through discussions in various formats in the Baltic Sea Region. The Foreign Ministers supported youth participation in their meeting in Jurmala, Latvia in June 2019, but at the already before the young people in the region were demanding actions.  

In December 2019 youth activists, youth workers and professionals in the field of youth participation met in Stockholm at the CBSS to develop a concrete concept to enhance youth participation in the Baltic Sea Region. Read more   

The future starts now

The CBSS continues to support young people and decision makers to ensure meaningful youth participation on all levels in the Baltic Sea Region. 

In January 2023 the Baltic Sea Region Youth Forum (BSRYF) was officially launched on 19 April 2023, following in the footsteps of the BSYP. The BSRYF is a youth-driven initiative, and supported by organisations previously active within the BSYP and other youth projects. 

Partners

The BSYP was coordinated by the CBSS Secretariat and its partners, and funded by the Erasmus+ programme. The project lasted till December 2022.  

Contact

Aline Mayr, CBSS Project Coordinator for Youth, Regional Identity, Email: [email protected]