Europe for all

<< Background >>We wanted to improve young people’s opportunities for networking, learning, and internationalization, particularly for those who typically lack such opportunities. To promote accessible internationalization, we emphasized various grounds of discrimination in participant applications for events and used communication strategies to reach new audiences of young people who are not yet involved in our activities or otherwise engaged in youth advocacy and civil society organizations.<< Objectives >>We specifically wanted to reach young people who are not yet involved in the activities of JEF Finland or other internationalization efforts. The goal was to inspire as many of them as possible to join and remain engaged in this or other civil society activities. Additionally, we aimed to provide new participants with opportunities to network with those who had previously been involved, allowing them to gain positive examples of active citizenship and various ways to make an impact in society and politics.<< Implementation >>We organized a study trip to Brussels to explore EU institutions. Additionally, we held the Helsinki Winter Summit, an international seminar event where young people had the opportunity to learn about and discuss current EU issues. The study trip also included a webinar series that likewise covered topical themes in EU politics.<< Results >>The webinar series is available on the Instagram page of JEF Finland. Both the study trip and the Helsinki Winter Summit attracted new active participants, some of whom are still involved in our activities. We also learned a great deal about improving accessibility and plan to apply these lessons in a potential future project. Additionally, our relationships with partner organizations grew stronger during the project, and the partners reported learning from each other, particularly about organizing events.