The Youth in Motion project aims to support and empower young people’s voices and input into society, especially those who voices are not often heard. While migration is a major issue under discussion around and within Europe, young migrants’ perspectives are not often understood or widely sought. This can lead to disillusionment amongst young migrants exacerbated by the lack of policy that impacts their needs. The Youth in Motion project aims to address this.

Six youth organisations in United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy, Cyprus Estonia and Georgia will work together with over 60 young migrants aged 13-18 to develop the Youth in Motion project over the course of 18 months. The young migrant participants will co-create the project, to engage in a structured dialogue with parliamentarians, MEPs and policymakers through filmed debates, interviews and documentaries in each country with their respective parliaments and ultimately with EU institutions and policymakers during May 2020 including the European Youth Event at the European Parliament. The Youth in Motion project will effectively capture, film and report on the issues facing young migrants and empower them to provide first hand input into politicians and policies such as the European Union Youth Policy. National documentaries will be produced as well as a European version that will screened in parliaments and be used in dissemination activities to reach as wide a group of policymakers as possible.

The Youth in Motion project objectives are to:

• empower young migrants to play a more active role in their society and democratic life by increasing understanding, broadening perspectives and increasing confidence and communication skills;
• help young migrants to become active citizens and deal with issues of equity and social inclusion;
• help young migrants in the Erasmus+ participating counties find a platform to make their voices heard while supporting them in ensuring their needs and views are represented in the next European Union Youth Strategy;
• build skills and confidence amongst young migrants that will assist in employability and access to education and training;
• harness the insights it will provide therefore contribute to societal cohesion;
• enhance the opportunities for cooperation with partner countries in the youth field;
• create a lasting resource to communicate young people’s perspectives on the migration and the issues that affect young migrants;
• encourage youth workers and partner organisations involved in the project will be more confident and knowledgeable about dealing with the issues around migration and how to harness young people’s contributions;
• affect positive policy change for young migrants by given policymakers insights into their lives and issues first hand.

Disclaimer: This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained here.