DREAM MACHINE

Partnerships and Youth Initiatives for Community Development

The project “Dream Machine” – Partnerships and Youth Initiatives for Community Development” was implemented from March 2014 to October 2015. It was funded by the European Union’s Youth in Action Programme, Action 4.6-Partnerships, as well as by Fondazione Casa di Risparmio di Cuneo (Italy), Svenska Kulturfonden (Finland) and the Municipality of Kristinestad (Finland). The project aimed at deepening the existing practices of partnership with local municipalities through a set of local and transnational activities and innovative methods which would help young people to develop and implement their vision of their community and of change they would like to see there.

100 young people in 12 YEPP Local Sites, composed of 60 communities with fewer opportunities, in 7 European countries (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Slovakia and Poland) participated in this project.

The objective was for young people to further develop their advocacy skills through international training and local coaching and to set up a “Local Stakeholder Circle” – a community-based group featuring mayors, municipality representatives, NGOs, youth workers and other young people. The task of the young people was to come up with several project ideas which would bring about social change to their community and to select one in order to implement it in partnership with the “Local Stakeholder Circle”.
Part of the project was a training on advocacy at the International Youth Exchange in Cuneo, Italy, as well as local workshops and coaching to support youth projects and the final conference in Kristinestad, Finland which brought together young people and politicians to share best practice and adopt the Declaration of recommendations for youth participation in decision-making processes.
A total of 12 projects were implemented and some of them are featured here. They highlight the experience from the point of view of young people as they approached politicians to participate in their project and from the point of view of politicians who were approached by and collaborated with young people in the context of this “Dream Machine” project.
Part of the project was also the production of the YEPP IRC Advocacy Guide – Theory, Tools and Best Practice of Advocacy Work in the YEPP Community Network, a useful tool for young people and youth workers who want to do advocacy work in their community.