Speakers and participants of the Mindchangers Workshop at the Young Congress Baden-Württemberg
Mindchangers held the workshop ‘Engage and empower: Young minds and fresh ideas for local climate justice!’ in collaboration with regional network partners at the Young Congress Baden-Württemberg on February 29th, 2024. The workshop offered the 130 participants at the event a platform to discuss the challenges and opportunities of young engagement and municipal collaboration.
Workshop outcomes
During the workshop, participants learned about new forms of engagement and explored potential strategies to overcome barriers in youth engagement. Key insights included the following:
- Municipal and regional officers require engaged people and vice versa. It is crucial to personally know contact and network partners to advance topics together.
- The school is a core network partner that can have a great deal of leverage in terms of recognising and enabling young commitment.
- The local administration finds itself trapped in its own structures in many places. It is important to find pragmatic and creative case-specific solutions.
Looking ahead: “Ländscape” Pilot
One of the main goals of Mindchangers is to integrate committed people and their Mindchangers mindset into the local structures of Jungem Engagements. In order to achieve this goal for Baden-Württemberg in 2024, a stakeholder map is currently being piloted that displays entry points for local engagement, funding opportunities and information on development policy issues in the region. The so-called “Ländscape” had a great resonance at the Young Congress: “It is impressive to see how many stakeholders and institutions are contributing to our joint commitment to the 2030 Agenda in Baden-Württemberg,” said one congress participant, “thanks to the map, I know what concrete next steps I can take to make my project even more effective.”
Zoom out: Focusing on the big picture
In general, the implementation of the Mindchangers Youth Declaration is the focus of Baden-Württemberg’s project activities for 2024. The position paper with demands and suggestions for overcoming the barriers for committed people marks a strategic step to promote sustainable youth engagement. The Baden-Württemberg Young Congress offered a platform for knowledge exchange and joint discussions about the interface between youth development and environmental concerns.
Photography
Jakob Sauter
Copyright ©
finep
