Youth 4 the Sea and Vice Versa
Description
Acknowledging that youth participation in the democratic system is decreased in Cyprus year after year, the project "Youth 4 the sea and vice versa" aims at increasing the democratic participation of youth in the society through active engagement in dialogues with policy-makers in order to find feasible ways to cultivate a culture of sea awareness among youngsters in Cyprus.
Objectives
In alignment with the EU Youth Strategy and in particular the Goal 5: Mental Health and Wellbeing; Goal 10: Sustainable Green Europe and Goal 4: Information & Constructive Dialogue, the project identifies the following objectives:
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Increase youth participation in policy-making processes through the organization of 4 thematic dialogues with policy makers under the theme of sea awareness;
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Promote the sea and sea related activities and sports as a means to enhance mental health and wellbeing of young people;
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Develop safety awareness in the sea during swimming or participating in various sea sports and activities;
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Increase the environmental awareness of young people by proposing and taking feasible measures to protect the sea from climate change and pollution;
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Develop a Policy Paper with the main outcomes of the 4 thematic dialogues to be launched in the project’s conference and distributed among policy-makers and relevant societal actors;
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Raise awareness among young people and policy-makers about the EU Youth Strategy and the significance of KA3 projects in enhancing the participation of young people in democratic life.
Activities
The project to take place in 2020 will engage a total of 210 participants including youth workers, youth leaders, school and university students, motivated young people, young sea-sports athletes and coaches, amateur swimmers, as well as decision makers in 4 thematic dialogues related to the sea and sea sports/activities.
The first dialogue will explore the benefits of the sea for the enhancement of mental health and wellbeing of young people and point out the preconditions for free and direct access to the sea and the beach while the second one will emphasize on the measures, rules and attitude for safer sea activities for youth. The third dialogue will focus on measures to keep the sea clean and avoid its further pollution whereas the last dialogue will look into the identification of ways to encourage the participation of young people in sports and activities in the sea. The dialogues will be facilitated with the methodology of the Structured Dialogue and will be organized in the four coastal cities of Cyprus.
