On May 28th and 29th 2024, representatives of all LISTEN project partners gathered in Roubaix, France, for the second partner meeting of the project. The primary aim was to discuss the good examples each partner had identified to engage young people and children in their local and regional communities. The partner meeting was also an opportunity to connect with local actors as well as representatives from the municipality of Roubaix. Overall, the partner meeting, well-organized by ADICE, led to many insightful discussions and allowed us to meet various local advocates working for the engagement of children and young people in Roubaix.
Study visits in Roubaix
The partner meeting started off with a series of interesting site visits on May 28th. It began with a tour of the city hall, where we learned about the city’s history from François Vergin who is the manager of the “City of Art and History” project.
Following that, we met with the municipality’s youth department and had a productive discussion about the successful initiatives Roubaix has implemented to boost participation among the youth.
Lastly, we visited the youth center of Pole Deschepper, which is one of three such centers in Roubaix. The manager Nordine Belgacem along with Nassim Boudaoud (youth coordinator) presented the many inspiring initiatives they and the other youth centers are engaged in to get the children and young people of Roubaix more active and involved.
Study visit to the youth center Pole Deschepper.
Workshop on Good examples
For the remainder of the day on the 28th we focused on all the good examples that the LISTEN-partners had identified in the spring. In total there was 13 selected examples on the table, and the initial plan was to pick five of these to work with onwards in the project. However, as the workshop progressed, it became clear that many of the examples had a lot in common.
We quickly realized that we could make a more significant impact with the project if the similar examples from each partner was clustered together. This way, we could include more inspiring initiatives overall, which also broadens the target group for the project results.
The workshop therefore eventually resulted in five clusters (see figure below):
If you want more information on all the clusters, along with a more detailed breakdown of how the workshop went, you can find the full report here on the LISTEN website, in the Document Library.
The clusters are based on the good examples that were identified in each partner location. The idea is that each cluster should be able to be exemplified with several different kinds of replicable local initiatives.
Mid-Term Report and a Look Ahead
On the second day of the partner meeting, the focus shifted to discuss what’s ahead: the mid-term report and the work with the local action groups.
In the discussions regarding the mid-term report, everyone agreed that the project is progressing as expected. The partnership is pleased that everything’s on track and that we’re already seeing some interesting results.
Everyone was also excited for the fall when the local action groups that we’ve set up in each location will get more involved in the content and creation of the project’s final product: A manual for local and regional actors in the North Sea region on how to strengthen the participation of young people and children.
Representatives of all project partners gathered in Roubaix, France, for the second partner meeting of the LISTEN project.
But first, it’s time for all the LISTEN partners to enjoy a well-earned summer break. We’ll all be back at the end of August to start our work with the local action groups. The activities with the local action groups will continue until mid-January 2025, where we’ll discuss its outputs at our next (and final) partner meeting, which Faaborg-Midtfyn Municipality will arrange on January 14-15th, 2025.