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Funded by the Europe Union through the Europe for Citizens Fund the Young Mayor Team are part of a project called Be Active Shape Europe. It is a partnership led by an organisation called Kedith in Thessalonikki in Greece. The other partners are Santa Maria da Feira in Portugal who we do lots of work with, Association” Varna – European Youth Capital” in Bulgaria, Mladinski Cultural Center, Maribor in Slovenia and Comune di Cinisello Blasamo in Italy.

The project started last year and the first two activities took place here in Lewisham. It meant organising two days of activities in our council building, the Civic Suite: a Structured Dialogue meeting and a National workshop, inviting young people to participate, identify issues and how then to share those and negotiate with politicians and policy makers, locally nationally and in Europe. The Young Mayor Team work closely with local politicians so this was an opportunity to see how to widen that influence into Europe. It was also an opportunity to learn more about Europe and specifically think about the UKs position in terms of Brexit and what that might mean. Schools were invited to participate, the events took place on 6th May 2019 and the 3rd February 2020 at the Civic Suite in Catford.

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The National Workshop took place on the 3rd Feb 2020 5-8pm

This involved young people exploring what being European means, learning about European institutions and how young people can work with their local politicians and European representatives. Identifying policy issues that young people can take forward locally and share with partners, young people, local politicians and decision makers. Many policy issues were raised form safety, wellbeing and education to employment and training and housing. Developing policy ideas and relationships with stakeholders and politicians.