Youth Assembly

International Civil Society Week 2019

What is CIVICUS Youth Assembly?

The ICSW Youth Assembly is a leading international networking forum and meeting for young people and young civil society to engage with international peers, examining and taking action on some of the critical challenges facing civil society. The Youth Assembly also acts as a preparatory space that enables young delegates to make an impact during International Civil Society Week (ICSW).

The programme of the Youth Assembly is semi-structured, open for delegates to self-organise conversations on key topics of their interest around the ICSW programme tracks, participate in team-building activities, lead arts and outdoor activities and have intercultural exchanges. All Youth Assembly delegates will attend the International Civil Society Week, April 8th - 12th, 2019 in Belgrade, Serbia.

Gathering in Novi Sad, European Youth Capital 2019

The upcoming Youth Assembly will take place in Novi Sad on 6 and 7 April 2019 at the Hotel Norcev. The Youth Assembly is being hosted in Novi Sad to promote the city as the European Youth Capital 2019.

The Youth Assembly strives for increased youth participation in civil society and decision-making, and being hosted in 2019 European Youth Capital, engaging with local and regional youth initiatives will be a good learning opportunity for the participants of the Youth Assembly.

Participants

Vision

2019 Thematic Focus

Methodology

Youth Assembly Planning Team

Youth Assembly Planning Team and Youth Action Team Roles

YAPT organisations and facilitators

Registration

Financial and administrative issues

Logistics and accommodation

Communications

Youth Assembly Programme

The programme of the Youth Assembly has been semi-structured in order to allow delegates to self-organise conversations on key topics of their interest around the ICSW programme tracks, participate in team-building activities, lead arts and outdoor activities and have intercultural exchanges.

All Youth Assembly delegates will attend International Civil Society Week (ICSW) from 8 to 12 April 2019 in Belgrade, Serbia where the outcomes of the Youth Assembly will be presented.

Background: In September 2018, the CIVICUS Secretariat opened a call for all interested parties to design ICSW concurrent events. After that process, six youth-led organisations were invited to be part of the Youth Assembly Planning Team to design an insightful and participatory set of conversations around issues that are important to youth activists from all regions under the overall theme of ICSW: The Power of Togetherness. Additionally, the CIVICUS Youth Action Team, with four allies from students’ movements from South Africa, Taiwan, Peru and Philippines, designed very interactive and fun activities around Participatory Action Research and co-creation.

All delegates will travel from the Belgrade Airport to Norcev Hotel in Novi Sad. Buses will leave every two hours from 9:00 am to 2:00 am.

18:00 - 21:00	Welcome evening for the 9th Youth Assembly
Designed as a Global Village format, delegates will share an intercultural dinner provided by Norcev Hotel where all delegates are invited to exchange local sweets and souvenirs from their home countries. Bring any local treat you wish to share: chocolates, symbols, pictures, delicatessens, even local drinks!

06:30 - 07:30	Outdoor morning activities
Hotel Norcev is located in a nature reserve, bring your walking shoes for morning walks, hikes or meditation around the park. The hotel also has a swimming pool so don’t forget to bring your swimming suit. All these activities are self-organised, and you can choose which one to take part in.

08:00 - 09:00	Breakfast at the Norcev Hotel restaurant
Enjoy a filling breakfast that caters to all dietary needs.

09:00 - 10:50	Setting the scene for the Youth Assembly
All delegates will meet at the conference room to start day one of Youth Assembly. This session will aim to understand a little bit more about the background of CIVICUS Youth Assemblies for first time delegates, learn about the achievements accomplished so far from past Youth Assemblies, remind participants about the principles of ICSW and all CIVICUS events and, together set the expectations for this 9th edition.

09:00 - 10:50

Setting the scene for the Youth Assembly

All delegates will meet at the conference room to start day one of Youth Assembly. This session will aim to understand a little bit more about the background of CIVICUS Youth Assemblies for first time delegates, learn about the achievements accomplished so far from past Youth Assemblies, remind participants about the principles of ICSW and all CIVICUS events and, together set the expectations for this 9th edition.

10:50 - 11:00	Coffee break

11:00 - 12:30	Simultaneous discussions
Self-selected small group conversations of 16 people each facilitated by the Youth Assembly Planning Team will be held in this time slot, around some of the different components of youth activism in the 21st Century, exploring cases where the Power of Togetherness can improve the effectiveness of youth civic engagement. This is an opportunity for all delegates to share their work and lessons learned with peers from all corners of the world.

11:00 - 12:30

Simultaneous discussions

Self-selected small group conversations of 16 people each facilitated by the Youth Assembly Planning Team will be held in this time slot, around some of the different components of youth activism in the 21st Century, exploring cases where the Power of Togetherness can improve the effectiveness of youth civic engagement. This is an opportunity for all delegates to share their work and lessons learned with peers from all corners of the world.

Simultaneous Discussions

Topic	Facilitator(s)
How can INGOs better support and work with young people? This session will introduce some successful models of meaningful youth participation in civil society that are also incorporated in this Youth Engagement Toolbox created with the Affinity Group of National Associations (AGNA) and #CIVICUSyouth members. The aim of the session is to get feedback from delegates on how INGOs and National Platforms of CSOs can walk the talk of inclusion and diversity and work with other generations of civil society actors in a way that is not perpetuating tokenistim or voluntarism.	Plan International and CIVICUS
How can young people engage better in the Climate Justice movement besides through protests? In the format of story-presenting by young people working on climate action, delegates will work on mobilisation of more young activists to the climate action movement to influence different stakeholders for climate justice. Participants are welcome to share their stories of engagement with climate activism and lessons learned on tactics and strategies utilised to trigger citizen actions towards climate justice.	Arab Youth Climate Movement
How national youth laws can be better implemented? Open-panel discussion with representatives of youth National Councils on the challenges of these institutions to protect youth laws and connect with grassroots. The second part of this session seeks to open a dialogue on how to influence national policies to align them with the United Nations Youth Strategy 2020.	KOMS - Serbian Youth National Council
What are the risks young people are facing in restricted civic spaces? Engaging and open international panel discussion to share and learn from young people’s experiences working in areas where the freedom of expression, association and/or assembly is shrinking. This conversation seeks to identify recommendations for the International Civil Society Week participants and INGOs to be aware of how to support youth activists at risk.	NIDA Civic Movement
What are the most innovative projects young people are leading aimed at holding leaders accountable in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? Exchange personal experiences on SDG related projects, lessons learned, successful innovate cases and conclusions on the role young people are already playing in achieving the 2030 Agenda. The objective of this conversation is to identify existing gaps in capacity, resources, focus areas and limiting factors for young people to advance in the global agenda and celebrate the progress made by some young innovators collecting data and using storytelling to hold national and subnational decision makers accountable.	Goalkeepers Youth Action Accelerator and Pacific Students Association
Grassroots mobilisation on the African continent “What are the limiting factors in youth-leadership?” The session will focus on rightful methodologies to bring more youth striving for their community welfare into active community leadership roles. The group brainstorming and open dialogue will seek to collectively address existing challenges that youth activists face while tackling social problems and develop steps toward transforming into a youth leader.	Afrika Youth Movement and Movement towards Education and Youth Empowerment-Sierra Leone

12:30 - 13:00	Results sharing
The note taker of each group and rapporteur will share, in 2 minutes, the key outcomes of the discussions.

13:00 - 14:30	Lunch at the Norcev Hotel restaurant
An all-inclusive lunch will be served at the hotel restaurant.

14:30 - 16:00	The Story of Arrival
In small groups, delegates will share what brought them to the 9th CIVICUS Youth Assembly, the history of their activism, what they or their organisation are currently doing and respond to the question of how funding and resourcing has influenced their or their organisations’ path?

16:00 – 16:10	Coffee break

16:10 – 17:00	Skills Sharing
With the purpose of increasing knowledge and skills, young storytelling experts in different techniques and tools will guide the Youth Assembly delegation towards a creative process of using videos, rap, blogging, theatre or podcasts to share stories.

17:00 – 18:00	Hike in the Fruska Gora National Park

19:00 - 22:00	Artivists dinner
Self-organised poetry slam, storytelling, music performance. Dinner provided by the Norcev Hotel restaurant.

06:30 - 07:30	Outdoor morning activities
Hotel Norcev is located in a nature reserve, bring your walking shoes for morning walks, hikes or meditation around the park. The hotel also has a swimming pool so don’t forget to bring your swimming suit. All these activities are self-organised, and you can choose which one to take part in.

08:00 - 09:00	Breakfast at the Norcev Hotel restaurant
Enjoy a filling breakfast that caters to all dietary needs.

09:00 - 10:30	Artistic Creation of a Call to Action to the donor community
Following-up with the stories and techniques shared the day before, you are invited to this session to create, in your groups, a message to donors.

10:30 – 13:00	Co-creating an alternative system
If you received one million dollars to make youth civic engagement stronger, more efficient and powerful, what would you do? In this 90 minutes, delegates join a collective creative process in groups of 5 to imagine, build or deconstruct some assumptions about ways to better support youth activism in the 21st Century.

13:00 - 14:00	Lunch at the Norcev Hotel restaurant
An all-inclusive lunch will be served at the hotel restaurant.

14:00 - 14:30	Check-out from Norcev Hotel and departure to the city centre of Novi Sad

14:30 - 17:00	Treasure Hunt in the European Youth Capital of 2019 – Novi Sad
During this afternoon activity, you will be exploring the city of Novi Sad while continuing to build a utopia for youth activists. Charge your phones, take your most comfortable shoes and paper and pencil!

17:00 - 18:00	Closing ceremony at OPENS
In plenary, the group will reconvene for the last time to present the creations from the two days and, as a delegation, agree on the message the Youth Assembly 2019 delegates would like to take to ICSW 2019 and the world.

18:00 - 19:00	Departure from Novi Sad to Belgrade