Second transnational partner meeting in Catania

Finally, eight months after the Kick-off meeting in Lisbon, the partners of The VOICE Action could meet again in person in Catania on the 16th and the 17th of June 2022. Representatives from each partner organisation were present finalising the last details of the ongoing WP2 (Training Toolbox to engage and train young adult offenders on European projects and European values). During this we exchanged best practices, discussed the next steps of the consortium, planned dissemination activities and evaluated the progress of the project so far.

The partnership is halfway through the project and the meeting was a perfect occasion to discuss in detail the activities implemented so far and make arrangements for the upcoming ones. In general, despite the delay in the timeline, the project is going on smoothly and the cooperation is working very well.

The project activities are still focused on the training toolkit to engage and train young adult offenders in European projects and European values (WP2). For those who are reading about the project for the first time, it is a short, practical, and innovative training, tailor-made for young people deprived of their liberty and with fewer opportunities. Translating the issues and language of the system and policies into the reality, the language and the lived world of these young people.

It focuses on merging non-formal education guidelines and training methodologies that encourage young people from vulnerable groups to participate in the democratic process and in society, and adapting these practices to young people deprived of their liberty.

We are now at the stage of the piloting of this training in each partner country with around 12 young people deprived of liberty and 4 young people from disadvantaged areas per country, a total of 112 participants. After these pilots, reports will be generated at national and European level, which will compile all the experiences and allow the final version to be created with the appropriate modifications. The meeting also gave the partners a great opportunity to share ideas and useful information about the WP3 (Participatory Action – the bottom-up approach) and WP4 (Young People on the Move). These activities will be implemented in the upcoming months and talk about the documentary films that will be created to take the Voices of the young participants to the final conference in Strasburg.

It was a two-day intensive meeting that created a solid base for further steps in the project. Needless to say, there was some spare time to enjoy a dinner and get to know each other better in a wonderful Italian restaurant by the sea.