On January 14th and 15th 2025, the LISTEN partnership gathered in Faaborg, Denmark, to wrap up the final steps of the LISTEN project. The main goal was to finalize the content of the project's last output: the operational manual for the North Sea, which aims to strengthen children's right to participate on local and regional levels in the North Sea region. The visit also gave the partnership a chance to connect with local actors in Faaborg-Midtfyn Kommune and see some of the municipality's good practices to improve the participation of young people in action.
Day 1: Updates and Workshops
The first day kicked off with a progress update on the project's development. Everyone was happy with the results from discussions with local action groups held during the fall of 2024 and excited to incorporate these insights into the project output. A workshop was also held to refine the content of the operational manual. Thanks to everyone's efforts, a clear structure was established that will be used to concretize the main output of the project.
Faaborg-Midtfyn municipality had also organized study visits, allowing the partnership to meet local actors and see initiatives to strengthen young voices firsthand.
During the partnership's visit to the city hall, the mayor, Hans Stavnsager, shared his thoughts on how the municipality encourages young people to take initiatives and make their voices heard. He stressed the importance of cooperation and sharing good practices to enhance youth participation.
To wrap up an inspiring and productive day, Faaborg-Midtfyn Kommune arranged a bus tour of Faaborg led by two of the municipality's youth workers. This tour showcased, from the perspective of young people, how the municipality works to strengthen youth participation. The tour included visits to a Youth Café and a popular community center managed by local youths that has a long history in the local context and has spurred engagement among local youth over many generations.
Faaborg Municipality had organized a bus tour to enable the LISTEN partnership to experience exciting initiatives related to youth participation.
Day 2: Planning Ahead and Inspiring Presentations
On day 2 the partnership planned ahead regarding the project report to Interreg North Sea and discuss how the produced material could be used in the long run. Faaborg-Midtfyn's idea to build their future Youth Strategy based on the upcoming manual's content was particularly inspiring to take part in.
The partnership was also given a presentation by My Garde Andreasson, who works as a youth coordinator in the municipality. Her role is to provide local youth with access to resources, places, and networks, supporting them in understanding municipal processes, overcoming bottlenecks, and facilitating new youth-led initiatives. My's presentation offered valuable insights into her tasks and the impact of her role in strengthening young voices within the municipal organization. As a result, her role was decided to be highlighted as a good example in the project's final output.
Many workshops were conducted during the partner meeting. Pictured is the LISTEN partnership working on the structure for the project's upcoming output: An operational manual for the North Sea region on how to strengthen participation for children and young people.
Slide from the presentation by My Garde Andreasson on her role as Youth Coordinator in Faaborg-Midtfyn Municipality
Wrapping Up the LISTEN Project
After a successful partner meeting in Faaborg, all partners were excited to finalize the project and plan for the dissemination of the output. The remaining tasks include finalizing the operational manual, organizing local presentation events to reach out to stakeholders and end users, and each partner developing a plan for utilizing the output after the project's conclusion.