My Generation project closed with a bang!

Antwerp 31 March and 1 April, 2011

After two and half years of great exchange, learning, fun and inspiration, the My Generation project was formally closed with a final conference in Antwerp on March 31 and April 1st. On Thursday 31 March, the closing meeting of the My Generation partners was held. The cities of Antwerp, Birmingham, Glasgow, Gdansk, Gothenburg, Patras, Riga, Rotterdam, Tigu-Mures Valencia and Warsaw were all present with a delegation made up of both professionals and youngsters.

During the one day meeting, they reflected on the My Generation work in their cities implemented in the last 2,5 years. What changed in the involvement of youth in the city? What did they learn from the other cities? Each city also presented the content of their Local Action Plan for their city, which describes how the city aims to take the legacy of My Generation further in the coming years. Like all My Generation meetings, the conference was set up in a creative and fun way.

On Friday the 1^st of April, the results of the project were presented to a wide audience in a one day closing session Guest speaker Mr. Aminul Hoque from the University of London, Goldsmith College and youngsters from London and Antwerp gave inspirational speeches about the importance of co-creation with the young and creating a positive image about young people in Europe. After this, the participants split up in three workshops, where they shared ideas on how to engage young people and tap into their talents and potential. Various methods used in the My Generation workshops, such as fun ice-breakers, co-creation and creative brainstorming were used during the workshops, with the aim to give the participants a glimpse of how the My Generation cities have worked together in the past years. At the end of the workshop, each group made a creative poster showing their view on young people and giving one key message to My Generation. After a network lunch, the participants could choose between five different fields visits to youth projects in Antwerp, which is the European Youth Capital 2011.