Another Year of IYTT Summer Camp in Malmö

This summer, three Youth Fellows, Joe Earnshaw, Sophia Kaur Badhan, and Miranda Tate, headed to Malmö to hold a three-day Summer Camp with local youths. The participants comprised a group of and high-school students and high school-aged individuals who were employed during the summer with Malmö city’s Environmental Department, one of the partners of the Speak Up Project. During the course of the three days, the participants held Open Chair Democracy Talk sessions, developed three proposals, and presented their ideas to an audience of Speak Up partners. The Youth Fellow-produced Summer Camp report is now available, reflecting on the experience of facilitating the workshop. The approximately 20 youth participants were part of Malmö city’s youth summer employment program. We would like to thank our partners at the Environmental Department of the City of Malmö for contributing to the smooth running of the Summer Camp and integrating our workshop into their program. The participants took on the challenge of exploring the public’s and their own thoughts around key contemporary issues to develop proposals about youth education on political issues, youth political engagement, and youth imprisonment.

During the Q&A session of the final presentation, the participants were able to see the effect and impact of the hard work they had put in over the past few days. This moment proved critical to the participants’ understanding of their achievement. The Speak Up partners were a very engaged audience, who posed considerate and constructive comments and questions to the participants. The youths greatly appreciated the warm reception of their ideas by the audience, a group of adults who actively listened and wanted to hear more from the young participants. The participants eagerly engaged the Speak Up partners on their feedback and felt truly valued and empowered by this recognition.