19 May 2023
The team from Orkestra, Barakaldo City Council, Gazte Bulegoa and Eretza together with the young people who have participated in the UPLIFT project.
Last week a reflective session took place in Barakaldo with the youth of the municipality within the framework of the European project UPLIFT in which Orkestra participates
The aim of the meeting was to share with the participants the main achievements and learning obtained in the project thanks to their collaboration, as well as to identify collective challenges that can be worked on in the future with the participatory approach of UPLIFT
Last week a reflective session took place in Barakaldo with the youth of the municipality in the framework of the European project UPLIFT. Orkestra has been collaborating in this project since 2020 with the Barakaldo City Council and the Eretza Urban Society to put the voice of young people at the centre of public housing policies.
After almost four years of work, the research process is coming to an end. However, a new stage is beginning in which Barakaldo City Council intends to continue working on a participatory approach to the development of public policies with young people.
The meeting consisted of a "feedback" session in which, through various group dynamics, the Barakaldo and Orkestra team wanted to show how collaboration with young people has served to change the policy-making processes of the City Council and to generate new knowledge.
Orkestra researchers Usue Lorenz and Claudia Icaran shared the academic results of the process, including participation in 2 international conferences, the publication of several scientific articles and various dissemination activities, such as the production of a video on the vision of the young people who participated in the co-creation process.
The Barakaldo City Council team highlighted the usefulness of the project for integrating the perspective of young people in the development of youth policies, especially when it comes to incorporating new issues in the political agenda and developing more accessible language guidelines.
Among the results achieved, it is worth highlighting the setting up of an "emancipation school" in Barakaldo to help young people with the practical aspects of renting or buying a home, the organisation of a conference on youth emancipation and several sessions to resolve doubts about the municipal emancipation aid.
Finally, the youth area of the municipality organised a group dynamic with the young participants to try to identify possible areas of action in which to continue incorporating participatory methodologies in the future.
Reflections on the value of co-creation processes
In addition to the session that took place in Barakaldo, the international partners of UPLIFT are organising several webinars to share the learnings from these four years of research.
On Wednesday 24 May, Orkestra will participate in a webinar to reflect on the value of co-creation processes in policy making and to share learnings on how to effectively involve young people in participatory processes.
More information about the meeting: https://uplift-youth.eu/events/online-seminar-the-value-of-policy-co-creation-why-and-how-to-engage-in-participatory-policy-making-with-young-people
About UPLIFT
The UPLIFT project has analysed the cases of 16 cities in Europe and the United Kingdom. In four of them (Amsterdam, Tallinn, Sfantu Gheorghe and Barakaldo) a co-creation process has been carried out with young people to incorporate their perspective in areas such as housing, education and employment.
