“Young generations can bring a lot of important assets to cities, in particular with regard to social cohesion, but also when it comes to the necessary transition that we have to make towards climate neutrality” said André Sobczak, Secretary General of Eurocities at a hybrid event the Brussels Office of the Baha’i International Community (BIC) hosted on The Irreplaceable Role of Youth: Fostering social cohesion in increasingly diverse settings. The meeting took place in the context of this year’s European Year of the Youth.

Participants at the meeting, which included youth working at the grassroots and civil society representatives, discussed several aspects of what greater youth involvement in fostering social cohesion entails. “Youth play a unique role in strengthening cohesion in communities and what unites youth across Europe and beyond is the aspiration to be part of a process of social transformation that advances the betterment of society.” said Sophia Massrouri from the BIC Brussels Office. 

Participants highlighted the need to change the perception that society has of youth. “We see a lot that needs to be changed, even in our own neighborhood or society with our friends, with the neighbors. You see a lot - where you feel you should do something about - but because of this perception [of youth] that you still have to learn to do it and that you cannot do it until you have learned it kind of makes you just stay and do nothing about it” said Henoch Tekle from Utrecht. Dalil Hassim from Almere added that “It is very crucial to look at the time of youth not as a time where we engage in frivolous activities and just make the best out of our lives, but actually become active protagonists in society”. 

The role of intergenerational dialogue and joint action between populations from different backgrounds was highly emphasized. “How do you create channels (…) for exchanging ideas with different generations and also for youth to maintain a legacy in the part of whatever we create is not short term but it has a more long term vision?” asked Panagiotis Chatzimichail, Board Member of the European Youth Forum. “I would say what we lack is the real intergenerational dialogue because we are somehow used to having youth groups, women groups, senior groups doing their own thing but we don’t do things together” added Emina Frjlak, Program Coordinator for Youth for Peace in Bosnia.

The BIC will continue diving into various aspects of the conversation around youth and social cohesion, and also look into how municipal authorities can tap into the capacity of youth to bring populations at the grassroots together.