How can young people use public space to raise their concerns? Who decides which stories become visible in a city? And what changes when young people from three countries take action together? These are some of the questions that will kick off the first youth encounter in the new programme phase of Generation Europe – The Academy. It begins on 30 June in Larissa, Greece, and is the first in a series of twelve international youth encounters. They will take place in Greece, Germany, Poland and Spain between until October.
The youth encounters bring together 40 European youth organisations, and with them young people from eleven European countries. In Generation Europe – The Academy, they are a core part of the programme. Here, young people meet their peers from their international partner groups in person. They compare experiences, learn about new methods and develop ideas that can later feed back into their local work. This is particularly important in the first year of the new programme phase: many local groups are still taking shape. For them, the youth encounter is also the place where an abstract idea becomes real European cooperation for the first time.
The Youth Encounters Cover a Wide Range of Topics
In Besalú, Catalonia, young people from Bochum, Barcelona and Rome will spend ten days together on an off-grid farm. In a simple setting, with no connection to the public electricity or water networks, they will support an ecological restoration project and explore ecological responsibility and mental wellbeing. In Gdańsk, Poland, young people from Poland, Germany and Hungary will explore how questions of solidarity, democracy and active citizenship are reflected in the city’s history. In Gdynia, on the Polish Baltic coast, participants from Poland, Romania and Germany are examining Europe’s role in a changing world. In Sonsbeck, in the Lower Rhine region of Germany, the focus will be on peace, remembrance and media literacy. In Bad Liebenzell and Stuttgart, young people will work on diversity and social inclusion.
The topics and projects are different, but the encounters share one goal: more exchange and mutual peer-to-peer support between active young people and their project partners from other countries. We wish everyone involved all the best, an exciting time with great experiences, and much success!
The Youth Encounters 2026 at a Glance
- 30.06–11.07 in Larissa, Greece
Partnership 4: ROOTS & ROUTES Cologne e. V. (Cologne, Germany) | Centro di Creazione e Cultura APS (Florence, Italy) | SMouTh – Synergy of Music Theatre (Larissa, Greece) - 13.07–24.07 in Sonsbeck, Germany
Partnership 5: Werkstatt Berufskolleg im Kreis Unna (Unna, Germany) | Esplora (Itri, Italy) | Oulun Nuoret Kotkat Piirijärjestö ry (Oulu, Finland) - 20.07–29.07.2026 in Gdańsk, Poland
Partnership 3: Jugendakademie Walberberg e.V. in cooperation with Jugendzentrum HiP, Kleiner Muck e.V. (Bornheim/Bonn, Germany) | Szubjektív Értékek Alapítvány (Budapest, Hungary) | Dom Pojednania i Spotkań (Gdańsk, Poland) - 20.07–30.07.2026 in Gdynia, Poland
Partnership 11: Next Level e.V. (Erfurt, Germany) | IRSE – Fundacja Instytut Równowagi Społeczno-Ekonomicznej (Gdańsk, Poland) | ARYAS NGO (Albeștii de Argeș, Romania) - 24.07–01.08.2026 in Bad Liebenzell and Stuttgart, Germany
Partnership 8: Internationales Forum Burg Liebenzell (Bad Liebenzell, Germany) | Kids in Action (Thessaloniki, Greece) | Associazione Interculturale NUR (Cagliari, Italy) - 25.07–03.08.2026 in Essen, Germany
Partnership 2: Jugendtreff Parkhaus (Oberhausen, Germany) | Madiba Società Cooperativa Sociale (Beinasco, Italy) | Fundación Federico Ozanam (Zaragoza, Spain) - 28.07–06.08.2026 in Munich, Germany
Partnership 9: Pädagogisches Institut der Landeshauptstadt München (Munich, Germany) | Fundacja Borussia (Olsztyn, Poland) | Pärnu Huub (Pärnu, Estonia) - 04.08–15.08.2026 in Besalú, Spain
Partnership 1: Fachstelle Internationale Jugendarbeit der Stadt Bochum in cooperation with SJD – Die Falken Bochum (Bochum, Germany) | Càlam. Art, Educació, Sostenibilitat (Barcelona, Spain) | Meta Cooperativa Sociale Onlus (Rome, Italy) - 25.08–05.09.2026 in Siegsdorf, Germany
Partnership 10: Witer e.V. (Munich, Germany) | House on the Hill (Chernivtsi, Ukraine) | Terzo Millennio – Laboratorio di Umana Solidarietà (Castri di Lecce, Italy) - 01.10–12.10.2026 in Oberschleißheim, Germany
Partnership 12: Heiner Janik Haus – Jugendbegegnungsstätte am Tower (Oberschleißheim, Germany) | Asociația „Un Strop de Fericire” (Ploiești, Romania) | Oficina Fermento (Évora, Portugal) - 16.10–27.10.2026 in Hattingen and Cologne, Germany
Partnership 6: Freizeitwerk Welper in cooperation with SJD – Die Falken Ennepe-Ruhr (Hattingen, Germany) | Irènia – Jocs de Pau (La Nou de Berguedà, Spain) | Youth Coop – Cooperativa para o Desenvolvimento e Cidadania CRL (Sintra, Portugal) - Date still to be confirmed in Weimar, Germany
Partnership 7: European Youth Education and Meeting Centre Weimar in cooperation with Kinder- und Jugendclub Kramixxo & Waggong (Weimar, Germany) | Hellenic Youth Participation (Athens, Greece) | KacsaKő Közösségépítő Egyesület (Budapest, Hungary)