How can young people in rural communities move from being consulted to becoming active contributors to local decision-making?
This question was at the heart of the first Youth Participation Activity (YPA) of the EMPOWER+ project, held in Beliș, Cluj County, Romania, from 16 to 20 August 2026.
For A Rocca and EProjectConsult, as partners in the EMPOWER+ consortium, the activity represented an important first opportunity to see the project’s approach to rural youth participation, democratic engagement and EU-Africa cooperation in action.
EMPOWER+ – Empowering Rural Youth: Establishing and Strengthening the Rural Youth Parliament in Sub-Saharan Africa – is an Erasmus+ Capacity Building project bringing together European and Sub-Saharan African organisations with a shared objective: to strengthen the capacity of young people and youth organisations to participate in decision-making and contribute to the development of their communities.
From youth participation in theory to participation in practice
The YPA in Romania was hosted by GAL Napoca Porolissum, the organisation that coordinates EMPOWER+ and has developed the Rural Youth Parliament model in its territory.
Young people and youth workers from Botswana, Madagascar and Mauritius joined Romanian participants, members of the Romanian Rural Youth Parliament, local young people and community representatives for several days of learning, exchange and practical activities.
Rather than treating youth participation as a purely theoretical concept, the programme was built around a learning path that moved from understanding to observation, from observation to design, and from design to action.
Participants explored how decisions are made in their own communities and identified opportunities for young people to become more actively involved. They also discussed EU values and the EU Youth Goals, with particular attention to Moving Rural Youth Forward and Space and Participation for All.
This approach is particularly relevant when working with rural youth, where geographical distance, limited opportunities and weaker connections with decision-makers can create additional barriers to participation.
Learning directly from a Rural Youth Parliament
One of the most valuable elements of the activity was the direct exchange with young people already involved in the Romanian Rural Youth Parliament.
Instead of simply presenting the model as a best practice, the participants had the opportunity to understand how it works from the perspective of those actually involved in it.
During a field visit to Sâncraiu, a European Youth Village, participants met the Mayor and Vice-Mayor, learned about the local development of the European Youth Village initiative and took part in a Rural Youth Parliament session.
After observing how the session was conducted, the international participants took the seats themselves. They debated a motion and voted on it, experiencing first-hand some of the mechanisms through which young people can participate in collective decision-making.
For a project focused on transferring and adapting the Rural Youth Parliament model to Sub-Saharan Africa, this practical dimension is particularly important.
The objective is not to reproduce a European model unchanged, but to understand which mechanisms can be transferred, which need to be adapted and how youth participation structures can respond to different local realities.
Intercultural exchange as a learning tool
The programme also created space for informal learning and intercultural cooperation.
In Agârbiciu, participants worked together with local young people through graffiti and mural workshops, intercultural culinary activities and informal exchanges.
These activities may appear different from a traditional policy or civic education workshop, but they contributed to the same objective: creating connections between young people from different backgrounds and encouraging collaboration, creativity and mutual understanding.
For European cooperation projects working across different geographical and cultural contexts, these informal spaces can be just as important as structured training sessions.
They allow participants to build the relationships and trust that can support future cooperation beyond the mobility itself.
Designing Rural Youth Parliaments for different contexts
The next step was to move from learning about the Romanian experience to thinking about how similar mechanisms could work elsewhere.
Back in Beliș, participants developed their own ideas for Rural Youth Parliament models adapted to their countries and communities.
They discussed practical questions such as:
- Who should be represented?
- How should members be selected?
- How can a Rural Youth Parliament connect with local institutions?
- What resources are needed?
- How often should meetings take place?
- How can participation remain inclusive and sustainable?
- What are the first realistic steps towards implementation?
This process reflects one of the central principles of EMPOWER+: knowledge transfer must go hand in hand with contextual adaptation.
A participation model can only become sustainable when young people and local organisations are able to make it their own.
Connecting young people with decision-makers
Another important dimension of the YPA was the opportunity for participants to present their ideas directly to people involved in decision-making in rural communities.
Through dialogue with local stakeholders and decision-makers, participants received practical feedback on their proposals and were encouraged to consider the institutional, financial and community conditions that can influence the success of youth-led initiatives.
This type of multi-stakeholder dialogue is central to the EMPOWER+ approach.
Youth participation is not only about giving young people a platform. It is also about creating meaningful channels between young people, civil society organisations, local authorities and other stakeholders so that youth perspectives can contribute to real community development.
Strengthening critical thinking and resilience to misinformation
The final part of the programme also addressed misinformation, disinformation and critical thinking.
Developing the ability to identify unreliable information and critically assess messages is increasingly important for young people who want to participate actively in public life.
For EMPOWER+, media literacy is therefore connected to democratic participation: young people need not only opportunities to express their views, but also the skills to build informed arguments, evaluate information and engage constructively in public debate.
What the Romanian YPA means for EMPOWER+
For A Rocca and EProjectConsult, the first YPA provided an important opportunity to observe how youth participation, non-formal learning, intercultural exchange and policy dialogue can work together within an international capacity-building initiative.
The experience also highlighted an important principle for the wider EMPOWER+ journey: successful youth participation models cannot simply be transferred from one context to another. They need to be understood, discussed, tested and adapted together with the young people and organisations who will eventually use them.
This is particularly relevant for cooperation between Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa, where the project brings together different institutional, social and cultural contexts around a shared goal: creating stronger opportunities for young people in rural communities to have a voice in the decisions that affect their lives and their communities.
For organisations working in youth participation, rural development, non-formal education or international cooperation, EMPOWER+ also offers an interesting space for future exchange and collaboration.
The next steps: Italy and Greece
The Romanian YPA was only the first step in the EMPOWER+ Youth Participation Activities.
The project will continue its learning journey with two further European mobilities in Greece and Italy, scheduled for winter 2027.
As an Italian partner, A Rocca will host the YPA in Sicily, where the focus will move towards media literacy, misinformation and disinformation, critical thinking and youth engagement with the local community.
Together, the activities in Romania, Greece and Italy will contribute to the broader process of building knowledge, skills and connections that will support the development of Rural Youth Parliament models in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The journey has started in Romania. The next chapters will continue in Greece and Sicily – bringing European and African young people together to learn, exchange and create new ways of participating in the future of their communities.
