The Baltic Sea Youth Platform (BSYP) is a systematic and overarching approach of youth involvement and real participation of young people in decision- and policy making in Baltic Sea Cooperation. The Baltic Sea Youth Platform is a project that strives to connect and empower youth in the most efficient and effective way by three main measures: 1. The first and key aim is to improve the political impact of youth on Baltic Sea policymaking. 2. The second focus will be on the development of tools for better knowledge transfer, as youth involvement in policy making is subject to high fluctuation in human resources. 3. Thirdly, the platform will also serve as a facilitator for various innovative projects relying on the interests and capacities of youth in a broad range of policy areas. Currently, a lot of organisations in the region are active in promoting young people’s engagement in many different sectors and policies affecting them, but a coordination action is missing, causing a lot of duplication and inefficiency, especially in promoting dialogue with policy-making platforms. The BSYP will enable these youth organisations to reach their fullest potential by empowering them to develop new ideas and pursue them jointly, under the guidance of the 2030 Agenda framework. The platform will engage youth at different levels, in the design of a common framework for action and shared Baltic Sea Region (BSR) identity. With its unique position as a trans-national organisation with access to regional decisionmakers, the Council of the Baltic Sea States offers an important basis to ensure the success of the youth platform. Furthermore, a project coordinator located in the CBSS Secretariat provides the necessary professional guidance for the project. The platform will consist of several physical meetings and of a virtual portal to engage more young people at their own locations. It is an innovative and dynamic way to create a flexible platform for all organisations working with youth to create synergies and facilitate inclusion of youth’s positions in policy-making in sectors of relevance for young people that would not be easily accessible for these organisations separately. The Youth Platform will work as an umbrella coordination mechanism for several youth organisations horizontally across sectors, also in connection to the different policy areas and horizontal actions of the EU Strategy for the BSR (EUSBSR). In addition, through the project young people will have a safe space to come up with concrete actions and project ideas that will allow for an increased participation of youth in the society; this will contribute to the development of sustainable policies for present and future generations, and the creation of expert future professionals who will have at heart the cohesion and stability of the Baltic Sea Region. The BSYP will produce several intellectual outputs usable for youth organisations and policy makers in the BSR and other macro-regions and intellectual outputs to promote the BSR and its regional identity. The main output will be a virtual platform for youth, organisations and decisionmakers to jointly use for their projects and to interact with each other. The platform will be built according to the needs of the young people in the region and the demands from policymakers. The platform enables youth to interact, cooperate and communicate across borders of any kinds and to virtually meet peers and decisionmakers in a save and productive environment. The BSYD will also produce a Baltic Sea Youth Power Box, with toolkits and guidelines for intergenerational dialogue, policymaking, youth engagement and advocacy especially tailored for youth in the region, but with possible transferability also to other regions. Furthermore, the platform will be the coordination for a common Baltic Sea Crocodile Festival. An intergenerational and educational festival promoting music and culture from all over the region. The festival will offer the chance for young people to present their ideas and to showcase the results to a broad audience. The platform will also produce a children's book "Baltic Sea Belongs to Kids" to promote the common values and aims already to following generation. Moreover, the youth platform participants will be able to engage in the production of artistic outcomes for the Baltic Sea Cultural Cities (BSCC). Besides all these innovative projects, the platform will also collectively produce an External Report to show what projects have been done and how the platform was established. As well as policy recommendations for decisionmakers in the region to emphasize the political perspective of young people and to ensure their positions and rationales are delivered to those who make the decisions about their future. The Baltic Sea Youth Platform ensures that there is nothing about us, without us!
The BSYP streamlined various youth activities in the BSR by enhancing collaboration and coordination between regional actors such as the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS), Baltic Sea States Subregional Cooperation (BSSSC), Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC), and Euroregion Baltic (ERB) in cooperation with youth organisations such as the Lithuanian Youth Council (LiJOT) and Erasmus Student Network (ESN) Finland. By doing so, the project aimed to create a more cohesive and structured approach to youth participation in policymaking in the region. Through better coordination and additional resources, the BSYP improved the political impact of youth on BSR policymaking by providing a platform for young people to express their views and influence policy decisions directly and indirectly. The project ensured that youth perspectives are considered in policy development and implementation, and that an intergenerational dialogue is implemented. It was crucial to the partners to enhance skills and expertise in areas such as advocacy and communication and develop activities for better knowledge transfer and capacity building. Furthermore, the BSYP was an important enabler for innovative projects in cooperation with young people.
The project Baltic Sea Youth Platform has been applied for because there was a need and demand for an overarching approach towards youth participation in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR), as expressed by both youth and organisations such as Baltic Sea States Subregional Cooperation (BSSSC), the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC), and Euroregion Baltic (ERB). The Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue in 2018 and the Baltic Sea Youth Declaration in 2019 highlighted the importance of youth input and involvement in shaping policies and decision-making processes that affect them. Furthermore, the project aimed to provide a platform for young people to contribute to key regional organisations such as the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS), the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR), and the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC). The project recognised that youth perspectives and ideas are essential for creating sustainable and inclusive policies that address the challenges faced by the BSR. Overall, the project aimed to empower and engage young people in the region and ensure that their voices are heard and integrated into regional decision-making processes.