Together with 200 young people in a virtual city, with the participation of the famous environmentalist YouTuber Chantal Chalita and the renowned group of musicians Latin Latas, the first “Latin American Meeting of Youth Participation 2021” will take place on Saturday 27 November via Spatial Chat, to survey youth leadership and various initiatives in various areas of community work in the region, to translate them into a document to be disseminated in social organisations and decision-making spaces.

A real virtual city with colourful houses, graffiti murals, an open-air amphitheatre, parks and even a football pitch for community sharing will be the venue for the first “Latin American Meeting of Youth Participation 2021”. The event seeks to enhance the leadership and empowerment of young people in Latin America and the Caribbean, through the enhancement and study of their projects and social initiatives implemented in various territories of each country, and with the aim of bringing together the experiences and lessons learned in the Final Document “The Keys to Youth Participation”, to be disseminated in social organisations in the region and among decision-makers.

“For this first meeting, we have managed to involve very important organisations from the continent and the space has been very well received by young people who carry out transformational actions in their territories. Saturday 27th will be the day to meet and build collectively and we have high expectations that this meeting will be a great contribution to the promotion of youth leadership and the development of diverse communities in Latin America and the Caribbean,” said Sofia Bauerle, Coordinator of the activity.

The online activity – which will take place with 200 young people on 27 November from 10:00 to 14:00 hours through the virtual and interactive platform Spatial Chat, offers a diverse and interactive programme, where young people will participate in entertaining and dynamic collective spaces related to arts and cultures, such as concerts and presentation of documentaries, as well as pitch areas (short presentations of projects), talks, thematic discussion groups and dialogues, among which stand out:

1. Pérgola Central, where pitches will be presented in the fields of education, the environment, volunteering, community work, and diversity and sexualities) together with the renowned Mexican environmental engineer and YouTuber and creator of Green Me, Chantal Chalita; the popular Colombian group of urban musicians and luthiers, Latin Latas; the Argentinean co-founder and director of EduStorm, Danila Blanco; the Colombian and leader of the theatre organisation Laparla; Duvan Quiñones from Colombia; and the Chilean member of Aprofa, Paola Canales.

2. Round table discussions on youth participation in the above-mentioned themes.

3. Cycle of Latin micro documentaries.

4. Evaluation of regional projects with experts from global organisations such as the UN, UNESCO and IDB.

After the Meeting, the Final Document “The Keys to Youth Participation” will be produced, which will be disseminated to all organisations in the Region participating in the activity, with the aim of becoming a basic guide for those social groups that require guidance on how to form and manage territorial networks, in addressing social issues and volunteering in areas of local development. The document will also be shared with decision-makers in the countries, as a strategy to highlight the issues in which Latin American youth are actively involved, thus contributing to their respective communities.

The “Latin American Youth Participation Meeting 2021” is presented by Fundación Minera Escondida and Fundación Semilla, and has the collaboration of Eco House Global, APROFA, Ashoka, Asociación Conciencia, EducaPaz, Fundación Tomarte, Fundación Mr. Barber, Organización PatoDato, La Parla and Organización Verano Feliz, organisations related to the formation of agents of positive change, sexual-reproductive rights, promotion of art, culture and sport, sustainable development and environment.

To participate in the “Encuentro Latinoamericano de Participación Juvenil 2021”, please go to:
https://fme.cl/encuentro-participacion-juvenil/