All roads lead to Rome! 14 young people from Finland, Ireland, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy and Portugal travelled to the Eternal City to take part in the European Youth Training Academy of our EU project SPIN Youth (Empower Diverse Youth – Build Up Youth Participation and Inclusion in Sport Organizations).

Co-Creation or let the youth take over!

In a packed weekend program, they not only got to know the project, the city and each other better, they also focused on their upcoming tasks. Over the next 12 months, they will set up Youth Panels in their respective countries of residence to develop ideas for improving the participation of young people aged 15-27 from diverse backgrounds (migration, refugees, ethnic minorities) in sport, draw up their own action plans and implement these in pilot events during the European Week of Sport 2025.

The SPIN Youth project is based on the principle of “co-creation”, i.e. the joint development of new impulses for a more open and non-discriminatory sports culture. The training program included an introduction to action research, the creation of a youth panel and the design of a youth-led action plan. Thanks to the excellent cooperation of the partner organizations Unione Italiana Sport Per tutti (UISP), Camino, Huis voor Beweging and Football Association of Ireland, the participants were also able to gain valuable knowledge about leadership, conflict management and cooperation in various group settings.

Further information on the project can be found here.