Introduction to the Young Mediterranean Voices Programme

Aims and Objectives

The Young Mediterranean Voices (YMV) programme seeks to empower young women and
men to enhance a culture of dialogue, to contribute to public policy and shape media
discourses, and to create a shared understanding with peers across the Mediterranean on
how to address issues of common concern to their communities.

To achieve this, the programme focuses on four specific objectives:

 A cadre of young influencers with enhanced skills for dialogue and debate will be
created.
 Debating practices will be embedded in education institutions and CSOs.
 Platforms and mechanisms for young influencers will be enhanced to shape public
policy, influence decision-makers and shape media narratives.
 Exposure among young debaters for shared understanding and capacity will be
enhanced to develop shared responses with peers to socio-cultural challenges.

YMV is coordinated by the Anna Lindh Foundation, co-founded by the British Council, and
developed in partnership with the Centre for Mediterranean Integration (CMI), Friends of
Europe, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid, MEDAC and Soliya. The programme
is funded by the European Commission and co-funded by the Government of Finland, the
British Council and World Bank Group.

Programme Context

This project is grounded on the positive experience of Young Arab Voices and benefits from
the support of the EU. The new programme has been developed based on the partners’
understanding of latest research. One of these examples is the research implemented by the
Chatham House in the frame of ALF led “Debate to Action” highlighting the importance of
taking into consideration the different social and political contexts of young people in each
programme country. One of the central issues to emerge from the research carried out on
Debate to Action was that “Voice is not enough”. In other words, after a concentrated period
of investment in capacity for public voice and advocacy, there is a risk to the long-term
impact of programming if there are limited outlets for young people to deploy the skills
acquired and have an impact on policies effecting their lives.
Co-funded by
Co-organised by: the European Union
While policies are increasingly recognising the centrality of youth, the research from
Chatham House highlighted the global interconnectedness of youth participation needs to be
better reflected in policies and programming. The interrelated nature of the challenges to be
addressed to the youth of North and South of Mediterranean should be the basis for
promoting broader regional policies. In response to this new policy approach, the scope of
the new programme has been shaped to take into account a “Euro-Mediterranean”
dimension and extend to Europe a programme established and delivered exclusively in the
South. This approach, which is backed by the 42 Member States of the UfM, will contribute
directly to the creation of “youth partnerships”, as set out in November 2015 in the EU’s
European Neighbourhood Review. The regional dimension also represents a central
contribution to the EU’s first global strategy for external affairs and first international cultural
relations strategy, both of which have people-to-people cooperation and cross-cultural
dialogue as central policy pillars.

Target Countries

Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech

Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland,
Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritania, Monaco,
Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak
Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, and UK.

Target Groups and Final Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries and stakeholders of the programme are divided into the following principal
categories:

 Young Debaters aged between 18 and 30

 Youth Leaders participating in media and advocacy work
 Young Facilitators aged between 21 and 35
 Civil Society Organisations (Youth NGOs, Cultural Organisations, Educational
Institutions, etc.) acting as Debate Hubs, working at the delivery level, and benefiting
directly from the programme’s capacity-building measures, exchange schemes and
support.
 Media interested in having access to authentic voices that are not usually heard in
mainstream media, as well as organisations working in the domain of digital media
and digital debate facilitation.
 Public sector institutions interested in promoting education and social development
as well as an open and pluralistic society.