Context


On the occasion of the commemoration of the centenary of the End of World War I, a  youth encounter with 500 young people (400 youth between 18 and 22 years old and 100 pupils between 15 and 16 years old) will be organised in Berlin between November 14th to 18th 2018. Beyond participants from a Franco-German nucleus, the participants will come from the EU Member states, EU accession countries and the Eastern and Southern Neighbourhood countries.


After the two ceremonies, initiated by France and organised by the Mission du Centenaire de la Première Guerre mondiale, with strong youth participation from France and Germany at Hartmannswillerkopf (2014) and in Verdun (2016), a jointly organised Franco-German youth encounter will take place in Berlin in order to conclude the Franco-German commemoration cycle. This will underline the reciprocity of the commemoration between the two countries.



Objectives


The objective of the youth encounter is a multi-perspective reflection about the events 100 years ago and about their impacts on the societies of the concerned countries until today. The topic of “Peace in Europe” will be in the foreground, but questions about the future of the European continent and the meaning of common values will also be dealt with. Hereby, the GFYO and its partners will provide instruments and methods of peace education, of historical remembrance work and of intercultural learning. The participating youth will jointly work on the topic of “Peace in Europe - for the next 100 years”. The working process will be structured around the “100 Peace Ambassadors”, selected by a school competition organised in secondary schools, as well as around workshops, panel discussions, artistic performances on cultural and peace education themes.


The group will consist of 400 young people aged from 18 to 22 as well as 100 pupils from 15 to 16 years (the “100 Peace Ambassadors”) from all socio-cultural milieus. English will be the main working language, but German and French will be complementary and the multilingualism of the participants will be valorised. Therefore sequences of linguistic animation are planned in order to sensitize the group for learning languages and to underline the intercultural dimension of the encounter.


At the end of the encounter, the participants will write a common declaration, based on the work realised during the workshop program and on the work carried out by the 100 Peace Ambassadors, selected during the school competition “100 Ideas for Peace”. The declaration will summarize the wishes of the entire group of 500 young people for a peaceful future in Europe and its Neighbourhood that will be transmitted to high political representatives during a final public event.



Recruiting Process of the Participants     


In order to reach social diversity and a broad origin of the 500 participants, they will be recruited through different methods and in different formal and informal educational institutions (secondary schools, vocational schools). 400 youth will be selected via an open, decentralised call for participation of the FGYO and its partner network, including the bilateral German youth organisations and further partners in Germany, France and Europe. The participants directly apply via an online form on the FGYO website. These participants will be between 18 and 22 years old and selected according the principle of concentric circles: 30 participants each from Germany and France; EU Member states: 170 participants (including 30 from Poland); EU Accession countries: 70 participants; EU Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood: 70 participants.  


The 100 “Peace Ambassadors” pupils will be selected via the school competition “100 Ideas for Peace” organised by IFA. The competition will be organised in schools teaching German in France and in schools teaching French in Germany (schools of the Agence pour l’enseignement francais à l’étranger (AEFE) network, Campus AEFE/Zentralstelle für das Auslandswesen (ZfA), Label France Education), in French school districts and in the 16 federal states in Germany as well as in schools of several central European countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Romania and Croatia). There won’t be any country quota in order to guarantee the competitive character of the project. The competition targets pupils of secondary and vocational schools between 15 and 16 years old. The task will be to develop 100 proposals for a future in peace, 100 years after World War I.


The methodology of the competition consists in the organisation of debates or rhetoric competitions in schools that will select the 100 Peace Ambassadors, representing their 100 schools.


Steps of Procedure:


  • Presentation of the competition in different educational institutions through flyers, videos, information material etc.


  • Online Inscription for the competition on the Website of IFA


  • The school classes develop their own ideas and proposals and select one pupil among themselves as “Peace Ambassador” who will represent their proposals at the international youth event in Berlin


  • A jury, representing politicians, intellectuals and artists, will be formed


  • Each jury member receives 10 proposals for peace and will select one of them. These 10 proposals (out of 100 proposals) will be discussed with the other 400 participants in the framework of the youth encounter.  


Steering Committee and Project Coordination


The Steering Committee includes the German Foreign Office, the Mission du Centenaire, the French Embassy in Berlin/IFA/AEFE, the Volksbund Deutscher Kriegsgräberfürsorge (VDK), the Office national des anciens combattants et victimes de guerre (ONACVG, which is the French partner organisation of the VDK) and the FGYO. The Steering Committee is responsible for the conceptual orientation of the programme of the youth encounter, validates the selection of the participants and considers the interlinkage of both projects as well as the political dimension of the youth event.


In addition, further civil society and governmental organisations from Germany and France (bilateral youth organisations in Germany, NGO, Delegation of the EU Commission in Berlin, Embassies etc.) are welcome as project partners. The funding of the preparation phase and of the youth event in Berlin including travel and accommodation costs for the participants will be provided by the German Foreign Office. The costs of the school competition will be provided by the IFA. Project Coordinator and executing organisation is the FGYO, who is responsible for the project management of the youth event and who jointly coordinates with the IFA the participation of the 100 Peace Ambassadors during the youth event.



Basic points of the Programme


Thematic coordination


The central topics of both sub-projects (school competition and participant call) follow a common direction. A close interaction is planned with regard to the development of the questions for the IFA school competition and the concept for the FGYO pedagogical workshops of the youth event.


The role of the 100 pupils


The 100 winners of the school competition have already worked intensively several months on the themes before coming to the youth event in Berlin, and they have discussed it with their classmates. This preparatory work will be honoured in the framework of the youth event in the sense that they will be able to share their knowledge and investigation results during the pedagogical workshops.


Joint Closing Youth Event


The highlight of the youth encounter will be the final official event in the presence of high politicians from Germany, France and eventually from the EU. Here, the 10 proposals for a peaceful future in Europe, jointly elaborated by the 500 participants, will be presented and officially presented to the high political representatives, as well as the results from the youth encounter.



Contact:


DFJW: Isabel Schäfer, schaefer@dfjw.org, + 49 30 288 757 67


IFA: Myriam Grafto, myriam.grafto@diplomatie.gouv.fr, +49 30 590 03 92


 


Click here to register as a participant.


Click here to register as a youth leader.