Oct 13, 2026
A Look Back at Two Years of Youth Vision Action
At the transfer workshop, project partners and young people came together to jointly evaluate their experiences to date.
After two years of the project, the transfer workshop held on September 28, 2026, in Zittau focused on one central question: What has the “Youth Vision Action – Youth Moves the Region, the Region Moves Youth” project achieved—and what lessons should shape the work in the project’s final year?
Emilia Socha and Sînziana Schönfelder presented the perspective of the scientific support team on behalf of the IHI Zittau at TU Dresden. Their review followed the three project phases—the Future Camps, the Productions, and the Future Congress—and explored how the themes emerging from these phases could be better incorporated, further developed, and interconnected.
The focus was on the path from the young people’s experiences to public and political engagement. What themes do they bring back from the Future Camps? How do these become shared visions and concrete concerns? And what is needed to ensure that these are actually addressed in regional debates?
The Hillersche Villa and the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences (HSZG) also shared their experiences from two years of project work. Together with young people who had already participated in the Future Camps, the participants discussed the approaches taken so far.
The collective assessment shows that, over the past two years, the project has primarily created spaces for young people from Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic to meet, exchange ideas, and engage in collaborative creative work across borders. At the same time, it became clear that topics must not be lost in the transitions between Future Camps, Productions, and the Future Congress.
For the final year of the project, this means consolidating the experience gained, further developing proven approaches, and strengthening the connections between the project phases. Equally important is the question of which results will remain visible beyond individual events and what aspects of Youth Vision Action can endure even after the project ends.
The project is funded by the STARK funding program —“Strengthening the Dynamics of Transformation and New Beginnings in Mining Regions and at Coal-Fired Power Plant Sites” —of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE).
