📌 The main aim of the meeting was to seek practical solutions to make rural areas a place where young people want to stay and build their future.
🎯 At the start of the meeting, Gints Jankovskis, head of the association “Laiks Jauniešiem”, drew attention to the need to shift our focus: young people are not just the potential of the future, but an asset of the present. By investing in and trusting young people today, we lay the foundations for their desire to give back to the community later on. The main barriers to young people staying in the region were identified as mobility challenges, a lack of affordable housing and a shortage of modern meeting places suited to young people’s needs.
💯 The discussion highlighted that working with young people requires an understanding of generational differences – methods that appealed to Generation X or Y (Millennials) are no longer effective in reaching Generation Z. To put theory into practice, under the guidance of moderator Āris Ādlers, participants took part in a simulation, jointly devising elements of an ‘ideal smart village’ from a young person’s perspective: from meaningful work to active participation in decision-making. The aim of the activity was to find ways of transforming young people from passive ‘service recipients’ into active ‘solution creators’, whilst also allowing them to make mistakes along the way. The intergenerational cooperation mechanisms developed will be integrated into the region’s development planning documents, thereby improving the support system for implementing smart village policy.
✅️ Text and PHOTOS by: Zemgale Planning Region
❤️ Thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to share our experience!