About Europe on Track

Where is Europe headed?
How can we sustain our present and preserve our future?
What can young people expect from the Europe of tomorrow?

These questions have been of great concern for many young Europeans recently. In order to find answers, AEGEE-Europe - the European Students’ Forum is launching the “Europe on Track” project in the autumn of 2012. Within the framework of this initiative, six young Europeans will travel around the continent by train at the end of 2012, for one whole month, capturing young people´s vision about their future perspectives through photography, videos, interviews, blogs compiling a short documentary presenting the faces behind youth policy research and statistical data.

The project

The “Europe on Track” project has been launched to grasp a better future for European youth, to find solutions for the pressing issue of the rising rate in youth unemployment, to advocate for a sustainable future and to promote entrepreneurship among young people. AEGEE-Europe, being the biggest interdisciplinary student association in Europe, calls out to its members and all like-minded Europeans, to engage them in the decision-making processes and encourage their contribution in constructing the Europe of tomorrow.

“The Europe I want for the future” is not only a topic to trigger lively discussions; it is the clear-set motive for all young people to embark on this journey and work on our future, together. At a time, when European integration is being questioned and young people’s future prospects have become hazy, AEGEE considers it fundamental to hear the voice of the youth in order to take their opinion, their realities and their wishes into account and pave the way towards reaching the goals set for 2020 by the European Union.

Realisation

In order to cover as many countries, regions and cities as possible, the travellers will be divided into two teams of three people, covering different geographical areas. The project will be launched from Brussels, the home for many European institutions and the initiator of Euroean integration. Both teams will be heading East taking a northern and a southern route, also exploring the elusive border where Europe ends.

Objectives

• Explore what European young people and young volunteers want for Europe in the future, and compare this vision with the one proposed by the European Commission for 2020.
• Promote unity and solidarity in Europe among more than 5000 young people all over Europe
• Empower young people with the promising future picture through intercultural exchange and the motivation from their peers
• Advocate for the engagement of young people in decision-making processes in order to train the aware and innovative Europeanyouth of tomorrow
• Bring light to the efficiency and importance of non-formal educational tools in order to promote their recognition in the job market
• Shape the current state of European integration by providing young citizens to meet their fellow Europeans and experience the ultimate benefits of intercultural discourses

AEGEE has always been fostering young people’s leadership skills, broadening their horizons in terms of contributing to the European ideals and encourage them in expressing their views in a constructive way. Candidates for the Europe on Track project from various social and economic backgrounds have expressed their wish to contribute to this project, including even countries such as Russia, Georgia, Belarus – further extending the thematic range of the topics and providing varying, yet valuable insights on each objective of the project.

Themes

All along their way, the 6 ambassadors will also promote…

Youth Participation

The rising rate of youth unemployment is one of the most pressing issues in today’s society. Targeting possible solutions, AEGEE is advocating for youth engagement in the decision-making processes in order to ensure favourable future prospects. The travellers of Europe on Track will be chairing lively debates on recent developmental schemes and current EU regulations. By doing so, they
will not only engage their audience, but will also be sharing the outcomes with the crowd of onlie followers. Europe on Track is launched to channel what young people has to say including their stories, their realities and their struggles.

Sustainability

Raising awareness on the importance of sustainable treatment of our surroundings is one of the core objectives of the European continent and thus the Europe on Track project. Ever since the creation of its Environmental Working Group, AEGEE aims to reaffirm recent EU policies on making the creation of a sustainable Europe one of its priorities. Young people will be informed and asked to share their vision on how they can contribute to green-awareness and how the creation of green jobs can play a crucial role in their later employment.

Entrepreneurship

The travelling ambassadors will not only be gathering opinions and ideas, an equally important role they are having is to encourage their audience to take ownership in the realisation of such ideals. Entrepreneurship, innovation and leadership skills are crucially important factors in future success stories and thus young people need to be reassured of their own capabilities and encouraged to
see self-improvement and obtaining new skills as a life-long learning process.

The Role of Social Media

Since social media tools are undoubtedly among the main information channels in today’s society, the Europe on Track travelers will be recording every detail of their trip via blogs, photographs and viral videos posted on multiple websites. While recording is their share of the project, the later analysis of the impact will be concluded as an informative research about the situation and role of youth media in Europe. Thus communications expertise and creativity are essential attributes and core elements of this project.

The travellers’ online footprints will be of use to further embed the impact of the project’s mission through asking questions to their followers, providing thorough analyses on their results along with constantly communicating their challenges, feelings, sensations, discoveries and the whole experience of exploring Europe in its literal sense; showing thousands of people all over Europe.

Europe on Track aims to bring together young people from all over the continent to share their views, generate new ideas and initiatives. Young people will have their say on the European sphere – presented in the short documentary and the publications of Europe on Track that not only aim to improve visibility of the struggles of this generation, but also to propose new approaches, to present the youth point of view – and to construct the Europe we want for 2020.