Europe on Track is a project by AEGEE-Europe, run by young volunteers who aim to raise awareness, to create a space for discussion and to capture the opinions of youth in Europe on important social issues. Now this is, in a nutshell, what every edition of Europe on Track aims to achieve.
Each year, the topic of Europe on Track is different, and this time the theme was “Europe on Track 6: Which Track? Looking for the Future of Europe through Youth Participation”. Throughout the whole duration of the project the Project Team and the Ambassadors worked hard in order to both identify and discuss critical issues in Europe and empower young Europeans to be the actors of today’s democracy.
The sixth edition of Europe on Track began already one year ago, when the new project team was selected. After thorough work dividing the portfolios, selecting the hosting cities, setting up the routes, choosing the Ambassadors and much more, EoT was officially launched on the 11th of March in Istanbul, Turkey. There, a training of 10 days took place, the longest one in the history of the project, which translated into the most prepared Ambassadors in the history of the whole project.
The end of the training marked the beginning of the routes, and Team Blue headed to Bergamo whereas Team Red travelled to Ankara. It would be after an intense one-month-long voyage that all the Ambassadors met again, this time in Brussels, for the closing event. However, they would not be the same people as when they took that first train in the colossal metropolis of Istanbul. What they learnt, and attempted to share with the rest of the world, was more than words can describe: the colourful canvas of perspectives on current issues in Europe; the diversity of problems faced in each country; the dreams and concerns of youth in different corners of the continent.
Words cannot describe what Europe on Track 6 meant, but numbers may provide a more accurate description. What made Europe on Track 6 so special?
Everything started with
▪1 project team consisting of
▪10 young volunteers working for
▪1 full year with the support of
▪200+ local volunteers
Everything was made possible thanks to
▪6 Ambassadors selected out of
▪413 applicants from over
▪83 countries
The teams visited
▪20 cities all over Europe in
▪10 different countries for the period of
▪1 month while travelling with
▪40+ trains
Ambassadors reached a total of
▪1011 participants
▪80+ hours of workshops in multiple events and conferences
Finally, we cannot finish this article without thanking Interrail and the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union for supporting us, and of course, all the AEGEE locals and local volunteers that made this edition a huge success.
There are many ways to make a change and make the voice of youth heard in society. And Europe on Track is certainly my favourite one.
