YEN’s year is always based on a specific Theme that addresses issues important for young people from national, ethnic and linguistic minorities.

Every day we are surrounded by stories and narratives that influence how we think about other people, about society and the world. Most of the time we only listen to those who are the loudest, the most powerful or have the best networks. Sadly, this often means that only one-sided, over-simplified or wrong stories are told about marginalised communities. This is exactly why it is important to understand and critically question how narratives and stories are written and distributed.

With the Workplan 2021 we want to contribute to making the European society more diverse and therefore focus on self-representation of young people from national, ethnic and linguistic minorities. We want to offer a space in which you can reflect and strengthen your identity and have the opportunity to tell your own story and narrative with confidence.

Striving for social inclusion, we also want to look beyond national, ethnic and linguistic minorities and invite other partners to participate and discuss the need for solidarity.

At this time when Europe faces populist, far-right, nationalist notions, it is even more important and relevant for the minority youth to step up, defy these ideas and show a positive way of how we, with strong minority identities, can stand up for a diverse, inclusive, open-minded and peaceful Europe.

For that reason, we need to make sure, that human rights are protected, and all social groups can access them. We want to build Europe based on solidarity of young people from various backgrounds.