The European Student Union (ESU) organised the Study Session ‘’Level Up to Eur-UP!’’ last week, from 2 to 7 March in cooperation with the European Youth Centre Budapest. The session aimed at empowering young people who cannot access European political and social processes due to a lack of information, language barriers and/or socio-economic disadvantages to feel comfortable participating in their first European-level activity. As such, the event helped them in acquiring new skills in a human rights education framework, and enabled them to play a more active role in building more democratic and participative societies.

The programme gave space for sharing challenges that young people face in their everyday life and had strong focus on introducing the work of European institutions and the Council of Europe in specific, on improving communication skills.

Guest speakers were invited to present their activism and to motivate the participants, while one of the highlights of the session was the field visit to local NGOs in Budapest, including DIA-Foundation for Democratic Youth, Phiren Amenca and Amnesty International where participants could experience first-hand good practices of youth participation related projects.

The study session also presented and relied on the Council of Europe’s Revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life and on the “Have Your Say!” manual on presenting models and practices of youth participation.