Model European Union Athens 2021
2021-1-EL02-KA154-YOU-000009671

Summary

MEU Athens 2021 plans to implement a hybrid of both digital and physical activities. 7 Digital activities comprising 6 pre-conference participant and team preparatory workshops, a mini MEU and a post-conference follow-up session, we plan to take advantage of the various digital platforms at our disposal to ensure team and participant involvement and experience is optimized.

With youth work being a voluntary practice with young people based on certain core values and principles which necessitate the establishment of voluntary relationships with young people, links with communities and other relevant organisations, and professional supervision from experienced practitioners, we want to establish MEU Athens as an engaging and educational platform for youth in Greece and the region. Specifically, a key objective of the project is to ensure that participants who are within Greece or across Europe and beyond are better aware of the EU, from a perspective that does not come through textbooks and lectures in the University. A heightened and in-depth understanding formulated by the unique experience of being in the shoes of decision-makers while looking at how this shapes the society we live in and the future of these societies and the European society-at-large, will be a key outcome of the project and is one that we would achieve through the implementation of MEU Athens.

Similarly, as a voluntary organisation established by youth, we also work with youth-led and youth-centered organizations to help bring this project to life. Through the opening ceremony, webinars preceding the main event, there are multiple avenues for politicians, professionals and experts in EU politics to contribute to the learning experience of participants and youth in general. This allows us to expand the quality and type of activities that we execute as an organisation. Moreover, we interact closely with various other national branches of Bringing Europeans Together Association Europe who also conduct Model European Union simulations in their respective countries. This interaction comes in the form of direct involvement as organisers in the organising team of MEU Athens as well as through the sharing of knowledge and expertise to ensure that at the end of the day, the participant learning experience is optimised.

Furthermore, another objective of the project, from the standpoint of youth work practice, is to establish a network within Greece or Europe itself, where ex-participants and alumni of previous editions of the project are given the possibility to take part in organising future editions of the simulation. This ensures the sustainability of the project and allows for continuous input to be directed towards the improvement of the simulation as a whole, to the benefit of youth in Greece, Europe and beyond.