Youth Meeting
The opening event of the 47 Congress of the International Federation of Fe y Alegría was celebrated at Madrid’s Casa San Ignacio. An event in the format of a meeting to connect the creativity and sensitivity of youth with the experience and perspective of Fe y Alegría’s international directors in order to generate a dialogue about the challenges that today’s frontiers present.
The Meeting was attended by the Federation Team, Fe y Alegría National Directors, country delegates, five youth representatives representing the Generación 21+ Network from Colombia, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Guatemala, and young people from Spain.
The event began with the presentation of the Generación 21+ Network as a proposal to connect young men and women from the different countries in which Fe y Alegría operates, who are motivated by the need to transform the situations that generate violence in its different manifestations.
The Generación 21+ Network is a conscious, critical, and committed response which, based on a sense of outrage at the unacceptable, promotes a real and specific change for social transformation. The network focuses on 5 main areas: culture of peace, gender equity, development of citizenship capacities (global citizenship), quality and inclusive popular education, and environmental protection.
The presentation was followed by a street action led by young people from the Generación 21+ Network and the Youth Solidarity Network of Spain and joined by Fe y Alegría directors and delegates. Under the slogan “Indignant youths mobilise for equality”, the action pushed for the need to continue working towards formal and real equality in all spaces. The action is based on a series of micro-performances, the reading of the manifesto, and delivering petitions to local authorities, and will be implemented by different Fe y Alegría members worldwide.
A dialogue, which took place in the afternoon, gave Fe y Alegría youths and members the opportunity to discuss the Congress themes: frontiers, global movement, and global citizenship.
In light of our globalised world and Fe y Alegría’s mission, the discussion addressed issues including: What are today’s frontiers? Placed in a framework of challenges or spaces for action, and from the perspective of those frontiers themselves, the participants discussed what mobilisation and advocacy can contribute in these spaces and how Fe and Alegría can better respond to those frontiers.
The discussion also addressed the intergenerational frontier, the role of young people, and the possibilities that their leadership and intergenerational work offer.
This Youth Meeting precedes the main Congress, which will be celebrated on Saturday and Sunday. Young people will also have their space here, specifically Milagros Analia, the Generación 21 Network representative from Argentina, who will participate in a round-table discussion on intergenerational frontiers, among other challenges that frontiers present.