CEE/Newsletter/Newsroom/My experiences from CEE Youth Group Meeting in Prague
- By: Nikos Likomitros
CEE Youth Group is a pioneering initiative of the CEE Hub. It's target is to bring young people under 26 from the CEE region together, in order to consolidate, improve their capacity (in e.g., organising events, experience sharing, etc.). It began to operate in August, when our first meeting took place. In May 16th, CEE Catch up featured a talk with young people from CEE region (User:Kurmanbek, User:Մարի Ավետիսյան, User:Renvoy and User:Deni) which is regarded by me, but also from the community, as the forestep to the creation of the CEE Youth Group.
In CEE Meeting 2023, the above four members, plus User:Janbery presented the CEE Youth Group, and the youth specific outreach programs in their countries. It was complemented with a brief introduction from me through video as I couldn't attend the meeting, due to some university obligations. The presentation was pretty successful, and in our hybrid meeting it was announced that CEE Youth Group will hold it's first physical meeting in Prague of Czechia (24-26 November 2023).
In the next weeks, CEE Hub informed us that we will be granted scholarships for the event and Barbara and Toni (CEE Hub staff) together with Klara, Lucie and Jan contributed in the organisation of the event with their own way. In November 10 we conducted our online meeting to introduce our many new members into the group and plan the last things for Prague meeting. 15 young people from 8 countries were present.
We arrived in 24 November in Prague. The rest of the participants played a game, where they had to find the location of the restaurant in groups while filling the missing information using the app Actionbound. Then, they had a very good time in the restaurant. I couldn't attend the game as my flight came late in Vienna, and reached Prague by 11 pm. I reached the hostel in almost midnight, where Jan welcomed me.
We woke up in Saturday morning, in 8 am. There, I met all the rest of the participants. We departed in 9 am for the Wikimedia CZ headquarters for our meeting. There, we sat in the chairs, and began the meeting with CEE Hub staff and people introducing us on the plans for 2024. Then, we played the game Icebreaker, where if we responded positively to the question our partner asked us, we were eliminated. Then, we discussed our plans for 2024, and Toni with Barbara showed us the slides with the key targets for 2024 such as Wikimania involvemenet, joint article in Diff, meetings in person and online, Youth Camp (a plan for 2025). Then, we had to chose to attend for working groups: Lucie (internships for youth editors), Toni (editathons and partnerships), Barbara and Klára (future of CEE Youth Group and planning for 2024). I chose the latter one, which was by the way the most successful, but all featured very interesting discussions. We discussed the idea of Youth Wikimedian of the Year, work with schools in our countries, joint work, outreach in universities, use of social media to promote the group and others. I also brang the idea of incorporating youth from various social minorities as well. Everyone gave very interesting insights.
Then, we had a vote on which of the ideas discussed should be among the 2024 targets and how realistic are they. After that, we had a break for lunch, while we had also abundant socialising inbetween. Then, Jan interviewed each one of us on what we have done in Wikimedia, our work, advices for communities who want to create a Hub and an introduction in our native language.
The next part was Wikimania. What we would like to see, what are our thoughts for this, ideas to improve Wikimania 2024, which takes place in Katowice, Poland. This was a very interesting part of the discussion. Then, we were split in 5 groups of three and discussed ideas that could be incorporated as a part of the CEE slot in Wikimania (4 to 6 pm), where among others we came with the ideas of brainstorming for the movement's future and a tour of the city (in my own group). It was a very interesting sessions with good insights from all. Then, we discussed which communications channels we should have (we chose to make an Instagram page) to promote us in the youth of CEE countries. Also, we discussed in groups of 2, not only the above issue, but also the roles of each one in the group and which should be the the timeframe of our meetings. Then, we made a wrap-up of what we did this day. But, fortunately, the organisers had a great and positive surprise for us: Edwin from Peru, which happened to be in Prague this day, came and spoke to us about his work in Quechua Wikipedia and the indigenous languages of Peru, as well the challenges that he, Quechua Wikipedia and indigenous Wikimedian communities in the country face. It was a great gift. Then, we went to the restaurant, and after the dinner, we went for sightseeing in groups, visiting a lot of monuments. In the next day we had breakfast, and a more comprehensive sightseeing of the city, including the Castle, Charles bridge and many other places in Prague. Then, we bidded a warm farewell to each of us, and promised to meet again.
Everyone had a great time. It was a great meeting, which showed that youth has pioneering ideas that can improve Wikimedia movement in all aspects. I made many new friends there, and my first international Wikimedia meeting was a great, unforgettable experience. It is also a precedent, for greater youth cooperation between the communities, that will in the end increase youth participation in Wikimedia. We plan to make a physical meeting in 2024 too apart from conference meetings like Wikimania and CEE Meeting. Thank you Barbara, Toni, Klára, Lucie for the organising work, and also, thank you Jan, for being our guides in Prague and for your contribution in organising!
Here are some pictures from the meeting:
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Klára writes in a whiteboard our targets for 2024, in which we all contributed there. -
Proceedings and discussions with contests/editathons working group. -
Discussions and talks in the working groups for CEE Youth Group plans for 2024. -
Proceedings and talks in the working group for internships. -
Table with souvenirs and coins for our collection. -
Tádeas and Jan show their proposals for a youth session in Wikimania. -
Caner, Martin and Daryna show their proposals for a youth session in Wikimania.
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Social media: CEE Youth Group telegram chat, if you want to be in touch with CEE Youth Group and participate in its programs. There is an CEE Youth Group Instagram page where you can follow our work. We are also going to include videos and interviews with members as well showcasing their work and promoting Wikimedia among young people in many CEE languages in the future.