What is the “Young Mediterranean Voices” programme?
Young Mediterranean Voices is the EU-funded Programme for intercultural dialogue and debate, aimed to promote the culture of dialogue amongst youth and creates a shared understanding with their peers across the Mediterranean.
Who are our partners?
Young Mediterranean Voices is coordinated by the Anna Lindh Foundation, co-founded by the British Council, and developed in partnership with the Centre for Mediterranean Integration (CMI), Friends of Europe, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid, MEDAC and Soliya. The programme is funded by the European Commission and co-funded by the Government of Finland, the British Council and World Bank Group.
What are the programme’s objectives?
The Young Mediterranean Voices programme aims to provide young women and men with a unique opportunity to:
- develop 21st century skills such as critical thinking and cultural intelligence through debate training and leadership;
- facilitate constructive online engagement and participate in intercultural debate groups through virtual exchanges;
- securing a dialogue platform for youth to discuss constructive suggestions for current challenges with experienced leaders, mentors and partner institutions working across the globe
What Southern Mediterranean countries were included?
Eight countries from the South Mediterranean region have been implementing the Young Mediterranean Voices programme across the three years (2018, 2019, 2020): Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia.
How was the programme implemented?
The Young Mediterranean Voices programme was implemented through a year-long cycle of activities that run throughout 2018, 2019 and 2020. If you have already heard about the Young Mediterranean Voices programme, you have also probably come across terms such as ‘Debate Hub’, ‘Master Facilitator’, ‘Peer Facilitator.’ The below explains the cycle of activities and all these terms in detail.
Every year the programme was rolled out in four phases:
- Phase one: Identification and training of Debate Hubs and facilitators
- Phase two: Debaters training
- Phase three: Debate hub competitions
- Phase four: National Debate Forum
Click on a breakdown of each of the phases below, to read more on the various activities that happened throughout the year-long cycle.
In Jordan, 691 debaters participated in the programme, and:
- 57% of the debaters were female
- 91% were youths between 18 and 24 years
- 27 cities and governorates were reached across both rural and urban areas
- 94 different topics were discussed during the programme cycle
If you want to learn what the programme has been teaching all the participants - download our Debate Manual here and equip yourself with all the right skills to become a seasoned debater.