Between 16 and 20 August 2026, the first Empower+ Youth Participation Activity took place in Beliș, Cluj County, Romania, hosted by GAL Napoca Porolissum.
The activity brought together young people and youth workers from Botswana, Madagascar and Mauritius, alongside Romanian participants, members of the Romanian Rural Youth Parliament, local young people and community representatives. Over several days, they explored youth participation, democratic engagement, EU values and the Rural Youth Parliament model through practical sessions, peer learning, field activities and intercultural exchange.
The programme followed a clear learning journey: understand, see, design and take it home. Participants first mapped how decisions are made in their own communities and identified concrete opportunities through which young people can become involved in decision-making. They also explored EU values through real-life dilemmas and discussed the EU Youth Goals, with particular attention to Moving Rural Youth Forward and Space and Participation for All.
An important part of the experience was the continuous exchange with young people involved in the Romanian Rural Youth Parliament, giving participants the opportunity to learn directly from their experience and discuss how youth participation can be organised in practice.
This learning became even more concrete during the field visit to Sâncraiu, a European Youth Village. Participants met the Mayor and Vice-Mayor, learned how the European Youth Village initiative was developed locally and joined a Rural Youth Parliament session. Members of the Romanian Rural Youth Parliament first demonstrated how a session works, after which the international participants took the seats themselves, debated a motion and voted on it.
The programme continued in Agârbiciu, where participants worked alongside local young people in graffiti and mural workshops, intercultural culinary activities and informal exchanges. These moments created additional opportunities for cooperation, creativity and learning between cultures.
Back in Beliș, participants moved from observation to designing their own Rural Youth Parliament models, adapted to the realities of their countries and communities. They considered representation, membership, links with institutions, resources, meeting formats, sustainability and the first practical steps needed to make their ideas possible.
The activity also created opportunities for direct dialogue with decision-makers and local stakeholders. Participants presented their Rural Youth Parliament models and project ideas and received practical feedback from people involved in decision-making in rural communities. This helped them test their proposals against real institutional, financial and community realities.
The final training sessions also addressed misinformation, disinformation and critical thinking, helping participants strengthen the arguments they use when advocating for youth participation.
By the end of YPA in Romania, participants had moved from discussing youth participation in theory to learning directly from the Romanian Rural Youth Parliament, experiencing a parliamentary session themselves, engaging with decision-makers and developing concrete models for their own communities.
The activity strengthened participants’ understanding of democratic participation, Rural Youth Parliament mechanisms and intercultural cooperation, while increasing their capacity to adapt participation models to different local contexts.
YPA Romania was an important first step in the wider Empower+ journey, encouraging young people to become more informed, connected and actively involved in the decisions that shape their communities.
