Case of Dzierzgoń

a description of the process and results in the project: „South Baltic Youth Core Group Network”

Photo taken at a training, Iława, 18-19 October 2018: representatives of the Youth City Council of Dzierzgoń with their care giver Dariusz Browarczyk

The Dzierzgoń Youth City Council was established in the Resolution VI/33/03 of the Dzierzgoń City Council of 16 April 2003 concerning the Statute of the Dzierzgoń Youth City Council.
The Statute of the Youth City Council was amended in the Resolution VIII/72/2015 of the Dzierzgoń City Council of 27 August 2015 concerning the changing of the Statue of the Dzierzgoń Youth City Council and in the Resolution XXX/250/2017 of the Dzierzgoń City Council of 31 August 2017 concerning the changing of the Statute of the Dzierzgoń Youth City Council.

results in short

In Dzierzgoń, young citizens participated in the decision-making process of the following public decisions and they addressed the following public issues:

  1. They expressed their opinions on the project of the Dzierzgoń City Council resolution concerning the adoption of the Care Programme for stray animals and prevention of animal homelessness in the Dzierzgoń Municipality in 2019.
  2. They chose the Care Giver of the Youth City Council for the upcoming years after the change of authorities due to the local government election. It was a very civic activity because it required them to boldly express their opinion and to demonstrate solidarity with their Care Giver of many years, Dariusz Browarczyk. Thanks to this action they could continue cooperation with their existing care giver, independent from newly elected authorities.

At the training in Iława, the Youth City Council members detected and then formulated their need: a place of meetings for the youth in the city. Since then, they articulated it towards the authorities and officials, which led up to a serious debate (so-called first round table) on this topic. It took place on 12 April 2019 and was attended by Vice Mayor Wojtek Demko, the Director of the Culture Centre of Dzierzgoń, councillors, school principals and the YCC of the Dzierzgoń Municipality. In consequence, the Culture Centre of Dzierzgoń found a space reserved only for the youth (Youth Activity Zone), about which they will decide on their own and which will be, among others, a place of workshops, concerts and day-to-day activities for the young people.

the process – a description of undertaken actions

The first debate between authorities and young people – so-called round table – 12.04.2019

On 12 April 2019, the Youth City Council of Dzierzgoń Municipality and representation of school governments met with Vice Mayor Wojtek Demko, the Director of Dzierzgoń Culture Centre, councillors and school principals to discuss and determine rules and functions of the place of meetings for the youth.
The adults – the authorities and institutions representatives could hear about the ideas and needs of the youth as well as see that the young people had precise, real ideas and were willing to engage. On the other hand, the youth heard directly from the authorities that the money was not a problem; what was needed were ideas and the energy of young people

As a consequence of the debate, the authorities decided that the Municipality Culture Centre would find a space, which would be reserved only for the youth and that the youth would decide about it. The Youth Activity Zone was established and it would be a place of workshops, concerts and day-to-day activities, among others.

The Youth City Council of Dzierzgoń was invited to participate in the session of the Education Committee to discuss the details regarding the activity of the Youth Activity Zone and to attend the session of the Municipality Council, where they presented a recap of the round table talks.

The young people presented conclusions and recommendations from the round table at the session of the City Council of Dzierzgoń – so-called first public hearing – 24 May 2019

On 24 May 2019, the praesidium of the Youth City Council was invited to attend the City Council session. President Kacper Karabin, Vice President Szymon Kamiński and Secretary Mateusz Sitek presented the arrangements from the round table, which took place on April 12, to the City Council members.

The second debate between authorities and young people – so-called round table – 28 November 2019

The topic of the debate was sports for the youth of Dzierzgoń Municipality. It was proposed by the authorities because there are investments regarding sports planned in the municipality in the coming years. Guests invited to join the debate were representatives of Dzierzgoń Municipality Office. It was attended by Mayor Jolanta Szewczun, Vice Mayor Wojciech Demko, President of the City Council Ryszard Świder, the councillors of Dzierzgoń and sports activists. The youth was represented by the Youth City Council of Dzierzgoń and students.

During the debate, 60 participants discussed the following issues:

● What new sections could be developed in the Powiśle Sports Club of Dzierzgoń?
● What can be done to make PE classes more attractive to students?
● New sports facilities, e.g. bike paths, ice rink, swimming pool.
● How to encourage young people to do sports?
● Why is it worth doing sports?

During the debate, the young people worked out a lot of ideas for new investments, changes and ways of sports activation of the youth. Mayor of Dzierzgoń Jolanta Szewczun confirmed that the city budget includes funds for the future sports investments and that the ideas proposed during the debate would be taken into consideration. She also announced that there were plans for changes in schools concerning PE classes so that the comments made by the young people during the debate would be accounted for..

The young people presented conclusions and recommendations from the round table at the session of the City Council of Dzierzgoń – so-called second public hearing – 26 December 2019

On 16 December 2019, during the session of the City Council of Dzierzgoń, the President of the Youth City Council presented the conclusions and requests from the young people concerning sports for the youth in the city, which emerged during the second round table.

context

We worked and created the project together with:

● Mayor Elżbieta Domańska and Dariusz Browarczyk – a teacher and the Curator of the Youth City Council (until the local government election in Poland, 21 October 2018)
● new Mayor Jolanta Szewczun as well as new Youth City Council Curator and President of the Dzierzgoń City Council Ryszard Świder (after the local government election, 21 October 2018)


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