Russian-Syrian Youth Forum (archive event)

The Russian-Syrian Youth Forum was held from November 28, 2022 to December 3, 2022 in Moscow, Stavropol and Pyatigorsk. It brought together youth leaders from Russia and Syria motivated to develop youth cooperation and launch joint projects.

The purpose of the event was to develop positive international contacts between youth of Russia and Syria through joint educational and project activities.

Tasks:

• involvement of active young people in the processes of qualitative change in the environment and participation in the work of youth communities (distributed teams, international projects / days of united action),
• exchange of experience and practices in the implementation of various projects and involvement of young people in pro-active activities,
• stimulation of the project approach among youth,
• informing young people about the possibilities of self-realization in social activities.

General (basic) part of the program:

• pro-active civic position, readiness to become leaders of social changes,
• joint work of youth and youth communities of countries for the development of local territories and partnerships between countries in general,
• open exchange of experience and practices for the implementation of high-quality social projects.

Profile (thematic) parts of the program:

• volunteering,
• youth science,
• youth entrepreneurship,
• tourism and development of youth routes.

The project part of the program: designing youth initiatives for further implementation and development of cooperation.

Participants: 50 people (25 people from each side), representatives of youth public organizations, representatives of informal youth associations, representatives of student organizations, young scientists, young entrepreneurs, volunteers.

Key results: During the forum the participants discussed the current state and prospects of Russian-Syrian youth cooperation, the role of youth in strengthening bilateral relations, trends in the implementation of youth policy and exchanged experience in working and implementing projects on the topics of the forum (volunteering, tourism, youth science, entrepreneurship). The participants also had meetings with representatives of the Federal Agency for the CIS Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo), the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodyozh), the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund and the Foreign Policy Cooperation Center named after Yevgeny Primakov. During the meetings the participants were able to get acquainted with the mechanisms for supporting youth projects and the most relevant areas of cooperation.

As a result of the forum the participants improved their skills and competencies in the field of social design and developed joint projects that will facilitate the development of Russian-Syrian youth cooperation. Among them the project to create the centre for promoting employment for youth of Russia and Syria, the project to create the platform to ensure communication between youth of Russia and Syria in the field of science, education and culture, the Mind 3 Heart project to combat discrimination and provide psychological assistance to its victims. There were also such projects as creation of the platform for Russian-Syrian cooperation on cultural issues, language learning and intercultural exchange, creation of the language centre for the study of Arabic and Russian with the involvement of students-translators as teachers and speakers.