History - Ateliers des Jeunes Citoyens de la Méditerranée

“Acting to make things happen, representing to make your voice heard.”

Discover the actions carried out during our previous editions of the AJCM :

2015

2016

2018

2019

Youth meeting in the Mediterranean

In 2015, 70 young people from 9 countries around the Mediterranean will meet for several days to develop proposals together on issues related to education, commitment, culture, mobility and the environment. These exchanges are the premises for the creation of a future Assembly of Young Citizens of the Mediterranean.

In 2016, we’ve taken action! A big clean-up action was organised on Saturday 14 May 2016.

Nothing better than a concrete, collective and citizen action to show our attachment to the Mediterranean, OUR sea!

This action, initiated by the young elected members of the CRJ and led by Les Têtes de l’Art, Citoyens de la Terre, Surfrider Coordination Méditerranée, follows a proposal by young Mediterranean high school students during the 2015 edition of the AJCM.

In France, the action took place in Marseille, on May 14th at 2 pm, on the BEACH OF L’HUVEAUNE (or Epluchures BEACH), known for its waste on windy days, and in Nice (on the beach of the Centenary) always on May 14th at 2 pm! Other actions also took place in Morocco, Tunisia, Spain and Algeria!

The cleaning was done with music and many surprises were present!

You will find below the list of the clean-up operations carried out in the Mediterranean Sea :

TUNISIA : TUNIS – RADES beach, with the students of the Lycée Rue le Pacha
MOROCCO: Kénitra, association AGPE-J “young citizens in action”.
MOROCCO: TETOUAN with the students of Hassan 2 High School
ALGERIA: ALGERIA with the association Women in Communication
ITALY: ROME – Worldrise Organization and the Management of Plastic Pollution at Sea project

After a year’s break, our AJCM project (Atelier des Jeunes Citoyens et Citoyennes de la Méditerranée) restarted in December 2017.

The Young Mediterranean Citizens’ Workshop is open to all young people between 15 and 30 years old living around the Mediterranean. These young citizens of the Mediterranean are committed to the values of solidarity and exchange and work together to initiate collective actions.

In order to encourage young people to get involved in the organisation of a citizen mobilisation day, we have set up a series of workshops in three territories in the Provence-Alpes-Côted’Azur region: Marseille, Nice and Toulon. These workshops or “project groups” enabled young people from different backgrounds to meet to reflect together on the challenges of citizenship in the Mediterranean and collectively build their youth engagement day.

A total of 9 workshops took place in these territories (3 per city) with heterogeneous groups of young people aged between 15 and 30 years old. Beyond the issue of waste management and the impact of coastal pollution, we wanted to address in a broader way the issues related to the Mediterranean context: Civicism and citizenship, solidarity and respect, environment and sustainable development, communication, circular economy, citizen participation, mobility, etc..

The results of the various actions carried out on site were presented and highlighted in the framework of a “Mediterranean Day of Citizen Involvement of Young People” organised simultaneously in the partner countries on 14 April 2018 on the various beaches concerned. The organisation of this day was thus an opportunity for young people to work on an event whose aim was to highlight their civic commitment and their involvement in citizenship and environmental issues in the Mediterranean.

The day took place in 9 countries and 16 cities simultaneously.

Back in image of the 2018 edition:

Marseille (France)

Nice (France)

Toulon (France)

Casablanca (Maroc)

Kénitra (Maroc)

Rabat (Maroc)

Nador (Maroc)

Alger (Algérie)

Oran (Algérie)

Tunis (Tunisie)

Gabès (Tunisie)

Beyrouth (Liban)/ Damas (Syrie – l’action s’est faite symboliquement à Beyrouth)

Larnaca (Chypre)

Dürres (Albanie)

Podgorica (Monténégro)

After a successful 2018 edition with 16 cities involved from 9 Mediterranean countries, the AJCM continued in 2019 around several highlights:

The “Day of Youth Citizen Initiatives in the Mediterranean”: the organisation of a simultaneous waste collection around the Mediterranean on Saturday, April 27, 2019
A series of multidisciplinary workshops in relation to the following topics: citizen/youth/Mediterranean engagement/dialogue with institutions/ecology/sustainable development/art & culture/circular economy/social innovation
Meetings/debates

Citizen initiatives day:

This event – a beacon, symbolic and unifying of the concrete commitment of young people – took the form of a day of educational cleaning of beaches, on April 27, 2019 , simultaneously in many Mediterranean countries. On this occasion, youth initiatives were presented, already existing or developed during workshops during the months of March an

d April. This action is not an end in itself it is a pretext for discussion, awareness, learning skills, the experience of interculturality for young people. In the end, this media day is intended to become the “day of citizen engagement of young people in the Mediterranean”, and will be a new step towards the representation of youth in the Mediterranean.

The AJCM workshops

We organize a series of workshops before and after Citizen Initiatives Day.The work

shops are based on 3 principles: Investigate / Dialogue / Act

Meetings/debates

The AJCM also offers the opportunity for young people to discuss, Exchange and discuss Mediterranean issues. We wish to promote communication and interconnection between young people and policy makers through the organisation of meetings/debates during the second half of 2019.

Altogether:

22 workshops were organised in Marseille, Nice and Toulon for 138 participants
the day of citizen engagement of young people in the Mediterranean gathered more than 2,500 participants
the AJCM has mobilised 96 structures including 43 in France and 53 in the Mediterranean!