Our Projects

RISE UP runs from 2023-2026 and aims to empower endangered language communities by building connections between relevant actors, identifying good practices and developing methods through a multi-disciplinary approach. RISE UP fosters the self-confidence of these communities, including learners, new speakers, people who have not yet had the chance to learn their heritage language, supporters, and more. Through the collection and analysis of context information and policies for endangered languages in Europe, the creation of a tool set for communities, the connection of relevant actors and the involvement of young people, specifically, RISE UP aims to provide support and empowerment to endangered language communities in Europe.

The language communities of focus are Burgenland Croatian, Aromanian, Seto, Aranese and Cornish. YEN office employee Jenny Browne works as the YEN project Manager for RISE UP.

More information about the project will be available soon.

Every Wednesday we post a #YENsDay post on our Instagram that is focused on positive news/events/facts from different minorities. #YENsDay is managed by our Convenor for Communication.

You can check out the previous #YENsDay posts on our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yenjev1984/

In this podcast we invite young people with minority backgrounds and encourage them to share their personal stories. For anyone interested in Europe‘s diverse cultures, thoughts by young souls, new developments in minorities or a conversation that surely will offer new insights to the listener.

We, as the network of young people from national, ethnic and linguistic minorities, have our own ideas on how Europe should look like. We also have our own and particular needs and interests, connected with our realities of life – the life as young people belonging to minorities. With our campaign #MYnorityMYsay we raised our voices to have our say in the election campaigns of 2019 and beyond!

More information about the project will be available soon.

The Minority Messengers Project run by YEN from 2018 until the end of 2020. The overall aim of the project was to empower minority youth to raise awareness on issues and topics important to them as members of minorities in Europe. In its first two years, young members of our network (the Minority Messengers) were not only trained in the application of non-formal education tools, but also planned and implemented different workshops all over Europe. All of these small-scale activities aimed to inform and exchange experiences about the life of young people belonging to a minority. The Minority Messengers visited a variety of youth organisations and youth groups, both from minorities and from mainstream society.

On April the 3rd, 2017, the Minority Safepack Initiative (MSPI) was approved as an European citizens’ initiative and opened to gather 1 million 9 supportive signatures within one year.

“We call upon the EU to improve the protection of persons belonging to national and linguistic minorities and strengthen cultural and linguistic diversity in the Union. We call upon the EU to adopt a set of legal acts to improve the protection of persons belonging to national and linguistic minorities and strengthen cultural and linguistic diversity in the Union. It shall include policy actions in the areas of regional and minority languages, education and culture, regional policy, participation, equality, audiovisual and other media content, and also regional (state) support.”

YEN is committed to the MSPI and continues to support and advocate for it. Actions of YEN for the MSPI include: 

2017 – early 2018

• At all events YEN in 2017 and early 2018 we promoted the initiative and collected signatures, but also made European minorities visible amongst the majority population.
• A group of YENis went to Berlin to promote the MSPI during “Zug der Liebe“  – a demonstration for and celebration of diversity where NGOs show their goals, ideals, and organisation on trucks, each of them with a DJ and techno music.
• During the Bus Tour “Crossing Rivers” in 2017 YEN visited 10 minorities in 8 countries in 10 days. We used flash mobs, flyer distribution and a promotional video to actively promoted for the MSPI. The participants took to the streets in different places and successfully collected signatures. Furthermore, the young people have exchanged views on how best to collect many signatures in their minority.

March 2018

• YEN’s General Assembly adopted a Resolution on the MSPI future for YEN to use in its further advocacy work. You can read it here.

2019 and 2020

• Representatives of YEN spoke up to encourage support for the MSPI during the “European Regional Forum on Education, Language and the Human Rights of Minorities” in May 2019.

Additionally YEN continuously follows up on the developments of the MSPI and informs its member organisations about its developments.