When it comes to social inclusion and active citizenship, there are often many opinions that can be expressed both on their importance as well as on the difficulties that both migrants and those sectors responsible for integrating them can face. European institutions and youth organizations are constantly stressing the importance of youth participation in the promotion of active citizenship, their social inclusion and their contribution to the development of democracy.

However, what is the most important to focus on, is the testimonies of the protagonists themselves who experienced step-by-step the integration, from their arrival in the host country to their daily lives, years later.

• What are their memories?
• What made their integration difficult?
• What facilitated it?
• What do they think from their experience that can enable the integration of migrants into local communities?

During the local event of RAYSE project organized by the Greek partner, Institute of Entrepreneurship Development, entitled “Initiatives and actions for the promotion of the social inclusion and active citizenship of 2nd generation migrants” which  took place on May 22nd 2019 in the city of Larissa, the participants were invited to release a brief interview, telling in few words their personal experience and launching ideas in order to realize and enhance the participation of youth.

Specifically, the local event’s participants’ profiles were young 2nd generation migrants, the majority of whom coming from Albania but also from other countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, Armenia, Russia, and Kazakhstan as well as representatives from local organizations and stakeholders who shared their interesting life- stories.

The purpose of this storytelling derived as an initiative for fostering the dialogue among young people, with or without the same experiences, as well as enhancement of participation and public’s sensitization in relevant issues.

You can see some of the participants’ testimonies in the video bellow.