From April 11 to 15, more than 100 young leaders from different countries worked on joint projects in an online format.
The organizer of the II International Youth Forum of Public Diplomacy "InterYes! 2.0" was the Russia-BRICS Project Office for International Youth Cooperation created on the basis of the Creative Technologies Foundation "Ulyanovsk – Capital of Culture" with the support of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs "Rosmolodezh".
The landmark event, which brought together almost 100 participants from 11 countries, such as Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Russia, was an important step in strengthening international relations in the face of severe sanctions and global crisis.
The forum participants and experts focused on topics related to public diplomacy, strengthening international cooperation in the BRICS countries, sports and cultural exchanges. For five days, the young leaders exchanged best practices and ideas in the direction of intercultural dialogue and project management.
The online forum opened on April 11 with a plenary session, the main topic of which was youth policy as a means of implementing the principles of public diplomacy.
The forum delegates were welcomed by the Governor of the Ulyanovsk region Alexey Russkikh.
" I would like to proudly emphasize that in this difficult and tense time we have gathered the youth of Brazil, Russia, India, China, the Republic of South Africa and other partner countries for dialogue in the name of strengthening international cooperation. The BRICS alliance is a truly unique multilateral format, a vivid example of network diplomacy. I am proud that the youth of the Ulyanovsk region is aimed at serious relations with foreign colleagues and non-profit organizations. I have no doubt that the projects that will be born after the forum will not just be implemented, but will become a good example of partnership, exchange of experience and strengthening of interaction between peoples in the modern world," the head of the region noted.
The plenary session was attended by the President of the Regional Public Organization "BRICS. World of Traditions" Lyudmila Sekacheva, Director of Relations with State and Public Organizations of the National Committee for BRICS Research Valeria Gorbacheva, head of the BRICS Youth Association Raymond Matlala (South Africa), representative of Hunan First Normal University Chen Ge and others. The head of Rossotrudnichestvo Yevgeny Primakov sent a welcome address to the participants of the event.
As the head of the International Activities Department of the Youth Projects and Programs Department of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs Valeria Chernogorodova noted, the main goal of the forum is to give young people the opportunity to act and offer their solutions to existing problems, communicating them with each other and helping to turn interesting ideas into concrete projects.
"We welcome the “InterYes 2.0" Forum as a platform for promoting the development of humanitarian contacts on the BRICS line. I would like to note that the ray of hope in these dark times of chaos and turmoil is the BRICS, which is the "gold standard" of multilateral cooperation, which is a vivid example of building partnerships between countries with their unique culture and traditions, history and priceless heritage,"
said Vladimir Poluektov, Second Secretary of the Department of Foreign Policy Planning of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
According to the organizers, the forum program was divided into two parts. The opening day was dedicated to the business program: experts immersed the participants in the conceptual field and gave examples of the most vivid and successful cases on public diplomacy implemented at venues in different countries, as well as conducted an analysis of projects illustrating youth cooperation in the territory of the BRICS countries.
The second important part of the event was a coworking session, which was held under the guidance of international-level coaches. Thanks to the coaches' technologies, many interesting ideas in the field of education, sports and preservation of cultural identity have been translated into full-fledged projects. The workshop was built on the principles of non-formal education with the use of modern online tools, which allowed achieving the desired results.
"As a result of the Forum, the participants developed 12 projects, presented them to the experts and got feedback from them. Each of the projects is aimed at the development of international relations of the participating countries of the forum through youth initiatives in the field of culture, creative industries, public diplomacy, entrepreneurship, volunteerism, sports diplomacy and youth work. For example, the "Russian-Pakistani Youth Exchange Program", "The First BRICS Youth Martial Arts Games", "Women's Forum "Involve", "Modern Tales Festival", the International Art Expedition to the BRICS countries "Colors of Russia" and others. Most of the project ideas have been approved by experts and should be implemented,"
said Lyubov Savelyeva, coach of intercultural communication and non–formal education.
The moderators of the forum were the Program Director of the Russia-BRICS Project Office for International Youth Cooperation, Deputy Director – Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Creative Technologies Foundation "Ulyanovsk – Capital of Culture" Diana Kovela and the Chairman of the International Youth Edu-Skills Foundation, President of the Association of Asian Students (RUDN University), Vice President of the NGO "BRICS. World of Traditions", Vice President of the Association of Foreign Students of Russia for Asian Countries Akil Mohammad.
"I am very glad that even in this difficult time, young people from different countries have become participants of the forum: Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Ghana, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Uzbekistan and, of course, Russia. I would like to note that despite the fact that this year "InterYes!" is held in an online format, we managed to create a motivating environment for comfortable work of participants who showed a truly team drive. Eleven developed projects speak about the correctly chosen format of the forum, which can be called a successful mechanism for establishing horizontal ties among young people. The participants saw like-minded people in each other and, I am sure, they will not go off the rails of joint work,"
said Diana Kovela.
Further, on the basis of the developed concepts of public diplomacy projects, participants will prepare and submit grant applications, hoping to win competitions. The practice of implementing projects in multinational teams is gaining popularity among young people from different countries from year to year.