Youth Forum Kick-Off event creates excitement in Zeeland!

On January 20th, IDEA, SCOOP, and the Province of Zeeland, hosted the official 2010 Youth Forum Kick-Off, held in this year's hosting country of the Netherlands. As the first PR event for the 2010 Youth Forum, the event was attended by regional and provincial media, potential sponsors, partners and VIP from Zeeland. Ms. Karla Peijs, the Queens Comissioner for the Province of Zeeland, opened the event and will be serving as the Chairperson of the Committee of Recommendation (CoR) of the Youth Forum. The other members of this committee are the Deputy Director for social affairs of the Province of Zeeland, Dean of Roosveldt Academy, President of the Executive Board of the Hogeschool Zeeland, Mayor of Vlissingen and Middelburg, Chairman of the Executive Board of Economic Impulse in Zeeland, CEO of AddVision Consultancy, Commander of the Navy Base in Vlissingen and former Executive Director of Naval Academy.

The kick-off was hosted in the historical compounds of the former Abbey, which is currently used by the provincial government. Ms. Peijs said that she is proud to be the CoR chairperson of an event that brings together 250 young people from all over the world to Zeeland. She added how particularly pleased she is with the fact that participants will be discussing the issue of internal migration especially because of the local demographic changes that can be seen in the Province. She is also excited to hear the solutions proposed by the future generations, who will be affected by it the most.

Silvan Licher, a 2009 YF participant, also spoke at the Kick-Off event. He will be serving as the 2010 YF Ambassador, since the Youth Forum will be hosted in his hometown of Middelburg, Zeeland. After his speech, a video was shown from the 2009 Youth Forum Champions from Hunter, USA, who gave advice to future participants. Check out the video at the YF website here. At the end of the event, Marcin Zaleski, IDEA-Netherlands Executive Director, handed over the KPDC trophy to Ms. Karla Peijs and Silvan Licher as a token of passing on the organization of this year's YF to our partners in Zeeland.

From left: Marcin Zaleski (IDEA-Netherlands Executive Director), Karla Peijs (Queens Commissioner for Province of Zeeland), and Silvan Licher (2010 YF Ambassador)

The 2010 Youth Forum in Zeeland will be held on July 22nd- August 4th. The IDEA Youth Forum is a high school debate event that includes three debate competitions as well as debate workshops and great social activities! To find out more, visit the Youth Forum website.