In the Groningen earthquake area, a lot is being decided about the future of young people, in large programmes such as Nij Begun and De Staat van Groningen en Noord-Drenthe. Yet for most participants in Young Minds, Local Voices, it was their first encounter with local politics.
From October 2024 to September 2026 we organised six events in Eemsdelta. Young people talked with council members and local administrators. Then they turned their own ideas into real plans for their village or town. A core team of young adults led the project and developed a card game of its own along the way: YouthTopia.
The project is part of Toekomstmakers, our umbrella name for everything where young people decide for themselves what changes in their surroundings.
At the table with local politics
On the first evening we sat in the town hall in Delfzijl. In a World Café and speed dates with council members, young people shared how they want to have a say.
In April 2025, students from Eemsdelta Campus read the report De Staat van Groningen en Noord-Drenthe during their project week. On posters they wrote advice for policy makers: how do you make such large programmes understandable for young people? Then they cycled to the Molenbergtheater in Delfzijl. There they presented their advice at the congress, with State Secretary Eddie van Marum in the audience.
In October 2025 we held our first event in English, with young internationals who live or work in Eemsdelta. They talked with the municipality's administrators about small and big problems in their neighbourhood.
In April 2026 young people stepped into the role of professionals. They walked through Appingedam and interviewed people in the street for the new vision for the town centre, which Buro Rondom is writing. Their posters later came up at an evening with residents and business owners.
Because many participants were dealing with politics for the first time, we asked council members beforehand to focus on explaining how the municipality works. That made it easier to take part, for both sides.
From idea to action
“That you can get far with a diverse group of people just by talking to each other… let alone what we can achieve if we put it into action.”
Participant, October 2025
At every event young people worked on their own ideas. With a problem tree they worked out where a problem comes from. With a project tree they turned it into a plan. The day ended with a pitch battle, and in April 2026 the teams competed for a starting budget of 500 euros.
Anyone who wanted to go further got support from Jong Noord. Together we made a plan and looked for funding. This led to:
- a film night for girls;
- a bingo night for young people aged 13 to 18, with prizes from local shops;
- a march for women's safety on the street, on 19 September 2025 from Delfzijl to Appingedam, as part of the national campaign Wij Eisen De Nacht Op. More than 80 people took part;
- activities for young and old, together with the volunteers of a nearby care home;
- a first event in Lithuania, by a participant who joined in October 2025 and took her idea home with her.
Not every idea made it to the finish line. One team wanted more lighting on dark cycle paths. That turned out to be technically complicated and slow, and motivation faded. Young people also suggested turning large lawns into wild, native planting. Council members liked the plan, but nothing has happened with it yet.
YouthTopia
The plan included a handbook for policy makers. The core team went for a card game. YouthTopia gets young people thinking about what's going on in their surroundings, and how to solve it.
The team tested every prototype at our events and with two youth organisations in the region, and improved the game after each round of feedback. At the Toekomstmakers Congres on 25 September 2026, the core team launched YouthTopia themselves, for 69 young initiators, youth organisations, professionals and funders.
What lasts
The youth panel our core team set up with JongGOUD is now run by the municipality of Eemsdelta itself. Through State Secretary Van Marum we got in touch with the economic agenda of Nij Begun. As a result, young people get a seat on the committee that assesses plans there. Teachers at Eemsdelta Campus now refer students with an idea of their own to us.
Jong Noord changed too. Young people with a small initiative can come to us for support and a first budget. And with the congress we brought youth organisations from across the province together. We want to keep that going.
With thanks to
These organisations helped the project move forward:
- JongGOUD, the youth participation team of the municipality of Eemsdelta;
- the Ministry of the Interior and the Province of Groningen, who gave young people a role at the congress of De Staat van Groningen en Noord-Drenthe;
- Eemsdelta Campus (VO Eemsdelta);
- Buro Rondom;
- MFC Kabzeël in Appingedam, where most of the events took place;
- TienSkip, the Youth Advisory Council of the Province of Groningen, Raakhelder Fondsenwerving and Groninger Dorpen, with their sessions at the congress;
- the Loket Leefbaarheid of the Nationaal Programma Groningen, which gave the congress extra support.
Project period
Where