Social exclusion among the youth can take many forms and has shown to have a variety of negative impacts on their mental, social and professional wellbeing. More and more young people - as a result of forced home isolation, fewer opportunities of networking and human relationships, and fear for the safety of loved ones – found themselves in a condition of hopelessness.

However, amidst this general sense of loss, young communities across Europe have once again proven their resilience and ability to create and develop even at times of despair. Young people have gathered to support their communities through actions of social solidarity, something that is now needed more than ever.

Such young people have been identified and supported through our project REBUILD, in order to facilitate youth civic participation and create more networking and capacity building opportunities. REBUILDers from Europe who took part in the project, finally met at the International YouthNet Forum in Brussels last week. The Forum provided for a safe space for young people to meet and share their experiences from the 25 local initiatives that have been implemented in Cyprus, Spain, Martinique, Italy, Greece and Lithuania. The winning initiatives from each country also had the chance to present their actions at the European Parliament and make their initiatives visible to an even wider audience.