Connecting Cities, Empowering Youth

Connecting Youth Across Cities

Our project aims to establish a youth and youth professional cooperation among Rzeszów, Satu Mare, and Nyíregyháza.

As part of this initiative, we plan to collaborate with professionals and young people to assess the existing youth best practices, opportunities, and challenges in each city, creating a professional SWOT analysis. This process is intended to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the youth sector, providing inspiration for generating and sharing ideas.

A Shared Vision for Collaboration

A key element of our project is the active involvement of the Nyíregyháza-Satu Mare Youth Council, which will coordinate future cooperation with young people from Rzeszów. This council serves as a platform for fostering dialogue between young people and decision-makers, ensuring their voices are heard. Nyíregyháza and Satu Mare, as twin cities, share a strong history of collaboration, having already established a productive and well-structured dialogue. By including Rzeszów, also a twin city to both, we aim to expand this network into a trilateral partnership. This will enhance the exchange of ideas, experiences, and best practices, fostering a more inclusive and dynamic model of youth cooperation among the three cities.

Kez

The 2021 Strategy

Based on the outcomes, we plan to adopt, adapt, and develop youth best practices that benefit young people in all three cities. The ultimate goal is to establish a strong, structured dialogue among the three cities on youth issues, laying the groundwork for a joint professional advisory council. 

This project builds on the work started in 2021 when the youth of Nyíregyháza and Satu Mare collaboratively developed a youth strategy. That strategy was based on a survey and consultation conducted in both cities, with over 350 young participants. While not representative, the survey provided a realistic picture of how young people view their cities and their needs in areas such as culture, sports, leisure, environmental protection, risk behaviors, work, and family.

Developing an Action Plan

Developing an
Action Plan

We aim to bring another city into this collaboration and channel the involvement of active youth. Throughout the project, we plan to implement four interrelated mobility activities.


  • The first activity will launch the project and its communication.

  • This will be followed by a training session on social participation,

  • a subsequent workshop where young people will analyze the SWOT findings,

  • and a forum to present best practices and the youth SWOT analyses of the three cities.

Strengthening Youth Participation

Our survey results indicated that while young people feel connected to their cities, the lack of cultural and educational opportunities makes them less appealing. Our project aims to change this by encouraging young people to take an active role in their city’s development. We believe this will empower them to participate more actively in decision-making and contribute new ideas at the municipal level. Through analysis and best practices, young people will gain a deeper understanding of each other and the youth sector.

Twin-City Youth Advisory Council

Twin-City Youth Advisory Council

Given the triangular twin-city relationship—Nyíregyháza is a twin city to both Satu Mare and Rzeszów, and vice versa—youth identified the potential to elevate this cooperation to a higher level. The project’s goal is to establish a “Twin-City Youth Advisory Council”, which will support and coordinate youth cooperation between the cities. The council will remain open to additional towns, as several neighboring cities (Uzhhorod, Berehove, Prešov, Bielsko-Biała, Gorlice, Baia Mare) also maintain active twin-city or partnership relations with the project cities. In the medium and long term, the goal is to create a regional youth advisory council involving students, youth representatives, civil organizations, and decision-makers, ensuring all relevant stakeholders connected to the target group are included.

Where does this project come from?

The project idea emerged from young people, drawing on the experiences of the KÉK Association in Nyíregyháza, which operates the Mustárház Youth Center and handles youth municipal tasks.

The association has implemented two participatory projects with Satu Mare focusing on strategy development and structured dialogue, as well as a participatory project with Rzeszów through the Student Mayor’s Office in Nyíregyháza.

Additionally, Nyíregyháza youth regularly participate in Erasmus+ international youth exchanges organized by the Rzeszów-based organization, having joined 15 exchanges in Rzeszów, while Rzeszów youth have participated in eight similar exchanges in Nyíregyháza.