Community debates integrating displaced youth

Across Europe, many young people are living far from their home countries, navigating new languages, new schools, and new communities. For Ukrainian youth who have relocated to Lithuania and other European countries, finding a sense of belonging can be a real challenge. The Speak Together: Building the Bridges of Understanding project was created to address exactly this need.

The project aims to establish inclusive youth debate clubs across Europe, with a particular focus on empowering Ukrainian refugees to integrate into their local communities, develop civic skills, and become active participants in public life. Through debate, young people learn to listen carefully, express their opinions clearly, and engage with topics that matter to society. These are skills that go well beyond competition. They are tools for participation.

Debate as a Public Forum

One of the core ideas behind the project is that debate is not only an academic exercise. It is a form of civic engagement. When young people debate topics such as tourism policy, environmental sustainability, or cultural preservation, they are practicing something important: forming and communicating opinions on issues that affect real communities.

A recent example of this took place on January 24 at Romeris University in Vilnius. Two Ukrainian youth teams, representing Gravitas School from Vilnius and Heroes School from Kaunas, came together to debate the motion: This House believes that major tourist destinations should significantly limit the number of tourists that can visit. The debate covered questions of environmental impact, local economies, cultural heritage, and individual freedoms.

By engaging with these issues in a public setting we engaged in a broader conversation about how communities should be managed and protected.

Beyond the arguments themselves, events like this serve an important social purpose. For many of the Ukrainian youth who participated, meeting others in a similar situation was just as valuable as the debate itself. They could see that they are not alone, that others share their interests, and that they are part of a wider community.

Judges, teachers, and youth all worked together to create an environment where everyone felt safe to speak and to learn. The atmosphere was friendly and encouraging, which is essential when young people are being asked to express their views openly in front of an audience.