SALAM

Being a platform for exchange, SALAM gives a voice to young civil society actors on both sides of the Mediterranean, so that they can jointly develop proposals for the future of the Mediterranean.

By bringing together 300 young people under the age of 40, eager to contribute to the determination and implementation of a positive agenda for the region, SALAM fosters dialogue between the two sides of the Mediterranean. It creates synergies for the joint development of projects and supports the leading role of civil society to imagine new solutions on common issues.

Actors that are supported under the framework of SALAM program are mobilized around 6 themes, which reiterate and expand on the axes of the “Commitments for a new ambition in the Mediterranean” signed during the Summit of the two shores held in Marseille, on June 2019:

1. Knowledge and Mobility
2. Sustainable Development
3. Digital, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
4. Culture
5. Inclusion
6. Cities and Territories.

Alongside France, all countries of the northern and southern shore of the Mediterranean are participating in the SALAM program. The objective is to make the voice of Mediterranean youth heard and support their proposals to imagine how the Mediterranean will be by 2030.

Each working groups presented its solutions during the Mediterranean Forum, held in Marseille in 2022. They will provide input for the proposals made by France, for the Mediterranean, under the framework of the French Presidency of the European Union.

The SALAM programme gives voice to young civil society actors from both sides of the Mediterranean through several mechanisms:

• Support and financing of 17 innovative micro-projects on priority themes for the region, in particular in the field of social and solidarity economy and sustainable development (SDG 12).
• Identification of innovative projects holders on both shores of the Mediterranean to promote the networking of actors and synergies.
• Holding 3 regional meetings to collectively reflect on the relevant tools and mechanisms for a lasting dialogue in the Mediterranean.
• Launching 6 thematic working groups to forge links, imagine solutions for tomorrow and farmalize concrete proposals which were presented during the Mediterranean Forum in 2022;
• Raising awareness on SDG 12 "Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns": creation of a comic for young people (in French and Arabic);
• Creating webinars on the following themes: circular economy, sustainable agriculture and responsible production and consumption;
• Setting up a work and exchange platform: as a platform for exchange, SALAM gives a voice to young civil society actors, so that they can jointly debate and develop proposals for the future of the Mediterranean.