During the European Conference on Child and Youth Participation in Society, hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Family Affairs in Porsgrunn, August 2002, plans were devised for WithVision, that have resulted in an international cooperation of youth organisations, from the Barents to the Black Sea, covering the countries of Northern Europe as well as the European CIS States, Belarus and Ukraine.

In October the same year, our member branch, the European Youth Parliament Ukraine, organised the first national youth summit on the MDGs, together with the United Nations Development Programme, bringing together more than 200 young people from all over Ukraine. The success of this event has led to a second one being set up in Kiev July 2003 (www.un.kiev.ua/ua/youthsummit), and the next will take place in October 2004. WithVision provided technical assistance at the first meeting, and were so impressed, that it was decided to try and develop the project further and bring in even more countries.

This resulted in August 2003 in the first Northern European Youth Forum on the MDGs organised by the WithVision network, through its Swedish member branch, Öckero Youth Council (www.neyf.com). The conference was held under the patronage of HE Mr. Göran PERSSON, Prime Minister of Sweden. The second forum was hosted in Stavanger, Norway under the patronage of HE Mr. Kjell Magne BONDEVIK, Prime minister of Norway.