On the occasion of his visit to Strasbourg to address the Parliamentary Assembly, H.E. Mr Jakov MILATOVIĆ, President of Montenegro, visited the European Youth Centre Strasbourg (EYCS) where he was welcomed by Marie Farigoules, Executive Director of the EYCS and Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe.

After visiting the EYCS' premises, the President had a dynamic exchange with trainers and activists participating in a training on Counter-Narratives to hate speech.

The President underlined the importance of unique safe spaces provided by the European Youth centres to promote human rights and emphasised his commitment, as a young President, to establish partnerships with the Youth sector of the Council of Europe in view of implementing concrete initiatives to defend the rights of all young people in Montenegro and ensure a more inclusive, hate-free society, where all vulnerable groups feel protected.

The Ambassador of Finland, Sini Paukkunen-Mykkänen visited the European Youth Centre with Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of the Youth Department and Marie Farigoules, Executive director of the EYCS.

The visit was the occasion to exchange on areas of future co-operation to strengthen the youth perspective, as well as on the opportunities provided by the European Youth Foundation (EYF) and the Council of Europe Quality Label for Youth Centres with Gordana Berjan, Head of the EYF.

On 24-25 January 2024, a consultative meeting Realising the potential of Roma Youth participation held at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg brought together representatives of Roma youth organisations and networks, national youth councils, and experts with an aim to create a "roadmap" for implementing the Recommendation CM/Rec(2023)4 on Roma Youth Participation.

Rui Gomes, Head of the Education and Training Division, presented the state of affairs of Roma youth participation in the Youth Department and emphasised the urgency of supporting member states to address systematic discrimination faced by Roma youth. Nicolae Rădiţa, Rapporteur on Children and Young People's Rights in the Steering Committee on Antidiscrimination, Diversity and Inclusion (CD-ADI), explained ongoing intergovernmental efforts to promote equality and build inclusive societies highlighting the youth perspective.

Representatives of the Roma and Travellers Team discussed progress in implementing the Strategic Action Plan on Roma and Traveller Inclusion (2020-2025) and announced an upcoming Recommendation on equality for Roma and Traveller women and girls.

On 18-19 December 2023, the end of term visit of the Council of Europe Quality Label for Youth Centre was organised at CEULAJ (Centro Eurolatinamericano de Juventud) in Mollina, Spain.

The purpose of the visit was to evaluate the fulfilment of the 15 quality criteria of the Quality Label which CEULAJ has been holding since 2016. This was the second evaluation visit of the Council of Europe expert team to the centre, having been postponed in 2021 due to the global pandemic.

The team of Quality Label experts was welcomed by Carlos Carretero Utrilla, Director of CEULAJ and Cristina Ruiz Gallardo, Coordinator of Educational Staff. They were presented with recent initiatives and programmes of the centre, as well as the improvements made to the facilities and educational spaces. The expert team exchanged views with the new Secretary General of the Youth Institute of Spain (INJUVE), Margarita Guerrero Calderon and her team, and other stakeholders of CEULAJ such as Jorge Saez Martinez, representing KAEBNAI.

In order to support youth organisations in implementing their intercultural activities in cooperation with the Council of Europe, the Youth Department organised a Training Course on Essentials of Non-formal Education from 29 January to 3 February 2024.

The training course, organised in the European Youth Centre Budapest, brought together facilitators, youth leaders, and team members involved in study sessions at the European Youth Centres or international activities supported by the European Youth Foundation.

Throughout the course, participants improve their knowledge of, and competencies in non-formal education practices while gaining familiarity with the educational resources and standards of the Council of Europe applicable to youth organisations.

This local project which focused on increasing youth participation in decision-making processes was carried out in the Cantabria region of Spain with the aim to empower young people to organise local campaigns on the protection of the environment.

The main action was a 5-day training course with 25 young people from rural areas, learning about democratic participation and diverse civic participation actions, resulting in a demonstration in the capital of Cantabria region where 80 youngsters and adults were mobilised to advocate for better policies in rural areas.

This was a true example of revitalising democracy in rural areas, connecting rural youth with the institutions.  “Through the projects we have been running, our organisation has been gaining increasingly more experience in participatory processes, as well as in promoting participatory democracy among rural youth. We are proud to see that rural youth are no strangers to their needs and that, when given the opportunity to participate through a non-formal structure, participants are very responsive”, commented the project coordinator.

This project was supported by the European Youth Foundation through a pilot activity grant.