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DG Democracy
Directorate of Democratic Participation
Youth Department
THINK YOUTH No 85 - October 2020
Peace activists plan their advocacy work on a study session in the European Youth Centre
European Youth Centre Strasbourg, 19-24 October 2020

The study session “Peace Advocacy” was held in cooperation with the Youth Peace Ambassadors Network (YPAN) to empower young people to take an active role in peacebuilding by equipping them with competences in advocacy and conflict transformation.

The 24 participants were introduced with the Youth for Democracy programme and explored more in depth the activities aiming towards building inclusive and peaceful societies. They devised advocacy proposals to address issues in their communities, such as hate speech and disinformation through more systemic work on media literacy, countering sexism and gender inequality or promoting further youth participation in peacebuilding by supporting young peacebuilders based on the UN Security Council Resolution 2250.

Quote from the study session: “The pandemic has not stopped the wars, so we must make sure it does not stop the peacebuilding work”
The youth sector statutory bodies hold their plenary online
For the first time in their almost 50-year history, the youth sector co-managed statutory bodies held their biannual meetings fully online on 12-14 October. Determined that the pandemic would not stall unduly business continuity, up to 120 members and observers of the Joint Council on Youth (CMJ) tackled, efficiently and effectively, a full agenda, keeping the spirit of co-management alive despite the physical distancing.The Joint Council took several forward-looking decisions: on a new flagship campaign, on greening the youth sector, on tackling anti-racism and on future priorities.Please visit our website for further information on the meetings and on the decisions.
Cooperation between the Cultural Routes, Eurail and EYCA, the European Youth Card Association
A “Letter of Intent” on cooperation between the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, Eurail and the European Youth Card Association (EYCA) was signed by Director General of Democracy Snežana SAMARDŽIĆ-MARKOVIĆ, on behalf of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Eurail General Manager Carlo BOSELLI and EYCA Director Manel SÁNCHEZ.

The “Letter of Intent” was signed to promote sustainable mobility across Europe, support the discovery of the rich and diverse heritage of Europe, foster the creation of a strong community of young travellers who support cultural diversity, intercultural learning and mutual exchanges across borders.
Young people’s access to rights
Reviewing implementation of recommendation CM/Rec(2016)7

On 21 and 22 October, representatives of the public and civic sectors responsible for youth from member states, the Council of Europe Joint Council on Youth, the European Youth Forum and experts from the Pool of European Youth Researchers met online to prepare a consultative meeting the aim of which is to review implementation of the Committee of Ministers recommendation on young people’s access to rights. 

After having shared experiences and achievements of using the recommendation, the group discussed how to organise the review process, the results of which will be presented in 2021 to the Joint Council on Youth and the Committee of Ministers.  Proposals were made for the research to be conducted, as well as potential implementation partners.
Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine“ officially launched
Kyiv, 8 October 2020

Over 150 people attended the official launch - which took place both online and offline - mainly representatives of national authorities and youth civil society organisations as well as local authorities from different regions of Ukraine.  

The project will focus on the development of the capacities of youth policy stakeholders and improvement of youth policy and youth work based on the Council of Europe standards. It will be implemented until the end of 2021 within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2022. It is grounded on the bilateral cooperation between the Council of Europe youth sector and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.
We are hiring
A few days to go before deadline

Would you like to be part of a dynamic and creative team in one of the renowned and state-of-the-arts education and training centres of the leading human rights organisation in Europe? Do you believe in the power of young people to make a better world? Are you motivated and competent to help young people and youth workers to promote democracy and human rights?

If so, this vacancy may be the right opportunity for you: Educational Advisor in the Youth Department of the Directorate General of Democracy.

Apply until Monday 2 November 2020 (midnight French time)
Croatian Compass training course
14-18 October 2020 in Zagreb

The Croatian Compass Training course run in partnership with the Croatian Youth Network (CYN) and Carpe Diem NGO took place in Zagreb.

It built capacity of participants to advocate for human rights and human rights education, and encouraged training projects which will make human rights education accessible and relevant to young people both on local and national level.
Long-term training course for youth trainers from the Russian Federation
Evaluation and training seminar, 3-10 October 2020 at the cultural-educational centre “Ethnomir” (Kaluga region)

Twenty-eight participants from 23 regions of the Russian Federation gathered to finalise a year-long training course aimed
at developing competences of youth trainers in non-formal education based on the standards of the Council of Europe.

During the 12 months following the initial seminar (November 2019) the participants completed 9 e-learning modules, participated in online meetings and implemented youth training activities with educational support from trainers. At the evaluation seminar, participants assessed their progress and evaluated the learning outcomes from the practice phase, which was held in very specific conditions due to the pandemic.

Time was devoted to discussion about the role and current challenges of non-formal education in youth work in the Russian Federation.
Youth department resources: Just published
And new linguistic versions also available

French version: Youth work in the spotlight-Guide to Recommendation CM/Rec(2017)4 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member States on youth work. Consult here >>  
Human rights education in action-Practices of human rights education with and by young people  Consult the French version here >> & and the Russian version here >> 
Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member States on supporting young refugees in transition to adulthood Consult the Italian version here >> & and the Russian version here >> 
Artificial Intelligence and its impact on young people (bilingual English/French) Consult here >> 
Enter youth week report available on the Enter! website >> 
News from the European Youth Foundation
After the 1st of September cut-off date, EYF grants were awarded to 12 new Pilot Activities, which will reach young people in 10 member states.

Further to this, the EYF Secretariat has stepped up its support to NGOs who have been facing challenges implementing their funded activities in the context of COVID-19. The EYF team have been supporting the NGOs to think innovatively about how they can adapt programmes to an online or a hybrid approach, whilst still maintaining a high quality of delivery.

In addition, a consultancy service will be launched in early November, which will allow NGOs to access the support of an external expert as they redraft their projects.

Finally, a strong number of applications for International Activities and Work Plans were received at the last cut off date and the Secretariat are currently working on their assessment, ready for decisions to be taken by the Programming Committee on Youth in December.
Partnership and Youth Knowledge...
Our flagship event in 2020, Youth Knowledge Forum was held on 28-29 October. It gathered policymakers, youth organisations and youth work
practitioners who discussed the state and place of youth research at the European and national level, as well as ways to strengthen their dialogue. Check out the event’s outcomes, resources and our related Youth Knowledge Breaks on our website >>> 

Knowledge HUB: COVID-19 impact on the youth sector Through our research networks we explore the various effects of the pandemic on young people, and support the partner institutions and other stakeholders in data collection and analysis of their findings. Check out the Hub >>>
... and some more about Youth work and rural youth realities...
MOOC on Essentials of Youth Work has completed its 1st edition, with 3500 enrolled participants from 85 countries,
the majority being youth workers, volunteers and/or members of youth organisations.The MOOC webinars, podcasts and other visual materials are available on our website >>>

New edition of Coyote #30 ‘Mapping rural youth realities. How are they moving forward?’ available online. Enjoy the reading! >>>
Upcoming activities
  • 27-30 October 2020, online, Youth Knowledge Forum and annual meeting of PEYR and EKCYP
  • 2 November-15 December, online learning course: “Human Rights Education and Youth Participation for Euro-Arab Dialogue”
  • 15-21 November 2020, Second seminar of the Long-term training course on citizenship, participation and human rights education for youth workers from Ukraine, Ukraine
  • 19-20 November 2020, online, 11th European Platform of Youth Centres in the Quality Label network
  • 23-27 November 2020, online, Follow-up to the consultative meeting on Artificial Intelligence and Young People
  • 24-25 November 2020, online, Third meeting of the CMJ drafting group on a CM recommendation to protect youth civil society and young people
  • 30 November-6 December 2020, 50/50 Training Course, Russian Federation
  • 2-4 December 2020, online, Statutory bodies (CMJ/CDEJ/CCJ/CPJ), 44th meeting of the Programming Committee on Youth
 
Useful links
The CoE Directorate General Democracy
The CoE Youth Portal
European Youth Centre Budapest
European Youth Centre Strasbourg
European Youth Foundation
Intergovernmental Cooperation
The EU-CoE Youth Parthership
Facebook pages
Advisory Council on Youth
Council of Europe - Youth
European Youth Centre Budapest
EU-CoE youth partnership
European Youth Foundation
No Hate Speech Movement
Coyote magazine
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