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DG Democracy
Directorate of Democratic Participation
Youth Department
THINK YOUTH| No 95 - September 2021
The Council of Europe Youth Department receives YMCA Europe’s 2021 „Roots of Peace Award”
The Council of Europe Youth Department receives YMCA Europe’s 2021 „Roots of Peace Award”

On 15 September the Council of Europe Youth Department was presented with the 2021 Roots of Peace Award, given out annually by YMCA Europe.

The award was given by the Executive Committee of YMCA Europe to express appreciation for the outstanding contribution of the Council of Europe and its Youth Department to the promotion of peace and justice in the continent.

The Roots Peace Award is a YMCA Europe initiative to celebrate good will and to empower young people and youth workers to be pragmatic actors of peace. It has two annual nominations. The monetary prize is to go to organisations applying through a competitive process, with decision subject to YMCA Europe Roots Peace Work Institute Alumni voting. The non-monetary prize is set to go to international institutions or organisations for their outstanding contribution to peace, reconciliation and well-being across the continent.

Read more ›
Shrinking civic space, political participation and freedom of association for youth from minority groups and communities
Shrinking civic space, political participation and freedom of association for youth from minority groups and communities

The study session Unrepresented Diplomats: European Minority Youth on Shrinking Civic Space, Political Participation and Freedom of Association took place from 20 to 25 September at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg.

The activity brought together 40 youth leaders from among minority and indigenous communities in Europe in advocacy for human rights and minority rights in their local and national contexts; it was organised in cooperation with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation, the European Free Alliance Youth, and Youth of European Nationalities.

The participants developed 12 proposals for follow-up action such as supporting young UNPO members to organise themselves, creating intercultural language programmes to preserve endangered languages and promote dialogue, raise awareness on human rights violations through advocacy and organising educational activities to promote human rights and empower young people to claim for their rights to be protected.

Read more ›
North Macedonia joins the Partial Agreement on youth mobility through the youth card!
North Macedonia joins the Partial Agreement on youth mobility through the youth card!

On 14 September 2021, North Macedonia joined the Partial Agreement on Youth Mobility through the Youth Card, thus becoming its 22nd member.

The overall objective of the Partial Agreement is for member governments and EYCA member organisations to work together to create better mobility solutions for young people. This general objective implies two main aims: the development of the Youth Card scheme, and the development of better youth policies with and for member governments.

The Partial Agreement’s work programme is implemented in co-operation with the European Youth Card Association, EYCA. It is a non-profit association founded in 1987. It represents over 40 national youth card organisations across Europe with over 7 million cards in use.

You are welcome to consult the recently produced 38 linguistic versions of the Partial Agreement's flyer, as well as 7 linguistic versions of a brochure presenting examples of its activities.

Read more ›
Youth work for all – implementing Recommendation CM/Rec(2015)3 on the Access of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods
Youth work for all – implementing Recommendation CM/Rec(2015)3 on the Access of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods

The initial training seminar of the Enter! Training for Youth Workers kicked off with 33 participants- youth workers from 23 countries at the European Centre Budapest. In the framework of the Hungarian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, the training seminar supported youth workers to devise projects which put in practice the Committee of Minister’s Enter! Recommendation and Youth Work Recommendation.

The long-term training course (LTTC) aims to equip youth workers with knowledge and skills to provide support and develop joint local approaches that improve the access to social rights for young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods. In the framework of the Enter! training, the youth workers will engage and work closely with the Council of Europe in developing and implementing specific youth work projects aimed at improving access to social rights, as well as enhance the recognition, quality and outreach of youth work in member states.

The LTTC comprises two intercultural residential seminars with a practice/project phase in between and supported by an e-learning programme, mentoring and networking opportunities. It takes place from August 2021 to December 2022. During the course each participant will develop a local youth work project based on active participation of young people and addressing specific challenges that young people face in their access to social rights. The projects should be implemented in co-operation with local authorities, public service providers and other stakeholders, to ensure better impact at the local community level.
Read more about the course, its participants, its methodology ›
Thirty young project leaders attend European Youth Foundation Info Sessions
Thirty young project leaders attend European Youth Foundation Info Sessions


On 8 and 9 September, the European Youth Foundation (EYF) organised information sessions on International Activities and Annual Work Plans, ahead of the 1st October application deadline.

Thirty young people attended the event, representing national and international youth non-governmental organisations. Participants welcomed the Secretariat’s presentation on the Council of Europe’s youth sector and its priorities for 2022 and received information on EYF grant criteria and requirements relating to international activities and work plans. A survey confirmed that the sessions met the expectations of the participants.

Read more on the EYF support ›
Youth climate movement – explained
Youth climate movement – explained

What is the youth climate strike movement? Who are the young people involved and what are they asking for? What have they achieved so far? How do European decision-makers respond to their demands? What can you do to support them?

The EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership has published a new animated video about the youth climate strike movement on 24 September, when young people all over the globe went on strike to demand climate justice.

Watch the video!

For more information on the topic, read ’Disobedient youth: Lessons from the youth climate strike movement’ by Jamie Gorman, Phd.

 

Youth climate movement – explained
Rural youth – diverse, ignored and unfulfilled

The EU-CoE Youth Partnership has published a new study: Young people in rural areas: diverse, ignored and unfulfilled by Adina Marina Șerban and Rūta Brazienė.

One of the most striking findings is that rural policies ignore young people and youth policies ignore rural youth. Generally, there is little understanding and acceptance in policy that young people in rural areas represent a diversity of groups, interests, needs and aspirations.

Read the study about challenges young people in rural areas face and listen to the Under 30’ podcast episode exploring this topic

Ukraine: Strengthening youth participation on local level

Between July and September, teams from ten local communities – partners of the project Youth for Democracy in Ukraine – learned about applying the principles

Ukraine: Strengthening youth participation on local level

of the Council of Europe on youth policy and youth participation in a medium-term capacity building programme.

These activities are part of the component Young People, Full Citizens of the project which aims at supporting youth policy actors on local level in Ukraine to develop policies that enhance youth participation and civic engagement of young people. Representatives of public authorities, youth councils, NGOs and youth groups discussed the future co-operation of local teams in order to strengthen youth participation based on the Charter on the participation of young people in local and regional life and applied it to their project. As a next step, experts of the project now provide mentoring and practical advice to support the local teams to implement their own projects on strengthening youth participation.

COMPASS Training Course in Azerbaijan
COMPASS Training Course in Azerbaijan

The national training course on human rights education COMPASS was held between 13 and 19 September at the Resource Centre for Youth Organisations in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The training course brought together young trainers and multipliers from 10 regions of Azerbaijan  to build capacity in human rights education and to advocate for human rights in local and national contexts. It was organised in cooperation with the Youth Department of the Council of Europe and the National Assembly of Youth Organisation of the Republic of Azerbaijan (NAYORA).

The activity introduced participants to the Council of Europe Charter on Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education and enabled the use of COMPASS in their daily experiences as human rights educators.

As a result of a weeklong training course, participants developed their knowledge, skills and attitudes as youth trainers and paved the way to create the future network of human rights educators from Azerbaijan. The coursed was concluded with participants sharing their personal goals as human rights educators and developing follow-up activities to be implemented in the upcoming months.

Read more on the Compass national training courses ›
Protecting youth civil society
Strasbourg, 8 September 2021

The CMJ group charged with drafting a CM recommendation on protecting youth civil society organisations and young people, and supporting their participation in democratic processes, met in a hybrid format.

Protecting youth civil society


The group gathered two members of the Advisory Council on Youth (CCJ) and two members of the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ), as well as representatives of the Conference of INGOs and the European Youth Forum.

The meeting commenced with a welcome by the Director of Democratic Participation, Matjaz Gruden, who emphasized the importance of the draft Recommendation as part of the Youth Department’s multi-pronged efforts to support young people’s access to rights, encourage their participation in democratic life and protect and strengthen youth civic spaces across Europe.

The final draft and its accompanying explanatory memorandum is going to be discussed by the Joint Council of Youth at its forthcoming plenary meeting on 12-13 October 2021.

SHARED – Compass training course in Italy
SHARED – Compass training course in Italy

Support HumAn Rights EDucation was the title of the Compass training course on human rights education promoted and coordinated by the NowHere+ (progeaNGO) Association and REDU – Rete Educare Diritti Umani within the framework of the "Youth for Democracy"  programme of the Council of Europe.


The course took place from 17 to 20 September 2021 in Florence and involved over 30 youth workers, educators and trainers from all over Italy. The programme supported the development of participants' skills in human rights education and democratic citizenship and how to multiply those values in a broad and widespread way among young people in Italy through youth work and non-formal education.

The training course was based on the Compass manual, the principal European tool for the education of young people in human rights, with practical and interactive workshops to make it an integral part of the future experiences of the participants.

More information on the course ›
Reviewing progress of the recommendation on Young People’s Access to Rights

On 16 and 17 September a hybrid consultative meeting was held to discuss the conclusions of the review of the Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)7 on Young

Reviewing progress of the recommendation on Young People’s Access to Rights

People’s Access to Rights and its implementation in member states and by youth organisations. The participants of the meeting discussed the outcomes of a study and desk research made to support this review process.  They also provided input to the draft conclusions to be presented by the monitoring group to the Joint Council on Youth in October.

The review focuses on measures taken to address discriminatory practices faced by young people and on obstacles to the right of young people to assemble and to freely form, join, and be active in associations and trade unions.  A specific page containing the results of the desk research and surveys is set up to provide knowledge on the review process for the participants and wider stakeholders interested in young people's access to rights: Young People’s Access to Rights.

The Joint Council on Youth is expected to discuss the conclusions and adopt measures for supporting and monitoring issues of young people’s access to rights.

The Recommendation on Young people's access to rights in 12 languages ›
The Youth Campaign for revitalising democracy is taking shape
The Youth Campaign for revitalising democracy is taking shape
The Steering group on a future Council of Europe youth campaign finalised, on 9-10 September 2021, the draft proposal for a Council of Europe Youth Campaign for revitalising democracy, in view of its submission to the Joint Council on Youth (CMJ) for decision. The campaign, which will contribute to the implementation of the Youth Sector Strategy 2030, should in principle take place from March to October 2022, with contributions from youth organisations and networks and governmental authorities from local to European level.


The campaign should provide an opportunity to discuss inter alia the main challenges facing young people and the contributions they can make to renewing democracy, strengthening youth participation, and managing risks and opportunities arising from digitalisation.

The Joint Council of Youth will decide on the proposal at its forthcoming plenary meeting on 12-13 October 2021.

Greening the youth sector!
Greening the youth sector!

The Council of Europe youth sector is contributing to the process of “thinking green” by creating a framework that makes it easy for participants in educational activities to make environmentally conscious choices. In this new podcast episode of Under30’, Pegah Moulana, chair of the Joint Council on Youth (CMJ) task force on greening the youth sector, and Neringa Tuménaité, author of the Youth Partnership’s Sustainability checklist, reflect on the need to take ecological steps in our activities as a small contribution to combating the climate crisis.

Watch also the webinar on Greening the youth sector: sustainability checklist to learn more on the topic.

Greening the youth sector!
“ABOUT TIME!
A reference manual for youth policy from a European perspective”

The manual helps stakeholders to explore, understand and engage with the youth policy framework in their context, from their own perspective, and provides them with a sense of all the stages of youth policy making.

Most importantly, it includes a wide range of standards, tools and resources developed by and for the benefit of youth policy makers, youth work practitioners, youth researchers and young people across Europe.

Read the manual on the Partnership's website!

YOUTH DEPARTMENT New Translations

Youth work in the spotlight, the Guide to Recommendation CM/Rec(2017)4 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member States on youth work is now available in the following languages: German, Russian, Hungarian, Italian and Spanish

A user-friendly guide to the recommendation that will inspire and motivate many to put youth work in the spotlight and to advocate for its quality and development, from the local to the European level.

YOUTH DEPARTMENT New Translations
YOUTH PARTNERSHIP New Translations

New translations are available on the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership’s website:

 
Upcoming Activities
  • 5 October 2021, online, Youth Partnership Launching event for the new Youth Policy Reference Manual from a European Perspective
  • 8 October 2021, online, 46th meeting of the Board of Co-ordination on Youth Mobility through the Youth Card
  • 8 October 2021, European Parliament, Strasbourg, Youth Partnership, European Platform for Learning Mobility (EPLM) - Learning mobility: Quality and access for all!
  • 8 October 2021, Ochamchira, Georgia, project: ‘’Local peace Camp “Terra Unum” - the territory of integrity’’, in collaboration with the «Women Fund for Development», as a follow-up project of the online Youth Peace Week in July 2021
  • 8-9 October 2021, Strasbourg, European Youth Event Village, Living Library in the framework of the European Youth Event
  • 8-10 October 2021, Rustavi, Georgia, Local peace Camp ’’Power of Peace’’ in cooperation with the Institute for Democratic Changes in Georgia
  • 9-10 October 2021, Reykjavik, Iceland, Youth Leadership for Human Rights and Democracy – 1st part
  • 11-12 October 2021, Offenburg, Germany, Youth Partnership: Youth in Europe - Offenburg Talks #4: “ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – HOW GREEN IS YOUTH WORK?
  • 11-13 October 2021, online, Youth department statutory bodies meetings: 45th meeting of the CMJ, 67th meeting of the CDEJ, 46th meeting of the CCJ
  • 11-15 October 2021, European Youth Centre Strasbourg, study session: Youth e-participation matters - Transferring local youth participation in decision-making processes to the digital sphere, in cooperation with DYPALL network
  • 15-20 October 2021, Magdeburg, Germany, COMPASS National training course: ‘’Human Rights at the Children’s city’’, in cooperation with the European Youth Educational Centre, Magdeburg EJBM
  • 17-24 October 2021, European Youth Centre Budapest, training course: “Compasito - Training on human rights education with children’’
  • 18 October 2021, online, Partial Agreement on Youth Mobility through the Youth Card, seminar: “Mental health in digital environments. The role of European Youth Card in supporting a resilient generation”
  • 18-22 October 2021, Caen, France, COMPASS National training course : Bien s’outiller pour parler des droits de l’homme, in cooperation with the Institut International de droits de l’Homme et de la paix
  • 22-26 October 2021, Leposavic, Mitrovica District in Kosovo, Youth Peace Camp
  • 23-24 October 2021, Reykjavik, Iceland, Youth Leadership for Human Rights and Democracy – 2nd part
  • 25-26 October 2021, Brussels or online, Youth Partnership, EPLM - European Platform on Learning Mobility meeting
  • 25-28 October 2021, Carivka, Ukraine, Youth Camp
  • 25-30 October 2021, European Youth Centre Budapest, study session: ‘’Battling racism and xenophobia and building allyship with the deaf youth community”, in cooperation with the European Union of the Deaf Youth
  • 28-31 October 2021, Kapan, Armenia, Local peace Camp “I See You as Myself” Youth Reconciliation Camp
  • 1-5 November 2021, Baku, Azerbaijan, Project on Local Peace Camp in Azerbaijan, in cooperation with the organisation Education Hub
  • 8-10 November 2021, European Youth Centre Strasbourg, Youth events in the framework of the World Forum for Democracy
  • 8-12 November 2021, European Youth Centre Budapest, You(th) empowered - the Solidarity Action Day as means for youth participation
  • Until 15 November 2021, Ukraine, Youth centres in Ukraine: mentoring, the advisory and support workshops on specific needs for 14 youth centres – partners of the Council of Europe Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine”
  • Until 15 November 2021, Ukraine: Strengthening youth participation on local level in Ukraine: visits, mentoring, the advisory and support measures to the specific needs for 10 local communities – partners of the Council of Europe Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine”
 
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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