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DG Democracy
Directorate of Democratic Participation
Youth Department
THINK YOUTHNo 91 - April 2021
Casting of flowers over a bridge at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg on 8 April, International Roma Day
Roma Youth: Together for Emancipation and Empowerment
The role of history in the participation and inclusion of Roma young people (7-9 April)

This online conference mobilised partners active in Roma, human rights and youth matters about the concerns of Roma young people and united participants in celebrating the International Roma Day. The conference was followed by some 200 peopme, who were touched by the testimonies of participants in the First World Romani Congress held in 1971 and the words of recognition and encouragement of other historical figures of the Roma movement such as Romani Rose.

Bjorn Berge, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe in his opening statement reminded that “When knowledge is widened prejudice is dispelled." The conference was appreciated as a safe space for a diversity of backgrounds to come together, to explore Roma history and culture, and to learn from each other. The participants called for strengthening the role and standards of the Council of Europe in supporting Roma youth participation, addressing antigypsyism and expanding knowledge and recognition of Roma culture and history.

Council of Europe representatives, Roma youth networks, Roma international organisations such as the ERIAC committed to carry on the work on Roma recognition, equality and inclusion. International Roma Day, 8 April, was marked by a casting of flowers in Strasbourg with the Director General of Democracy, emulating similar commemorations across Europe and beyond.

A youth statement was prepared by the young people and representatives of Roma youth organisations networks. The statement recalls that Roma youth are part of the largest and youngest ethnic minority in Europe and strive for economic empowerment and participation. They claim for Roma youth to have access "to their own culture and have tools to enjoy and promote their cultural identity, history and dignity. We want to fight stigma associated with Roma and to prevent antigypsyism with alternative discourses rooted in self-representation and in Roma leadership." 

The conference was organised by the Youth Department and the Roma and Travellers Team of the Council of Europe in the framework of the German Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. It was prepared and implemented in co-operation with the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) and in close association with Ternype, the European Roma Grass Roots Organisations NetworkPhiren Amenca and the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma.
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From left to right: Rosaline Marbinah, Ann Linde, Antje Rothemund, Alice Bergholtz, Marie Farigoules, Ambassador Mårten Ehnberg, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the Council of Europe
Ann Linde, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office (re-) visits the European Youth Centre
Ann Linde, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, visited the Council of Europe on 28 April 2021. She exchanged views with the Committee of Ministers Deputies and met with Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić, to discuss co-operation between the two organisations.

Her agenda also included a visit to the European Youth Centre to host a roundtable on youth participation in legislative and policy processes, chaired by Alice Bergholtz, Advisory Council representative. Youth policy has been a permanent theme on the OSCE agenda for several years now. Ahead of the visit, Ann Linde said: “Young people must have the power to shape their own lives and have an influence on the development of society. They have the right to be heard and their opinions must be taken into account. Their contribution to the work of the Council of Europe and the OSCE is important and valuable”.

It is not Ann Linde’s first time inside the European Youth Centre. From 1984 to 1988, she was Secretary General of LSU, the National Youth Council of Sweden, and in this capacity was a member of the Advisory Council on Youth set up by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers and made up of representatives of youth NGOs and networks. Later, as Ann Linde worked for the government, from 1991-1993 she represented Sweden on the European Steering Committee for Youth, composed of ministries and bodies responsible for youth issues of the Council of Europe member states. So, the minister has been active on both sides of the Council of Europe youth sector’s ground-breaking co-management system.
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From left to right: Frank Schwabe, Marie Farigoules, EYCS Executive director, Ambassador Rolf Mafael, Marija Pejčinović Burić, Antje Rothemund, Head of the Youth Department, Andreas Nick
Buddy Bear inaugurated in the German garden of the European Youth Centre
To mark the 70th anniversary of Germany’s membership of the Council of Europe and in view of Roma and youth and Roma being a priority of its current Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, Germany has gifted a colourful “Berlin Buddy Bear” to the Council of Europe. The donation is a work of art designed by the graphic, video and action artist Alfred Ullrich, son of a German father and an Austrian Sinti mother and Holocaust survivor. An exhibition on 70 years Germany in the Council of Europe (including the EYCS Buddy Bear) is available online.

The Buddy Bear was inaugurated in the garden of the European Youth Centre on 21 April 2021 by Ambassador Rolf Mafael, Permanent Representative of Germany to the Council of Europe and Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe in the presence of Andreas Nick Chairperson of the German delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly and Frank Schwabe, Chairperson of the Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group to the Parliamentary Assembly.

The Council of Europe and its European Youth Centre are delighted to give a home to Buddy Bear and thank Germany for its symbolic donation. Buddy Bear will extend a warm welcome to the hundreds of young people who come to the European Youth Centre to take part in its activities which foster our values of democracy, human rights and respect for diversity!
Watch the video of the inauguration ›
Participants in the first webinar completed the Flower Power exercise from Compass to explore the connection between human needs, personal well-being and human rights: https://www.coe.int/en/web/compass/flower-power
The network of the Quality Label for Youth Centres goes on with its long-term training offer
In 2020 the Council of Europe Quality Label for Youth Centres network introduced a long-term training strategy, consisting of e-learning phases and residential training sessions organised for educational staff of youth centres in the network.

The main aim of the long-term educational programme is to enhance competences of youth centres’ pedagogical staff for incorporating human rights education in their educational activities and to support youth centres in the network to introduce more strategic educational programmes that will mainstream human rights education.

The first pilot e-learning course ran from August 2020 to February 2021 and was attended by educational staff from 13 youth centres.

Based on the pilot course experience, an adapted intensive e-learning course has now been developed with the aim to allow more colleagues of quality labelled youth centres to participate. Similarly to the pilot, the intensive training course is a combination of thematic webinars and online modules designed by international experts. The first webinar was held online on 15 April with the attendance of 34 participants from 11 youth centres. The course runs every second week between April and June.
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The Council of Europe youth sector moves forward with implementation of the European Youth Work Agenda

Further to the successful 3rd European Youth Work Convention, organised online in December 2021 by Germany in the overlap of its presidencies of the Council of the European Union and of the Council of Europe, the Joint Council on Youth has agreed the youth sector has a significant role to play in the implementation of the ensuing European Youth Work Agenda. A working group of the CMJ, composed of representatives of the youth sector statutory committees and key stakeholders, will meet for the first time in May to discuss that role.
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Online training for experts of the project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine”
12-14 April & 19-21 April 2021

Twenty-four experts - national consultants of the project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” explored the principles and values of the Council of Europe in the field of youth during a five-day training. The activity aimed at preparing the experts for effective and meaningful planning, implementation and evaluation of capacity building activities, support actions and other measures in ten local communities and fourteen youth centres – partners of the Council of Europe project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine”.

During the training the experts discussed the current developments in youth policy and youth work at national and European level together with Maryna Popatenko, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sport in Ukraine, Antje Rothemund, Head of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, and Olena Lytvynenko, Deputy of the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine.

Curriculum on capacity-building activities for experts in the field of youth policy, youth work and non-formal education was developed in order to support the experts in applying the Council of Europe’ s standards and approaches in the field of youth.

The project "Youth for democracy in Ukraine" is implemented by the Youth Department of the Council of Europe and the Organisation's Office in Ukraine in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2022.
Read more about the Youth for Democracy in Ukraine project ›
Intensified co-operation between the Advisory Council on Youth and the Parliamentary Assembly

The Advisory Council on Youth has been co-operating with the Parliamentary Assembly for many years, bringing the youth perspective to its resolutions in order that policy proposals respond to the needs of young people in Europe. During the June part-session of the PACE, a number of parliamentarians called for the creation of a “youth partner” status with the Assembly
Find out more about this proposal ›
Self-assessment tool for youth policy: available now in 36 European languages!
What is the state of youth policy in your country? Has it made progress recently? Would you like to share the best practices you implement in the field of youth policy with your European counterparts ?

The Council of Europe self-assessment tool is now available in 36 languages so you can do just that. The tool will help you to evaluate the development of youth participation, mobility, access to rights and information, inclusion and youth work in your country.
Discover the self-assessment tool ›
EYF assessing applications from 1st April deadline

1 April was the spring deadline for NGOs to submit requests for support to international activities and annual work plans taking place in 2022.
The EYF has received 42 applications in this batch, which is now being assessed, including through communication with the applying NGOs. The final decision on the grants will be made by the Programming Committee on Youth at its June meeting. A second deadline for international activities and work plans for 2022 is also set for 1 October, which this year will also include Structural Grants for 2022/2023.
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Visits to supported projects
Each year the EYF is committed to visit supported projects, to assess the quality of the projects, to engage with Youth NGOs and further understand the reality of young people in Europe, and in line with its responsibilities towards accountability and transparency.

As many of the activities have moved online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EYF has also adapted its visits, using the opportunities created by online sessions to be present in some of them. In coordination with the organising teams, a EYF digital visit normally consists of a presentation on the Foundation and its opportunities, followed by exchanges with team and participants and often an extended stay during part of the programme, which helps create an fuller idea of the project and its implementation.

The EYF has visited several activities since the start of the pandemic and several are planned until the end of the year.
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MOOC on Essentials of Youth Work: now open for enrolment!
EU-Council of Europe youth partnership

What is youth work? Who is it for? Where does it come from? How is it done and by whom? How does one become a youth worker? How is youth work supported? How is it linked to youth policy?

Join the Massive Open Online Course on Essentials of Youth Work, developed by the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership, to explore answers to these questions and many more; the course includes now recent youth policy developments and you can learn more about the implementation of the European Youth Work Agenda.
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New publication: Youth Knowledge Book #27
EU-Council of Europe youth partnership


We have published Youth Knowledge Book #27 on social inclusion, digitalisation and young people!

Join the presentation of the book on 11 May 2021 at 11 CET, and find out more about the impact of digitalisation on:
  • young people's lives;
  • youth policy;
  • young refugees and migrants;
  • young people with disabilities;
  • youth mental health and wellbeing;
  • youth work.
 
 Follow the live event on Facebook.
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New podcast episodes: COVID-19 and young people’s mental health
EU-Council of Europe youth partnership

What is the impact of the pandemic and the restrictive measures on young people’s mental health and psychological well-being? How can youth work and youth policy support young people whose mental health suffered?

Listen to the new episode of our Under 30' podcast exploring this topic and read the study by Stefanos Mastrotheodoros, PhD.
Listen to the new episode ›
Young people's access to rights
EU-Council of Europe youth partnership

Young people are increasingly experiencing challenges to accessing their rights.  What obstacles do they face in exercising their freedom of association and peaceful assembly?  Why is the realisation of the right to freedom from discrimination or the enjoyment of this right by young people far from reality?

Read also the mapping study by M-C Pantea, PhD and the desk research by Dunja Potočnik, PhD.
Listen to the new episode ›
The right to information and counselling as crucial as ever for young people
The Committee of Ministers Recommendation (1990)7 on information and counselling for young people in Europe promotes quality services accessible to all young people without discrimination. This Recommendation, more topical than ever, is now available in 18 European languages thanks to active promotion of the recommendation by the European Youth Information and Counselling Agency ERYICA, long-standing partner of the Youth Department.
Recommendation on information and counselling for young people in Europe ›
Youth sector strategy 2030-pocket version now available in Dutch
The Youth sector strategy 2030 and the accompanying document have been compiled in a handy, pocket-sized version. On top of English, French, German and Russian, the booklet is now available in Dutch, courtesy of the Flemish Community of Belgium. The five linguistic versions can be downloaded on the Youth sector strategy 2030 page, or ordered at the Directorate of Communications if you wish a printed version.
Pocket-sized version in Dutch ›
Upcoming activities
  • April 2021 to June 2021-every second week: intensive e-learning course (webinars and residential training sessions) for Quality labelled youth centres educational staff
  • 5-6 May 2021, on-line: Expert group meeting for supporting local authorities in the implementation of the ENTER! Recommendation.
  • 11 May 2021, on-line: Launch of the Youth Knowledge Book on social inclusion and digitalisation
  • 10-30 May 2021, on-line: Climate Generation: Our Planet, Our Rights, Our Future, study session (e-learning modules and webinars) in co-operation with World Esperanto Youth Organisation (TEJO).
  • 20 May 2021, on-line: Meeting of the EPLM platform (European Platform on Learning Mobility)
  • 24-29 May 2021, on-line: Study session “Take your part!”, in co-operation with the Erasmus Student Network
  • 30 May 2021: cut-off date for pilot activities applications
  • 3-4 June 2021, Budapest or on-line: Youth sector statutory bodies (CMJ/CDEJ/CCJ/CPJ), CDEJ Bureau, CCJ Bureau and Joint meeting
 
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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