The participants in the seminar Roma Youth Together joined their voices and their hands at a ceremony marking the 2023 International Roma Day held at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg.

Bjørn Berge, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe expressed gratitude for the rich contribution that Roma and Travellers make to European life, notably through crafts, languages, arts, music, song and danse. He regretted that Roma and Travellers are subjected to violence on the basis of pure prejudice. The recommendation on Roma Youth Participation adopted on 5 April by the 46 member states of the Council of Europe should help making Roma more active, visible and represented in a whole range of ways.

Véronique Bertholle, deputy to the Mayor of the city of Strasbourg, saluted also the adoption of the recommendation and emphasised the important role of local authorities in including Roma youth in their policies and supporting social inclusion.

Ioana Spataru, speaking on behalf of the young Roma people present at the ceremony noted that many days in the calendar are about the suffering and pain caused to Roma throughout history. But 8 April, International Roma Day is different: is a day to celebrate Roma communities and identity, the creation of a flag to unite, the adoption of an anthem and of a name to federate Roma across the world.

This Council of Europe practical guide aimed at helping young migrants and refugees in their transition to adulthood was officially launched in Strasbourg on 18 April 2023 with the support of the Icelandic Presidency and the participation of Iceland’s Minister of Education and Children, Ásmundur Einar Daðason.  

The event was co-organised by the Youth Department together with the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees (SRSG), and the Co-operation Programmes Division – Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law  (DGI).

A workshop with young refugees and youth workers was organised by the Youth Department from 17 to 19 April at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg to explore in depth the Recommendation and the guide and discuss support to young refugees within the Council of Europe youth sector.

Organised as part of the Presidency of Iceland of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, and on the occasion of the Launch of a guide to help young migrants and refugees in transition to adulthood, Ásmundur Einar Daðason, Minister of Education and Children of Iceland, paid a visit to the European Youth Centre Strasbourg on 17 and 18 April 2023 where he was introduced to the work of the Council of Europe youth sector.

During an open and dynamic exchange with young refugees and youth workers, the Minister welcomed the inspiring experiences shared by the young refugees and underlined the importance of including and respecting young people’s voices in policy discussions and decision-making processes to ensure systems are progressive enough to share power with youth. Iceland has named children and youth as one of the four priorities of its Presidency. 

 On 29-30 March 2023, Braga Youth Centre in Portugal was visited by the Quality Label expert group of the Council of Europe to assess the centre’s eligibility for the Council of Europe Quality Label for Youth Centres. A formal request to initiate the process of acquiring the Quality Label was made by the centre in 2022, as the second Portuguese youth centre aspiring to be a role model in the field of non-formal-, citizenship and human rights education.

The evaluation of the centre was conducted by an expert team composed of delegated members from the Advisory Council on Youth (CCJ), representative of the National Youth Service in Luxembourg, representative of the network of Quality Labelled Youth Centres and expert consultants. The evaluation was conducted in the presence of members of the Portuguese Institute for Youth and Sports and the public authorities of Braga. The assessment is based on 15 quality criteria which an aspiring centre is required to fulfil. Following a thorough assessment, the Quality Label expert team will make its recommendation to the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) that will take the final decision at its 71st meeting on 23 October to award Braga Youth Centre the label for an initial period of 3 years.

On 17 April 2023, the Programming Committee on Youth decided to approve 26 pilot activity grants for local youth projects for a total amount of 350 550 euros. The awarded projects will be implemented in 17 countries.

The awarded projects cover a wide variety of topics, target groups and formats, such as advocacy and training for the development of youth work, intercultural learning between young journalists and young people from different communities, democracy awareness projects, projects empowering minorities and Roma women, civic engagement projects by young people from rural areas, sexual and reproductive health of young people with disabilities, local youth participation projects, inclusive sports projects.

These grants concern applications received by the EYF at the 1 February 2023 deadline. At this deadline, 103 applications were received.

To support quality in local youth projects, the EYF will organise a seminar for youth organisations on 17- 20 July, in Strasbourg. The call for participants is open until 17 May.

“FUNding peace: the power grid for your project” is an international project of the network Service Civil International, carried out throughout 2022 with the support of the European Youth Foundation. The project is a good practice in how international youth projects can make a local impact. The project consists of three elements: a training course for multipliers, an online course with different modules and follow-up actions of sustainable, cross-cultural and peace-supporting youth projects.

22 young people from 16 countries attended a training course in the Quality labelled youth centre of De Hoge Rielen, Belgium, that provided them the skills and inspiration to work locally on issues such as climate justice, combating discrimination and raising awareness of inclusion.

Following the training, participants worked with their local branch of SCI and three project plans in Hungary, Italy and Catalunya were ready in early 2023 for implementation. As a result of the project, a new working group was formed within SCI on “projects together” and an open online course was launched recently, available to anyone who would like to use this support tool to develop their inclusive project.

“It’s fundamental to build projects that are inclusive and sustainable right now, so the course is very useful for anyone who wants to create a project.” - Mirko (course participant).

On 22 March 2023 the National Qualifications Agency in Ukraine approved the occupational standard for the profession "Youth specialist (youth worker)" and added it to the Register on 29 March 2023. The recognition of a new profession is a key to the development of the youth sector of Ukraine and the strengthening of youth work by competent specialists.

The occupational standard was developed by a working group under the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine in partnership with the USAID DOBRE Programme, the Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase II" and the UN Development Programme in Ukraine.

Since 2021 the Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine"  significantly contributed with standards and approaches of the Council of Europe in the field of youth participation and youth work to this development. In 2021 the project translated into Ukrainian and disseminated 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.