From 5 to 8 April, the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg hosts 40 young people for Roma Youth Together. The seminar focuses on Roma youth empowerment and pride for the celebration of the International Roma Day and is co-organised by the Council of Europe’s Youth Department and the Roma and Travellers Division, in cooperation with the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC), TernYpe, the European Roma Grassroots Organisations (ERGO) Network and Phiren Amenca.

Over the course of 4 days, young Roma activists and leaders will explore multi-faceted Roma identity and heritage through workshops about music, drama, creating/speech writing, advocacy and storytelling, practising their skills for expression of pride and achievements. Moreover, participants will learn more about the work of the Council of Europe on Roma youth empowerment, and developed messages and actions for their communities on the implementation of the Recommendation CM/REC(2023)4 on Roma Youth Participation.

On 8 April participants will celebrate the International Roma Day in the presence of Michael O’FLAHERTY, Commissioner for Human Rights, Jeanne BARSEGHIAN, mayor of Strasbourg and Manuel DEMOUGEOT, Chair of the Committee of Experts on Roma and Traveller Issues (ADI-ROM). With Romani anthem Gelem Gelem, musical interlude by accordians and flower casting, participants will emphasise the role of young people in celebrating Roma identity and culture.

The study session “Echoes of Remembrance: Empowering International Roma Youth Leaders in Commemorating the Roma Genocide,” co-organised by the Council of Europe Youth Department and the TernYpe International Roma Youth Network, took place from 4 to 8 March at the European Youth Centre Budapest.

The session brought together 35 activists, Roma and non-Roma youth to empower them to advocate for the recognition and remembrance of the Roma Genocide on local and national levels and act as multipliers in their communities.

Throughout the 5-day-long programme, participants had the opportunity to increase their level of understanding of the Roma Genocide, fostering awareness of the historical persecution and its implications for contemporary Roma communities. They also developed leadership competencies to motivate and mobilise their peers for local remembrance initiatives. In the last days of the activity, participants, with the support of the preparatory team, planned local, national, and international follow-up activities on Roma Genocide recognition and remembrance.

From 18 to 22 March twenty-three representatives of youth and student councils, youth organisations, youth centres from 14 oblasts of Ukraine, working at the regional and local level, took part in a five-day training seminar on participatory youth policy, youth participation and civic participation in the decision-making process.

Throughout the week, young activists had an opportunity to discuss and contribute to the concept of a new state targeted social programme “Youth of Ukraine” for 2026-2030. The participants got acquainted with the youth sector co-management system - a unique and living example of participatory democracy, which became possible thanks to a meeting with Yevgeniia Fedotova, member of the Council of Europe’s Advisory Council on Youth.

With this project IUSY aimed to expand the meaning of democracy and strengthen the connection between gender equality and democratic progress. Trends of backsliding democracy have emerged all around Europe and the world. 

During the project, 20 participants from different European countries discussed the issues at stake, gained skills for stronger democratic engagement and produced a publication on how to combat the backlash on women's rights.

Several key questions were addressed with special focus on what role young people play when it comes to work against backsliding and attacks on reproductive rights for instance, or censoring gender education which are some of the most common forms regression taking place at the moment. Extensive discussions were held about how young people can call out backsliding and be a beacon of hope and voice for progressive policy change.

The booklet "Backslinding Democracy" can inspire many young people to engage in the promotion of human rights, democracy and gender equality.

The project was supported by the European Youth Foundation through its international activity grant programme.

The deadline for applications is 15 April 2024, 23:59 (CET).  

In April 2024, the Programming Committee on Youth approved almost 30 pilot activities grants for local youth projects with a European dimension for an amount of € 350 000 circa. 

The awarded projects, that will be implemented in 16 member states, cover a wide variety of topics and target groups, such as enhancing youth participation at local and regional levels, advocating for rights-based youth policies, addressing mental health issues of LGBTI young people, engaging young people from Belarus in diversity campaigns, raising environmental awareness, supporting remembrance education, developing local youth councils, addressing artificial intelligence and its impact on young people, access to social rights, media literacy, the inclusion of young people with disabilities, and combating discrimination affecting Roma youth.

Several projects tackle the development of youth work with young people from minorities, asylum seekers and rural youth, as well as mobile youth work. These grants concern applications received by the EYF at the 15 January 2023 deadline.

The next deadline for pilot activities is 15 May 2024. Pilot projects address young people’s needs and challenges at a local level, linked to the priorities of the Council of Europe youth sector.