From 26 to 28 February 2024, a delegation of the Council of Europe Youth Department, led by Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of Youth Department, visited Kyiv, Ukraine. The purpose of the visit was to confirm solidarity with the Ukrainian people and youth community in view of the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, to familiarise with the actual situation on the ground and to strengthen the strategic reach and impact of the Youth Department’s actions.

During the 3 day visit, the Youth Department delegation took part in the Steering Committee meeting of the Council of Europe project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III” and had extensive exchanges with the key national stakeholders in the field of youth policy, in particular the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine. Fruitful discussions with members of the Verkhovna Rada, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, youth consultative bodies, NGOs and youth centres from different regions of Ukraine, touched upon the youth perspective and the role of young people in the democratic recovery of Ukraine, in the context of the Council of Europe Summit in Reykjavik, the Action Plan for Ukraine 2023-2026  and other relevant Council of Europe standards.

At the invitation of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the delegation visited the “Cemetery of Cars” and the sites of destruction of residential infrastructure during the 2022 occupation of Irpin and the Plast Education Centre in Bucha, which had a significant humanitarian role in working with young people. 

The visit was organised within the project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III", implemented in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023-2026. The project supports the implementation of the Council of Europe's Youth Sector Strategy 2030 and reflects on the National Strategy of State Youth Policy 2030, and the State Targeted Social Programme "Youth of Ukraine" 2021-2025.

The members of the new Advisory Council on Youth for 2024-2025 met at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg from 7 to 9 February for their induction course. The activity was organised to prepare the members of the Advisory Council on Youth, the non-governmental partner in the Council of Europe co-managed decision-making structure, to competently and confidently carry out their role during the mandate.

The Advisory Council is made up of 30 representatives from youth NGOs and networks in Europe and its main task is to advise the Committee of Ministers on all questions relating to youth. The first meeting of the new Advisory Council will be held from 8 to 10 April in Budapest.

A preparatory seminar with partners organising the Compass national training courses in 2024 brought together more than 20 representatives of 14 organisations from Albania, Andorra, Azerbaijan, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Türkiye, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

The Compass courses play a central role in localising human rights education with young people and correspondto the Roadmap for education for democratic citizenship and human rights education with young people (2024-2028) adopted by the Joint Council on Youth in October 2023. The Compass courses contribute also to implementation of the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education.

The preparatory seminar was held to secure a smooth preparation and quality implementation of the training courses between April and November 2024. A total of 12 activities should be implemented this year, with an emphasis on a multiplying effect and advocacy for citizenship and human rights education.

2024 marks the 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe - an occasion to raise awareness of the Organisation’s positive impact on youth organisations and people’s daily lives. For this purpose, the European Youth Foundation (EYF) invites beneficiary youth organisations to take part in a special initiative to increase the visibility and importance of youth projects.

The EYF is calling for youth organisations which had projects funded by the EYF in the last 4 years to submit one or more pictures taken during their EYF-supported project activities. The aim of this initiative is to bring together relevant images and texts that show the important work of youth organisations, the drive of young people, and the change the projects bring in young people’s lives.

Pictures and texts must be submitted by 24 March 2024.

The prоject prоmоted sоciаl integrаtiоn аnd inclusiоn оf yоung Ukrаiniаn refugees in Bulgаriа thrоugh spоrts. It invоlved trаining in interculturаl cоmmunicаtiоn аnd sоciаl inclusiоn оf 20 Bulgаriаn аnd Ukrаiniаn sports cоаches bаsed in Bulgаriа. These cоаches gаined skills tо effectively fоster interculturаl diаlоgue аnd integrаtiоn thrоugh spоrts аctivities. The cоаches successfully оrgаnised 10 inclusive аctivities, invоlving оver 250 Ukrаiniаn аnd Bulgаriаn yоuth, which helped buiding trаnsfоrmаtive experiences fоr pаrticipаnts аnd fоstering unity аnd culturаl exchаnge аcrоss seven cities in Bulgаriа.  

The Tоgether4U prоject had numerous impacts оn Ukrаiniаn refugees in Bulgаriа,. creating а suppоrtive envirоnment to engаge with their Bulgаriаn peers. The initative cоntributed tо their оverаll well-being аnd mentаl heаlth as well as оvercоming feelings оf isоlаtiоn аnd displаcement. The оppоrtunity tо jоin spоrts clubs аnd аctively pаrticipаte in spоrts аctivities helped fоstering а sense оf belоnging аnd cоmmunity, аllоwing them tо build cоnnectiоns аnd friendships with bоth fellоw refugees аnd lоcаl yоuth. 

The prоject resulted in the develоpment оf а cоmprehensive trаining mаnuаl оn interculturаl diаlоgue аnd sоciаl inclusiоn thrоugh spоrt, published in bоth Bulgаriаn аnd English оnline. This project was supported by the European Youth Foundation through a pilot activity grant within the special call in support of young people from Ukraine. 

After more than two years following the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the European Youth Foundation has supported 28 projects within this special call, for a total funding of € 411 426. The call is still open and project proposals are accepted on a continuous basis.

On 14-15 February, the group responsible for preparing a Committee of Ministers recommendation on Rural Youth met in an enlarged format in Strasbourg. This group includes members from the youth statutory bodies - namely the European Steering Committee for Youth and the Advisory Council on Youth – scientific experts and one representative of the European Youth Forum.

The draft recommendation aims to fill a specific policy gap at the European level. It addresses issues such as promoting youth engagement and democratic participation, strengthening youth structures in rural areas, creating economic opportunities and improving access to human rights such as the right to education. During the two-day meeting, participants focused on the content of the recommendation, engaging in discussions on the unique challenges and vulnerabilities experienced by young people in rural areas and brainstorming on possible steps and measures that member states could take to address them.

The draft recommendation is expected to be presented to the Joint Council on Youth for adoption in October 2024.

On 27 February the meeting of the Steering Committee of the Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III" was held in Kyiv.

The meeting was opened by Maciej Janczak, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine. Welcoming speeches were made by Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe (on an official mission to  Ukraine), and Andriy Chesnokov, Deputy Minister for European Integration at the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.

The participants of the meeting discussed the current state of youth policy in Ukraine and the youth sector of the Council of Europe, plans for 2024. The meeting also adopted the programme of activities for 2024 and set out the guidelines for the continuation of the project in 2025 and beyond.

The Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III" is implementing a long-term programme "Access to Youth Work" for newly established NGOs working with young people. On 21 February 2024, participants in the programme explored the possibilities and conditions of grant support for youth work projects.

The "Access to Youth Work" programme runs in 2023-2024 and provides training for teams of ten NGOs, mentoring and expert support for the development of project proposals, and the implementation of open youth work projects with the financial support of the Council of Europe.

In November 2023, teams of NGOs took part in a training seminar in Lviv: "Ensuring young people's access to open youth work: strengthening the capacities of partner NGOs" ; during November and December 2023, the organisation's teams improved project ideas with the expert support of the Council of Europe. In February 2024, grant agreements were signed to support 10 grants from newly established NGOs for a total amount of 70,000 euros.

The Council of Europe project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III” in co-operation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, The National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service and the Ukrainian Association of Youth Councils conducted a research of the needs and the state of activity of authorities responsible for youth policy and youth consultative bodies, in particular, taking into account the needs and realities of young people in the war and post-war period.

The research methodology is based on the methods of participatory research, which provide for participation of representatives of the target groups in the research, inclusion of common (popular) ideas and practices in the research, focus on expanding opportunities of the participants of the research, and no hierarchy to consider interests and opinions of those with less power or representation authority.

35 researchers from across Europe with a diversity of expertise in different youth policy, practice and reserach areas have been selected for the new 2024-2025 cohort of the Pool of European Youth Researchers (PEYR).

They will support the work of the Youth Partnership by developing and improving knowledge about young people in Europe and providing research, advice and analysis to the Youth Partnership, partner institutions and the European youth sector. Do you need a youth researcher for your project? You can also contact PEYR members! Check their profiles and expertise.