Buoyed by the conclusions of the high-level reflection group of the Council of Europe, which agreed that “building sustainable democracies requires the sustained involvement of youth”, the Joint Council on Youth-CMJ worked through a full agenda and took important decisions for the future.

The Joint Council adopted the draft Committee of Ministers recommendation on Roma youth participation, that addresses the systematic discrimination faced by Roma young people in their access to social, economic, cultural, political, and civil rights. This draft text will now be submitted to the Committee of Ministers for examination and adoption.

Following the successful Youth Action Week (27 June-1 July), the CMJ set up a co-managed group to co-ordinate the follow-up of the Democracy here | Democracy now youth campaign.

The conclusions of the Human Rights Forum (April 2022, Turin) and of the review of the Charter on Education Citizenship and Human Rights Education will be analysed during a consultative meeting early 2023. 

Finally, the Joint Council on Youth invited the Programming Committee on Youth to consider its request to grant 100 000 € from the voluntary contribution from Germany to a special European Youth Foundation call for activities for and with Ukrainian young people and organisations, both in that country and for those who have fled the war.

The youth sector’s agenda for the next few months has been consolidated following these important decisions from the Joint Council on Youth and the greatly appreciated voluntary contributions from Germany and France will be instrumental in the implementation of the youth sector’s programme of activities in the future.

The European Youth Foundation (EYF) is launching a special call to support young people from Ukraine. The purpose of the initiative is to provide additional support to young people, civil society and youth workers from Ukraine affected by the war. 

Youth organisations in Ukraine or youth organisations working with young people from Ukraine in Council of Europe member states are invited to submit “EYF Pilot Activity” applications for this special call. The activities must be designed for, support and involve young people from Ukraine, funding criteria for the projects are available here.

Projects can be submitted at any time during the period 1 November 2022 to 31 October 2023.

Since March 2022, the Council of Europe project Youth for Democracy in Ukraine – Phase II  accompanies youth policy and youth work under war conditions, the project activities are implemented in close cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sport of Ukraine and the Council of Europe project on Internally displaced persons-IDPs.

Regional Youth Centres support to trauma informed youth work

Twelve youth centres participated in the recently launched 4-month programme on Trauma Informed Youth Work and organised educational activities for youth workers and young people on prevention of burnout and compassion fatigue, first psychological aid in crisis situations.

Youth centres in Ukraine: what are the needs of youth work in war time?

On 18 October was held - online - a public presentation-discussion on the study of the needs and challenges of youth centres; the presentation provided a space for sharing experiences, youth work ideas that meet the needs of young people in time of war.

Strengthening social cohesion through youth work

From 17 to 21 October 2022 eighteen youth workers, youth policy makers and young activists took part in a 5-day training seminar on social cohesion and on how to remove barriers to ensure young people’s contribution to, and participation in social cohesion.

Training for trainers completed in difficult circumstances

From 24 to 28 October 2022 eleven youth workers took part online in a 5-day training for trainers. Despite of the war and electricity shortages, participants and trainers created a space for learning. This activity aimed to help youth workers to implement youth work in wartime, including non-formal education activities in online format.

Organised as part of the Irish Presidency of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, Caroline CONROY, Lord Mayor of Dublin, and Peter BURKE, Minister of State for Planning and Local Government at the Department of Housing, paid a visit to the European Youth Centre Strasbourg on 25 October 2022 where they discussed the work of the Council of Europe youth sector with Antje Rothemund, Head of the Youth Department, and the former EYCS Executive Director, Tina Mulcahy.

The Lord Mayor and the Minister underlined the importance of creating spaces and opportunities for youth participation and youth engagement, particularly at local level, and the role of local authorities in supporting young people’s initiatives.

“Hear Our Voices – Promoting Participatory Democracy & Youth Engagement” is the second priority of the Irish Presidency (May-November 2022), it is rooted in the abiding belief in the power of deliberative democracy and the necessity of youth participation.

“We want to amplify young people’s voices in our democratic institutions and processes. We want to empower young people to be get involved in decision making that impacts their lives and their communities. We want more young people to trust that change is possible and within their reach.”

This is how the young people are presenting the webpack they produced in the project “Be the change!”. This was a local youth democracy project designed and implemented by young people and the organisation Mouth That Roars, in East London, United Kingdom. Ten young people attended workshops on human rights, democracy and youth activism where they learned together, interviewed political councillors and activists, and developed educational content for other young people. And what did they learn? Here are some of the youth voices participating in the project:

“I understood more ways of speaking up than just voting, I learnt what it means to be an activist.”
“Learning more in depth about democracy and human rights and understanding that they both meet together. I am really interested in these things now. This is really important to me now.”

The project was supported by the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe as part of its special call for the campaign “Democracy here. Democracy now”.

In its meeting held in October 2022, the Joint Council on Youth decided to continue the work initiated in the youth campaign Democracy Here | Democracy Now focusing on strengthening youth participation and democracy at national and local level. The project is an important contribution to the implementation of the Council of Europe Youth Sector Strategy 2030 and its objectives are:

• To provide support to young people, youth civil society and national and local authorities to uphold and expand the standards and practices of democratic youth participation, particularly at local and national levels;
• To develop and support activities of democratic citizenship and human rights education that respond to the current challenges faced by democratic systems and integrate new developments;
• To raise awareness of barriers to youth participation, particularly the discrimination and racism, and advocate for equality and inclusion of all young people.

The project will run from October 2022 to December 2023 and foresees such activities as a training for youth activists for democracy, seminars on local youth participation and political participation of young people, support to local and national activities to secure the implementation of the Call for action launched by the participants in the flagship activity of the campaign, the Youth Action Week: Democracy Now!.

The study session “Youth Work to make Housing First for Youth…WORK!” was co-organised by FEANTSA Youth and Housing First Europe Hub from 3 to 7 October at the European Youth Centre Budapest.

FEANTSA is the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless and focuses on the fight against homelessness. This study session gathered 31 young people from 12 countries.

Housing First is an approach to ending homelessness that prioritises providing permanent housing quickly. It is an alternative to approaches where permanent housing is the last “level” to be obtained out of several. Housing First for Youth is specifically looking at young homeless people, who might be facing different needs. 

The study session supported the scaling up of Housing First for Youth across Europe, as a human rights-based approach that puts the principles of youth work at the core of how to understand and respond to young people’s experience of homelessness. 

The Compass National Training Course on Human Rights Education “It is Okay to Get Political!” was held from 5 to 7 October 2022 in Trilofos, Greece. The activity was implemented by the Youth Empowerment Centre in partnership with the Youth Department of the Council of Europe within the Youth for Democracy programme.

The training course gathered youth workers and youth leaders to raise their awareness of the concepts of human rights education and youth political participation, understanding their interconnection and interrelation. Compass, the Manual for Human Rights Education was the main educational resource and companion of the trainers and participants.

The course enabled the participants to apply what they learned in their communities through their youth organisations, institutions and initiatives, and engage the young people they are working with in the field of human rights education.

Financial literacy is a core life skill, particularly at times of rising inequalities and economic hardship. Financial literacy ensures that young people make insightful budgeting decisions, manage their savings and engage in debts wisely. Financial capability paves the road for autonomy and better quality of life. On the contrary, financially illiterate young people are more vulnerable to scams, bad investments and increasing debt, and are at higher risk of poverty.

Timely access to quality youth-friendly information has a positive impact on young people's aspirations, autonomy and access to rights. Organised in the Council of Europe-ERYICA Partnership framework on 19 October 2022, the webinar aimed at understanding what financial literacy really meant, gaining some insights and knowledge on the current situation of youth financial literacy in Europe and reflecting on how youth information providers can assist with first-hand support. The webinar was also an opportunity to identify the main stakeholders in the field and discuss practical ways of cooperating and building partnerships.