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DG Democracy
Directorate of Democratic Participation
Youth Department
THINK YOUTH| No 97 - November 2021
A Youth Delegation and the Advisory Council on Youth at the World Forum for Democracy
Bottom, left to right: Snežana Samardžić Marković, Alice Bergholtz, Sarah El Haïry, Sarah Diedro Jordão, Timothy Karr
A Youth Delegation and the Advisory Council on Youth at the World Forum for Democracy

The 9th World Forum for Democracy asked the burning question on everyone’s lips: On a planet in crisis, does democracy have what it takes to save the environment?

A delegation of young people took part in the Forum in an initiative organised by the Youth Department. After several months of intense participation in the online campaign “12 months, 1 question”, 39 delegates gathered in Strasbourg to take part in the final event. They travelled from 24 countries and 5 continents and brought the on-site event to life putting questions, proposing ideas and sharing examples from all over the world; 16 of them also took on the roles of speakers, rapporteurs and discussants in 6 Labs and 5 Forum talks.

The Advisory Council on Youth responded to the call to contribute to this debate; Bureau member Alice Bergholtz co-moderated the final plenary session together with Snežana Samardžić Marković, Council of Europe Director General of Democracy, in which Sarah El Haïry, French Minister of State for Youth and Engagement, attached to the Minister of National Education, Youth and Sport, responded to questions from the delegates.

Alice also had the opportunity to exchange views on “Threats to environmental defenders” in a panel with the participation of Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja MijatovićPegah Moulana moderated a talk on “Youth climate activism” with a panel composed of young climate activists from across the world and Mila Lukić moderated a lab on “Joining forces: Public-private collaborations for the environment”.

Read more ›
EYF funded pilot activity wins SALTO 2021 Award
EYF funded pilot activity wins SALTO 2021 Award

The European Youth Foundation funded project “Promoting Media Literacy, E-Activism and Digital Participation of Minority Youth during COVID-19”, delivered by the Armenian Progressive Youth won the SALTO 2021 award as the most inspirational and quality project in the "Media & Information Literacy" category.

The project focused on media literacy, e-activism and digital participation of young people from minorities particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and consisted of an online academy on youth activism, followed by a mentorship scheme for online campaign development.

The winning project has received a 700 EUR prize, became part of the Flagship Projects Collection of Salto Youth, and a promo-video will be prepared to be shared across SALTO networks.

DEMOCRACY HERE. DEMOCRACY NOW. The youth campaign for revitalising democracy is taking shape!
DEMOCRACY HERE. DEMOCRACY NOW. The youth campaign for revitalising democracy is taking shape!

Some 40 youth leaders and representatives of youth structures and youth organisations met at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg from 23 to 25 November for the inception seminar of the new campaign. The participants reviewed the themes and objectives of the campaign, discussed how to connect and communicate between local, national and European activities and made extensive suggestions for activities covering the three main themes of the campaign: revitalising democracy, meaningful youth participation and digitalisation.

The campaign will run from March to October 2022 and will be based on monthly thematic actions organised at local and national level. Decided by the Joint Council on Youth in October 2022, the campaign aims at to increase young people’s role in the process of revitalising participatory democracy and restore mutual trust between young people and democratic institutions and processes.

Concept note adopted by the Joint Council on Youth.

Read more ›
12th European Platform for Youth Centres in the Quality Label network
12th European Platform for Youth Centres in the Quality Label network

The annual European Platform for Youth Centres awarded with the Council of Europe Quality Label was organised in a hybrid format at the European Youth Centre Budapest, with 11 youth centres present and 7 youth centres connected online. Besides the 14 quality labelled youth centres, candidate centres from Finland, Germany, Italy and Portugal took part. 

The thematic focus of this year’s Platform meeting was on sustainable management strategies applied in quality labelled youth centres, sharing also latest initiatives to greening the Council of Europe’s youth sector, including the sustainability work of the two European Youth Centres in Budapest and Strasbourg, and the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership.

The Platform also addressed the upcoming Youth for Democracy Campaign marking the 50th Anniversary of the youth sector in 2022, and held an exchange with Antje Rothemund, Head of the Youth Department, on the youth centres’ involvement and contribution to the campaign. The youth centres also discussed the follow-up to the European Youth Work Convention 2021 and exchanged on possible measures to create stronger links between the youth centres’ work and the European Youth Work Agenda.

Human Rights in Everyday Life: Compasito training course in Brussels

The Foyer des Jeunes des Marolles in Brussels, Belgium, organised on 22-26 November 2021 the first training course based on Compasito, the manual for human rights education with children.

Human Rights in Everyday Life: Compasito training course in Brussels


The course brought together participants from a variety of practitioners committed to education and social work with children and young people.

The training programme was structured on three pillars: basic notions of human rights, historical evolution and the current context; human rights in the Council of Europe, resources and standards for human rights education such as Compass, Compasito and the Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education; and practising Compasito by preparing and running activities from the manual with children and young people of the centre Foyer des Jeunes des Marolles.

Bringing the concept of universal human rights close to issues encountered in their neighbourhoods, away from abstract legal or political concept, was considered by the participants the main added value of the course. 

Navigating the Infodemic
Navigating the Infodemic
On 30 November 2021, during the UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy week, ERYICA hosted its 4th webinar on Youth Information and Media and Information Literacy (MIL): Navigating the Infodemic, in collaboration with the Council of Europe Youth Department.


The alarming rise of disinformation linked to the COVID-19 pandemic has emphasised the importance of building public resilience and ensuring right to information. Media and Information Literacy (MIL) encompasses the ability to interpret, critically understand and express one’s own creativity through digital media, as well as the practice of meaningfully engaging with media and information channels.

With accelerating increase in information and communication due to rapid technological developments and the rise of social media comes a range of questions and among them “How can youth information work support young people’s MIL skills?” and “Which tools and resources would be essential to ensure that youth information workers are well equipped to respond to young people’s needs?”

This webinar aimed to explore how MIL permeates all facets of youth information work and the role that the services play to support young people’s MIL. It featured the perspective of youth information providers, youth workers and different experts in MIL.

Read more ›
Recent study sessions in the European Youth Centres Budapest and Strasbourg
Participants in EYCB in November 2021
Recent study sessions in the European Youth Centres Budapest and Strasbourg


FEANTSA
 (the European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless) addressed “A Gendered Approach to Youth Homelessness”: how to develop services that can respond to the needs of young homeless women?


LYMEC
 (European Liberal Youth) worked on ways to strengthen youth activism by removing barriers to their civic participation; the activity offered spaces to exchange, build capacities and leadership to prevent discriminations, based on Council of Europe's standards.

The Solidary Action Movement Europe worked on enhancing the democratic and participatory elements of the Solidarity Action Day in their local communities, and also at national and European levels.

Local Youth Peace Camp in Azerbaijan

The aim of the Local Youth Peace Camp (LPC) was to raise awareness of peace-building processes for young people from conflict-affected regions of Azerbaijan, to explore peace-related concepts as well as to increase the participation of young

Local Youth Peace Camp in Azerbaijan
Local Youth Peace Camp, 30 Oct.-3 Nov. 2021 in Baku
people in promoting peace in their society.

The young participants in the LPC had little or no experience in the field of peacebuilding; throughout the four-day programme, they were equipped with competences such as non-violent communication, reconciliation, and empathy through non-formal methods, got acquainted with human rights education and conflict transformation tools, worked on the dangers of fake news, and felt eventually better prepared and motivated to contribute to peacebuilding in Azerbaijan.
Read more on the Local Youth Peace Camp in Baku ›
Role, Value and Impact of Youth Centres: Enhancing the role of youth centres in Azerbaijan
18-19 November 2021, on-line
Role, Value and Impact of Youth Centres: Enhancing the role of youth centres in Azerbaijan


Representatives of 22 Youth Houses and 52 Youth Development and Career Centres in Azerbaijan participated in a seminar dedicated to developing participatory, needs-based and youth-centred approaches for these facilities. The seminar is a first step of a longer process of strengthening the role of youth houses and youth centres in promoting Council of Europe standards on youth work and youth participation, not least through the implementation of quality standards for youth centres and youth reflected notably on the Committee of Ministers Recommendation on Youth Work and the Quality Label for Youth Centres.

The seminar was co-organised with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan.
Read more on the seminar ›
Human Rights Education for teachers and trainers in Hungary

The first training course for teachers and trainers using the newly published Hungarian edition of the Compass manual took place at the European Youth Centre Budapest on 26-28 November 2021; 12 teachers took part in the training course.

The course was the first in a series that aim at equipping interested teachers, trainers and others in the formal or non-formal education fields with the skills and knowledge required to effectively use the manual in their everyday work. The two-day course is part of the EYCB’s local outreach programme.

Human Rights Education for teachers and trainers in Hungary
Webpage on youth department publications in Hungarian ›
Enter! expert group discussed youth work in disadvantaged neighbourhoods
Enter! expert group discussed youth work in disadvantaged neighbourhoods


The Enter! expert group on youth work and youth policies for access to social rights for young people in disadvantaged neighbourhoods has been established to support local youth structures, authorities and other partners of the Enter! project in their efforts to create accessible services and participation spaces for young people.

Its first meeting took place on 18-19 November as a space to produce proposals for supporting local practice projects of the Enter! training course participants, as well as reflect on ways how the Enter! Recommendation can be further implemented in member States.

Find out more about the Enter! project ›
The EYF continues to pay monitoring visits to EYF funded projects

In November, the team of the European Youth Foundation visited two international activities and a pilot activity to monitor the implementation of the activities and meet beneficiary NGOs to discuss about future cooperation.

The EYF continues to pay monitoring visits to EYF funded projects
Training of trainers in Mollina, Spain


The EYF attended a training of trainers on intercultural education and digital tools, in Mollina, Spain. “IMPACT 2.0”, an international activity of European Educational Exchanges Youth for Understanding focused on capacity building of 22 participants on human rights and intercultural education in the online environment.

The second visit brought the EYF to Messina, Italy, to a pilot activity ran by the local association The Rising Stars in Messina: “Recognize and help gender-based violence victims” which gathered 18 young social workers and youth workers to explore how to recognise and support victims of gender-based violence. The participants ran two workshops in the local school to raise awareness of the topic, using the manual ‘’Gender matters’’.

Thirdly, the EYF visited the international activity of the European Youth Parliament, "Training and Capacity Building for Young Europeans on Equity, Inclusion, and Harassment Prevention". The project aimed to equip participants with knowledge and skills to provide welcoming and inclusive learning environments for all, realised as a hybrid activity.

"Youth for Democracy in Ukraine" the work of youth centres in their communities
16-20 November 2021, Kyiv, Ukraine
"Youth for Democracy in Ukraine" the work of youth centres in their communities


Representatives of youth centres at local, regional and national levels took part in a meeting to explore and analyse the experience gained during March-November 2021 within the project of the Council of Europe "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine".

The participants developed an understanding of the approaches and standards of the Council of Europe in the field of youth participation and non-formal education, and got acquainted with the international experience of the Vilnius (Lithuania) and Paikuse (Estonia) open youth centres in implementing inclusive, non-discriminatory and gender-sensitive approaches.

The meeting provided a space to discover the impact of the project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” on the work of the youth centres in their communities, in particular the expansion of the target audiences of youth centres and solutions to community problems. The Council of Europe provides mentoring, advisory missions, and practical workshops to support 14 youth centres to implement their projects on strengthening youth participation.

Read more ›
Online session on how to consider inclusion and diversity in EYF funded activities
Online session on how to consider inclusion and diversity in EYF funded activities

On 26 November, an interactive online session was delivered on inclusion and diversity, attended by representatives of local, national, and international NGOs registered with the EYF.

The session created a learning opportunity to strengthen understanding of inclusivity in the context of EYF funded projects and provide input to a future learning resource. During the online session, a panel of experts was attended by representatives from the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Unit and the Roma and Travellers Team of DGII, as well as the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group of the Programming Committee on Youth, and the European Network of Independent Living disability rights NGO.

Panel speakers shared input on inclusion and diversity and exchanged with participants about barriers to participation and accessibility in the context of youth projects.
EKCYP-PEYR Annual Meeting
EKCYP-PEYR Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of the two core networks of the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership, the European Knowledge Centre for Youth Policy (EKCYP) and the Pool of European Youth Researchers (PEYR) took place online on 17-18 November 2021.

Various topics were discussed, related to youth research, including the emerging research themes related to the pandemic and young people, climate change and sustainability, young people in rural areas and digitalisation and social inclusion.

Antje Rothemund, Head of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe and Babis Papaioannou, Policy Officer at DG EAC, European Commission also joined the meeting to share the future priorities and expectations of research contributions from the Youth Partnership, EKCYP and PEYR.

EKCYP-PEYR Annual Meeting
Perspectives on Youth: Young People’s Social Rights

The EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership hosted a webinar on Young people’s social rights: housing and co-working trends in the Perspectives on Youth series.

Panagiotis Chatzimichail, European Youth Forum and Edo Sadikovic, Sende and Village Nomads, invited guests, debated with participants on young people’s access to housing, the changing context of employment and new trends in co-living and co-working spaces for youth.

The Youth Partnership also presented two new research papers on the topic: Access to independence and housing exclusion by Chloé Serme-Morin and Emerging trends in coworking spaces among young people by Antigoni Papageorgiou.

Watch the webinar recording and consult previous Perspectives on Youth contributions exploring social values, social rights and solidarity.
What's new on the Covid-19 Knowledge Hub?
What's new on the Covid-19 Knowledge Hub?

One year of Covid-19 Knowledge Hub – is it still too early to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on young people’s lives?

What do we know now and what are the remaining knowledge gaps?

How is the youth sector developing and adapting in response to the pandemic? Is there a place for optimism?

Listen to the new episode of our Under 30' podcast exploring this topic and visit the Hub for the latest updates and analysis.

What's new on the Covid-19 Knowledge Hub?
New Podcast Episode: Youth Policy Manual

About time! reference manual for youth policy from a European perspective, is a tool for initiating youth policy and learning about the diversity of national and international governance and the infrastructure available for youth policy, its implementation and evaluation. It focuses on areas developed through European consensus-building – participation, information, volunteering, social inclusion, access to rights, youth work, mobility and digitalisation. Listen to the new podcast episode where authors Howard Williamson, Zara Lavchyan and Max Fras introduce the manual and discuss the state of youth policy nowadays.

What do young people stand for?
What do young people stand for?

EYCA, the European Youth Card Association, institutional partner of the Council of Europe's Partial Agreement on Youth Mobility, ran a research in the framework of its Campaign: #STANDFORSOMETHING. Its purpose was to investigate and describe the opinions and attitudes of young people towards the European Union and bring forward their ideas and priorities to be used as a reference point at the Conference on the future of Europe.

The research combined quantitative and qualitative methodologies including participatory research and focus group methods, to shed light on the priorities and ideas of young people on the future of Europe.

The major issues that concern the youth of Europe and their ideas for a better Europe in the future are clearly highlighted in the findings of the research. The youth’s priority agenda is focused on climate change, education, mental health, and freedom of self-expression, while they ask for comparable decent living standards all over Europe.

Read the report presenting the results of the research

Upcoming Activities
  • 6-10 December 2021, European Youth Centre Budapest, X Language: the impact of sexism in everyday communication, a Study session in cooperation with Tutmonda Esperantista Junulara Organizo-TEJO
  • 9-10 December 2021, online, 46th meeting of the Programming Committee on Youth
  • 13-17 December 2021, European Youth Centre Budapest, 6th Training course for the staff of the youth centres in the Quality label network
  • 20-21 January 2022, Strasbourg or online, Statutory bodies meetings: CDEJ, CCEJ 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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