YFJ Youth Work Working Group presentation at #lookbeyond, Macedonia, June 2014

In the past: Secretary General for SDY

Estonia, Head of Youth Policy for

Estonian NYC, Chief Expert on Youth

Participation for the Estonian Youth

Work Centre, Estonian representative

in UBC and BSSSC youth policy

networks, Chairman of the Supervisory

Board for Estonian NYC

Today: member of the European Youth

Forum Youth Work Working Group

GerdTarand

YFJWGYW

Strategic priorities 2013-2018

The Youth Forum works to empower

young people to participate actively in

society to improve their own lives by

representing and advocating their needs

and interest and those of their

organisations.

During the next 75 minutes

• Some information on the YFJ

• Information on the YFJ Youth Work

WG

• Information on the Draft youth work

policy paper

• Discussion on the core subjects in

the youth work policy paper

Strategic priorities 2013-2018

As the platform of NYC and IYNGO in Europe, we

believe that youth organisations are the tool

through which we empower, encourage, involve,

represent, reach out and support young people.

Active young citizens constitute the backbone of

any democratic society. However, young people

continue to suffer the consequences of the

unprecedented economic, social, ecological and

political crises.

Strategic priorities 2013-2018

To overcome these challenges, the Forum will strive towards the following goals:

• Greater youth participation

• Stronger youth organisations

• Youth autonomy and inclusion

Strategic priorities 2013-2018

In order to achieve these goals the Platform aims, by 2018, to:

• Strengthen its position as an agenda-setter on youth affairs

• Base its work on a rights-based approach

• Further empower Member Organisations and increase their ownership of the Platform

Strong youth organisation

Objectives:

- Promote the financial recognition and the capacity building of youth organisations at European and global levels, with young people co-managing the programmes and policies affecting their lives.

- Expected result: Sustained funding and training for activities and every-day function of youth organisations provided by institutions and partners.

Strong youth organisation

Objectives:

- Support the process of establishment, legal andfinancial recognition of National Youth Councils throughcontinued support, especially in the regions of South-Eastern Europe (SEE), Eastern Europe and Caucasus(EEC), and in the countries most affected by theeconomic crisis.

- Expected result: More national youth councils legallyrecognised and sustainably funded in Europe.

Strong youth organisation

- Advocate for the recognition of the impact of youth work and volunteering in society.

Expected result: Concrete steps in the implementation of the Council of the EU 2010 Resolution on Youth Work and of the European Charter on the Rights and Responsibilities of Volunteers, and recognition of the Volunteer Time Contribution as eligible co-funding in European programmes.

Strong youth organisation

- Enable and empower youth organisations to reach out to, createsafe environments and include more diverse young peopleoutside of their membership, with special attention tomarginalized and disadvantaged youth.

Expected result: Qualitative growth of youth organisations bydiversifying their membership.

Critical Success Factor: more recognition and more and bettertargeted administrative funding for Youth organisations, throughthe development of new and current European Union andCouncil of Europe financial programmes and other instruments(legal basis).

The Youth Work Working Group

Objectives :

Strengthening the capacity of youth organisations to work on relevant issues and reach out more young people and partners

Supporting the establishment of new national youth councils and capacity building of existing ones

Strengthening the competences of youth organisations on youth policy development

Being involved in supporting new NYC and the sustainability trainings

2013:

• Help the revision of the policy paper on youth work

• Help to collect the youth laws

• Give input to the NYC sustainability training

• Give input to the training on youth policy

• Give input in NYC sustainability training in some countries

The activities

2014:

• Work on the policy paper on youth work

• Give input in NYC sustainability training in some countries

• Give input to the NYC sustainability training

• Give input to the training on youth policy

• Develop set of recommendations based on the analysis of the legislation.

• Help to spread the research on the impact of volunteering and youth work

• Spread the visuals and happenings showing the impact of youth work

The activities

• Be an expert

• Input for the policy paper

• Be a bridge

• Between Your Organisation and YFJ for the calls, theresearch outcomes, the recommendations…

• Be a supporter

• Share these ideas further and promote active youthorganisations. Let the YFJ know about the situation inyour country.

Your mission today

By developing a policy paper on youth work theForum aims to build coherent approach to thetopic, including all its aspects from actors andespecially role of youth organisations andneed for capacity building to recognition ofyouth work and needed policy demands. TheYouth Forum seeks an as engaging and openprocess as possible for the development ofthe paper which also includes input from externalexperts on the topic (you!).

A new Policy Paper on Youth Work

YFJ has been working on the policy papersince June 2013, conducted an onlinesurvey amongst its MOs and discussed thedrafts on events like this one.

The aim is to adopt the paper at the nextCOMEM/GA.

A new Policy Paper on Youth Work

• Purpose

• Impact in the society and in the youth sector/employment opportunities of young people

• Actors

• Stakeholders

• Recognition

• Capacity building

• Funding

A new Policy Paper on Youth Work

Three chapters:

YW and the individual

Skills gained

From childhood to adulthood

YW and the community

Impact on society

Recognition of YW

Actors

Capacity building of YOs

Youth Work Capacity building: a process

Building strong youth organisations in Europe: European Youth Forum’s approach

Partnerships within the YO

A new Policy Paper on Youth Work

Now – it’s your turn!

3 core topics in the Policy Paper:

1.What impact does youth work have on the individual and the society?

2.How should the Youth Forum advocate for the recognition of youth work?

3.And how should we advocate for increased funding for youth organisations?

A new Policy Paper on Youth Work

Keep an eye on the Youth Policy Watch newsletter:

http://www.youthforum.org/news/youth-policy-watch/

THANK YOU!

Gerd [email protected]