Earlier this year, the European Commission set out a new strategy to foster possibilities for the youngsters in Europe.
“Engage”, “Connect” and “Empower” are the key words of the project. An innovative methodology to foster young people’s participation in civic and democratic life (engage), connecting young people across the European Union and beyond to foster voluntary engagement, learning mobility, solidarityand intercultural understanding (connect) and supporting youth empowerment through quality, innovation and recognition of youth work (empower), as can be read on the commission’s website.
This last topic is strictly connected with the Erasmus+ programme and, in particular, with the recognition of experiences such as the EVS and the participation to the Solidarity Corps. To booster the linkage between the voluntary service and the work market is in fact among the main goals of the new strategy.
The employability of youth workers is one of the main concerns which the new strategy aims at solving. Thus, a cross-sectoral approach will address “the needs of young people in other EU policy areas”, in order to reach a better distribution of skills and competences all overthe EU.
Together with this last topic, the other novelties ofthe strategy are:
- A so-called “EU Youth coordinator”, that will collect the voices of the young Europeans and serve as their spokesman. The figure will work through the European Youth Portal and the EU Youth Strategy Platform;
- hence, a “renew EU youth dialogue” for a wider outreach;
- more attention for and aspecial tracking of EU spending for youth in the main funding programmes;
- the improvement of the quality, innovation and recognition of youth work;
- as already mentioned, a stronger linkage between EU youth policy implementation and related programme activities in Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps.
