Here some short extracts from Sintija Bernava’s article:

In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. This has had a revolutionary impact, however, we still have a long way to go before respect for human rights is truly universal. 

In the time of the pandemic, it has become more difficult to assure the security and well-being of allall. This includes access to health care, food, water and sanitation, work, education. We can see the human rights agenda being instrumentalized for political purposes.

International solidarity is essential in the global response. In fact, no one country can beat this alone and some countries have better possibilities to respond than others.  No one should be left behind.

When we take a human rights-based approach to development, the outcomes are more sustainable, powerful and effective. Society is stronger and more resilient when women and men can play a meaningful role in political, economic and social life, contributing to policy-making. It affects their lives, including by accessing information, engaging in dialogue, expressing dissent and joining together to express their views. Moreover, it includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, unfortunately, in many regions these rights are shrinking.

Global challenges are more connected than ever, but our responses are more fragmented. That’s why collective action is the only answer for the multiple crises that humanity is facing.

If you want to learn more about the topic, click here to read the complete article by Sintija Bernava “Human Rights at the Frontline” published by “Donum Animus”.

Related Article: About racism in the youth work sector

L'articolo Human Rights at the Frontline proviene da Youth Networks.

Which are the differences between formal and non-formal education?

There are two ways to establish the difference. The first relates to the concept of hierarchy: in formal education, this is clearly recongnisable – and accepted. The teacher, to whom one refers as “sir” or “miss”, provides you a lesson, a lecture, a seminar, on topics officially set by curricula. Digressions are allowed, but not recognised as part of the cultural baggage that learners are expected to acquire. In non-formal education, on the contrary, there is no hierarchy: teacher and learners sit at the same level, in a non-frontal position, and the contributions from the learners matter as much as the ones from the teacher.

Pro: formal education is granted and recognised as fundamental virtually all over the world, without any discrimination based on race, gender or ethnic group reasons, and gives to everyone the opportunity to get a basic knoweldge to be exploited during lifetime.

The curricola are the second characteristic. Formal education foresees defined programmes with a set of subjects, that may or may not be of interest of the learner, although their value is officially recognised. In the end, there is always a test. In non-formal education, instead, the choice of what to learn is up to the learner. It’s the case of sport lessons, hobbies courses, language classes and so on. The final outcome doesn’t matter: the important thing is that the learner has developed something more, that s/he feels enriched.

Pro: it enables everyone to focus on his/her favourite activities, to develop personal skills according to what comes natural. He feels empowered, making NFE easier for him/her to succeed.

How is non-formal education important for Europe and EU programmes?

It’s not a case that youth workers are particularly familiar with the concept of non-formal education. It perfectly adapts to the flow of youth exchanges, intercultural dialogues and the exchange of good practices. People taking part in Erasmus+ Programmes in fact usually match the identikit of the non-formal learner. They make the first step, proving themeselves with new challenges – also and above all when it comes at learning.

Non-formal education turns out to be really helpful even when facing difficult situations, such as the integration of adult migrant to a new host country. It’s what the Council of Europe underlined as regard to language courses for adult migrants. “At a time when many Council of Europe member states are receiving large numbers of adult refugees, the distinctions between formal, non-formal and informal learning help us to formulate radical and cost-effective responses to questions that have previously been answered in traditional ways”, we read on its website.

After all, the Council of Europe officially recognised non-formal education in 2000, with a reccommendation of the parliamentary Assembly. As it’s stated in the document:

• The Assembly recognises that investment in education and welfare is an effective measure for the promotion of active citizenship and the prevention of social exclusion.
• The Assembly acknowledges that formal educational systems alone cannot respond to rapid andconstant technological, social and economic change in society, and that they should be reinforced by non-formal educational practices.
• Non-formal education is an integral part of a lifelong learning concept that allows young people and adults to acquire and maintain the skills, abilities and outlook needed to adapt to a continuously changingenvironment.

L'articolo Non-formal education: an opportunity for the future proviene da Youth Networks.

The projects will be evaluated by the Programming Committee on Youth, the co-managed body taking decisions on the programme of the youth sector (including the grants awarded by the European Youth Foundation).

Access to rights

The first goal is supporting young people and youth organisations in accessing their rights and advocating education for human rights and democracy.

The steps through which accomplish this priority are:

• A roadmap on the dissemination of Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)7 on young people’s access to rights;
• Support measures to member states, local authorities and youth organisations to follow-up the conclusions of the review of Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation CM/Rec(2015)3 (access of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to social rights);
• The continuation of the Human Rights Education Youth Programme;
• Indentification and remedies for the shrinking civic space on young people and youth organisations. Young people’s access to rights requires the removal of legal, political and social barriers.

Youth participation and youth work

The second of the youth priorities is the empowerment of young people and youth organisations. They shall be given the chance to develop youth policies and youth work, as well as to get involved and make an impact in the community they live in. Hence, any barrier or obstacle should be removed. This can be achieved through:

As for the young people:

• Supporting young people to access their rights to assemble and freely form, join and be active in associations; enhancing young people’s meaningful participation in political processes;
• Supporting youth participation in internet governance processes;
• Promoting the Revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life and supporting member states and youth organisations to implement its principles;
• Further disseminating the “Have your say” manual to public authorities and the non-governmental sector.

As for the youth work:

• Pursuing the dissemination and implementation of Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation CM/Rec(2017)4 on youth work, developing and promoting a European youth work agenda;
• Supporting the quality development, sustainability and recognition of youth work and non-formal education and learning, notably through the use of Council of Europe instruments in the member states (e.g. through the Council of Europe Quality Label for Youth Centres and the Council of Europe Youth Work Portfolio).

Inclusive and peaceful societies

The third priority aims at supporting young people and youth organisations in their work on peace building and social cohesion, to prevent and combat discrimination and exclusion. This will develop in two directions: first, by promoting social inclusion, fostering active participation, gender equality and combating all forms of discrimination on the grounds of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The specific targets are:

• Roma youth and other minority groups;
• Young refugees and their transitionfrom childhood to adulthood;
• Young people with disabilities;
• LGBTQI young people;
• Young women and girls.

Secondly, by enabling young people to promote peaceful societies by providing them with opportunities to play an active role in:

• Intercultural dialogue/learning;
• Peacebuilding and conflict transformation;
• Challenging the rise of nationalism and populism;
• Co-operation with neighbouring and other world regions.

Read more about the Council of Europe priorities on their dedicated page.

For an overview of the funding possibilities and calls by the CoE, click on the following link (or have a look at ournews section).

L'articolo Youth priorities: the document of the Council of Europe 2020-21 proviene da Youth Networks.

The main issue at stake is inclusion, in all of its shades: how to foster it in the democratic life of young Europeans, how to guarantee the participation of people with fewer opportunities in such process, which tools, activities and actions are better to implement. The main point of the dedicated report (“A sit at the table for everyone”, by Salto Youth resource center) is to propose effective actions, on the base of what has been done until now.

Engage

First of all, the main issue is to reach out to every young person. Here it plays a fundamental role the difference between youngsters with fewer opportunities and unorganised youngsters. The first group may be unorganised, or may be not; but, for sure, its members face difficult situations (due to physical disabilities, economical problems, geographical distance, lack of facilities, etc) that make harder for them to create and get involved, even after trying to organise themselves.

The second group instead may be composed by people in difficulty – or may be not. The only thing that characterizes the group is the fact that they are not properly ogranised under the umbrella of a private or semi-private body. The difference is important because it set the target of the inclusion mission: not the unorganised people that, potentially, have the possibility to stand up and fight for themselves; but rather the people with fewer opportunities, that are the ones who may not be in the practical contitions of make up a group and raise their voice.

Empower

People with fewer opportunities are the ones that need to be empowered most. The risk of marginalisation can be prevented by giving the people more at risk the right tools to be at the forefront of European policy making process. Fostering the democratic participation of young people in the political life of the community they live in can in fact be itself and instrument of social and civic development. But an interesting focus is where Europeans stakeholder can improve and the moments when it has not been done before. Where can the system be improved? How? The report tries to answer to these questions by proposing a set of services, activities, actions and awareness raising tools.

Connect

So, the strategy wants to get to a better involvement of young people by enhancing the already existing European programmes, together with the new ones – as the European Solidarity Corps intiative. The report provide four main strategies to foster inclusion:

• the combination between the three key actions of the Erasmus+ programme;
• reducing the complexity of the application process;
• more Key Actions (in order to overtake the idea of just the KA3 as the “participation Key Action”, ofr example);
• the creation of Youth Goals.

There ideas are described in more details at p. 11/12 of the report.

The report

The main goal of the report, released in the last weeks, is not only to raise awareness on the inclusion challeges that every organisation and project has to deal with – indeed, everyone is pretty aware of the situation. It focuses more on which actions and activities to enhance or implement to tackle the situation.

L'articolo European Youth Strategy 2020-27: new SALTO report on inclusion proviene da Youth Networks.

What for?

The Youth Advisory Councili is the non-governmental partner in the co-managed decision-making system used in the Council of Europe youth sector. Together with the The European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ), the governmental part, they form the Joint Council of Youth (CMJ), which sets the priorities, objectives and budget of the youth sector. There are 30 members in total in the Youth Advisory Council, that should reflect as much as possible the reality of young people and youth work in Europe. They are representatives of international non-governmental youth organisations, of national youth councils, and of non-governmental youth organisations or networks from the 50 States Parties to the ECC.

Which are the tasks?

Providing expertise to the CoE’s bodies that deals with youth issues, raising awareness on the work of the Council, giving information to organisations, networks, peers, social media, etc. about the Council of Europe’s work and standards, gathering opinions, information and proposals from their organisations/networks and their target groups and inform the youth sector.

The candidates should be:

• aged between 18 and 30;
• nominated by their organisation/network which must be situated in one of the 50 States Parties to the European Cultural Convention;
• committed to participating actively in the work of the Advisory Council on Youth;
• motivated, available and committed to attending the statutory meetings and to representing the Advisory Council in activities relevant to its work, as well as to contributing in writing to consultations and opinions;
• able to work in English;
• preferably have experience in at least one of the priority areas of the youth sector.

For further information, please refer to the following link with the official call and the guidelines to submit the online application.

The deadline is 28 April 2019 (23.59 hrs).

L'articolo Open call for CoE Advisory Council on Youth seats proviene da Youth Networks.

Around 120 young people coming from all over Europe will meet to discuss about political participation among youngsters. They will discuss the current trends in which youngsters are being involved in political life and analyze the tools to overcome the limit of democratic participation, in order to make it wider, more accessible and to make the people more aware of what happens around them.

The goal

The symposium aims at defining what politics mean to youngsters. The starting point is the nature of interaction between them and the political sphere: why some take an active part, and why some don’t? Why non-traditional ways of participation (not always positive, indeed) are being sometimes preferred? What can stakeholders and youth organisations do to make the young people feeling closer and more committed?

The event

The sessions will be designed in a participatory way. In the application form, participants will have the chance to indicate what issues or questions are most pressing for them in their work as it relates to the main theme of political participation. The answers will define the topics of the discussions. They may range from the level of engagement in political participation nowadays (characterised by economic tensions, crisis of democratic institutions, digitalisation, social media, fake news and other manipulations of the public opinion etc.) to the reasons that drive youngsters to commit to politics, from the european values to the role of civil society and citizen movements, and much more.

Further information, also about the requirements for the participants are provided at the following link. The deadline is 22 April 2019, 23.59 CET. People wishing to apply must fill the following application form. The result of the selection will be published on 15 May 2019.

L'articolo Call for participants: political commitment among young Europeans proviene da Youth Networks.

The proposal of European Commission

Last week MEPs voted for a set of contingency measures meant to safeguard the teachers, students and any other E+ participant currently abroad. Those were set out in the proposal that the European Commission put forward on 30 January 2019, available here.

Such proposal was issued by EU Parliament and EU Council, in order to prevent the risk that, due to the Brexit:

The current EU-27 and UK Erasmus+ participants would have to interrupt their learning mobility activities. Many students would lose their academic credits and could be obliged to repeat their academic semester or year. This would be a very disruptive impact for students themselves as well as for their sending and hosting institutions.

What will be the fate of the Erasmus+ Programme beneficiaries now?

With the time running up, the final vote of the EU Council secured the ongoing mobilities – and the ones due to start within 30 March, the “date of withdrawal”. Students, learners and people involved in any kind of E+ funded activity will continue to get European funds without any other prejudice. A big relief, considering the uncertainity of the situation.

This applies to beneficiaries of funding awarded before the date of withdrawal. And after that? Many British young people are seriously worried, and not without reason. In case of a no-deal Brexit, infact, the beneficiaries that have not started their mobility yet are still outstanding. As the Guardian reported, they can’t be sure about whether or not they will be able to count non only on scholarships (if Erasmus+ students or learners) or other types of financial support (for volunteering), but also on health insurance – the truth is that, as for now, UK citizens can’t even be sure if their driving licences will still be valid in EU-27, after Brexit.

What if a a deal will not be reached?

Actually, the funding for mobilities starting within 30 March were already provided for in the general EU budget. The issue at stake is rather that the Brexit will happen while the seven-year-period 2014/2020 of Erasmus+ Programme is still ongoing: the challenge, in a no-deal scenario, is to secure the mobilities until 2020.

The base of the proposal is the EU Regulation No 1288/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, that governs the Erasmus+ programme for the above-mentioned period. Basically, the contigency measures adopted these last days fall under the obligations undertaken by the UK according to the general EU budget.

As for the rest, a technical note released by the UK government just states that:

There are a range of options for the UK’s continued participation in Erasmus+ and ESC, including programme country status, partner country status or another arrangement ². Partner country access to Erasmus+ varies between different regional groups ³.

Some solutions to continue to take part in the Erasmus+ Programme after 2020 are currently under consideration. They can be either through an arrangement between the UK and the EU, so to make the UK partner country of the EU-27, or with an implementation of a series of bilateral agreements between the UK and the member states.

L'articolo Erasmus+ and Brexit: what is it going to happen after 29 March? proviene da Youth Networks.