EU Neighbourhood
Youth: the engine of society YOUTH PRESS PACK
EU Neighbourhood
Youth: the engine of society
YO U T H P R E S S PAC K
January 2014
The voice of the present – hope for the future
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Mediterranean: focus on jobs and citizenship
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Youth projects in the South
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Eastern Partnership: building up civil society
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Youth projects in the East
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Youth and education for all – Erasmus+
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PHOTO GALLERIES
SUCCESS STORIES
VIDEOS EuroMed Youth videos Anti-corruption summer camp Moldova & Ukraine
This publication exists only in electronic format. It has been prepared by the European Neighbourhood Info Centre, a project funded by the EU. It does not represent the official view of the EC or the EU Institutions. The EC accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to its content.
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Teachers videos on e-twinning
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The voice of the present – hope for the future Youth cooperation in the Neighbourhood Youth is a priority in every society. Not only do young people represent the future, making them a key development objective, but as the voice of the present, they are front-line development actors in their own right. It is no surprise that they feature at the heart of the European Union’s cooperation with its Neighbourhood partners. The leaders, the economic motors of tomorrow, they are also the voice of today – whether that voice speaks in hope or despair. Throughout the Neighborhood, EU strategy focuses on formative years because reinforcing youth cooperation in the Neighbourhood will ultimately contribute to boosting democracy and civil society in the partner countries, as well as empowering young people to play an active role in their societies – starting now. Indeed, there is often a focus on youth across a range of development initiatives, with young people targeted in projects ranging from culture to the environment, from civil society to gender, from employment to renewable energy.
“Young people have been in the front line of change, they’ve been courageous in having their voices heard and they continue to speak out… They want freedom, they want opportunities, they want jobs, they want education, they want a future.” Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs
EU-funded youth programmes represent a good opportunity to learn, to participate, to be mobile, to be trained and to acquire better employment perspectives. But ultimately, the work organised in a number of EU cooperation programmes is also a way to bridge the gap between citizens from neighbouring countries. Young people often face obstacles to mobility, stemming from typical forms of xenophobia, prejudice and ignorance about each other.
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YO U T H P R E S S PAC K 1
A partnership for youth with the Council of Europe
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Over the years, the EU and the Council of Europe have worked together in the field of youth in the EU CoE Youth Partnership, targeting three policy priorities:
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• Social inclusion • Democracy and human rights, democratic
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citizenship and youth participation
• Intercultural dialogue and diversity In the Southern Mediterranean, the partnership has developed a joint Euro-Med project encompassing Human Rights Education and Intercultural dialogue, and has been playing a pioneering role in the domain of Euro Mediterranean youth policy cooperation. In addition, one of the main objectives of the Euro-Med Partnership has always been to ensure quality development and support to EuroMed youth work with a view to increasing the quality and quantity of Euro-Med intercultural youth projects.
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In Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, the EU and the CoE have a Partnership Agreement in the field of youth, which has launched discussions about youth work in the region in an effort to fill the gap in knowledge about youth policy and youth work. As part of this work, a number of symposiums have been held, in Odessa in 2011, in Tbilisi in 2012 and the last in Yerevan in November 2013.
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Mediterranean: focus on jobs and citizenship
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YO U T H P R E S S PAC K
Young people have been the principal force for change in the events that have swept the Southern Mediterranean since 2011. They remain an essential component of the new political systems these societies are demanding. They are also vital to the conception of new development models centred on job creation, local development and sustainability.
1 Algeria – priority support for youth employment The European Union provides €23.5 million in support of young people in Algeria, with a particular priority on youth employment. Working hand in hand with the Algerian authorities, the four-year YouthEmployment Support Programme aims to reinforce the participation of young people in society, improve their employment prospects and contribute to the development of cooperation between the main sectors involved in the implementation of national youth policy.
It is therefore essential that young people can participate and make their voices heard. But despite their increasing numbers, local youth associations are often unable to implement projects due to their lack of administrative, economic, and management experience. A number of programmes have therefore been developed to support local youth associations, to promote active citizenship, to build up critical faculties and analytical ability – in a word, to promote the culture of democratic discussion and civic participation. The other key youth issue is jobs: one third of the southern Neighbourhood’s population is under the age of 15, meaning up to 60 million young people will join the workforce by the middle of the next decade. Economies in the region will need to create between 2.5 and 5 million jobs a year if they are to absorb new entrants to the labour market and to reduce unemployment. Training and mobility are essential to the transfer of knowledge and experience, and can have a key role to play in boosting markets across the region.
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The debate culture takes root In Tunis, a group of young people is having a heated discussion on the issues of violence and justice. They are part of the Anna Lindh Foundation’s “Young Arab Voices” project that aims to establish a debate culture and offer young people the best techniques to defend their opinions on questions central to their interests.
EU-supported programmes in the Mediterranean have a role to play by creating opportunities, by linking the young of the two shores of the basin, promoting active citizenship, and reinforcing civil society, working together with the youth policies implemented by the national authorities.
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Read the full story Anna Lindh Foundation – a focus on youth
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Youth projects in the South The EU supports youth priorities through individual projects implemented in every country of the Southern Mediterranean, but also, crucially, through a number of regional projects, implemented across many countries, thus bridging experiences between the EU and the southern partner countries, and between the southern partners themselves.
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“We must allow young people to have their say so that they can advance in this democratic adventure.” Wissem Boudrigua, student at the Higher Institute of Human Sciences in Tunis.
NET-MED Youth (EU-UNESCO) NET-MED Youth is a regional programme, managed together with UNESCO, aimed at mainstreaming youth issues and priorities across national decision making in the Mediterranean partner countries, building the capacities of youth and youth organisations and promoting their active engagement in revising legislation and identifying workable models for improving young people’s access to employment. With €8 million in EU funding, this three-year programme starts in 2014. Press Release
EuroMed Youth
The Euro-Mediterranean Youth Programme focuses on activities that promote non-formal education, intercultural learning and active citizenship among young people, youth leaders and youth workers. The Programme has now entered its fourth phase, EuroMed Youth IV, funded with a total budget of €11 million over the period 2010-2016, and aimed at supporting and strengthening the participation and contribution of young people and youth organisations from the Euro-Mediterranean region towards the development of civil society and democracy. www.euromedyouth.net The following projects funded in the framework of the programme were among the winners of the 2013 Euromed Youth awards. Details of each project are available in the Youth Awards booklet: Jordan Mirroring women by the “Leaders of tomorrow” organization, best seminar. Palestine Arab Spring also available in 2013 by the “JUZOOR” organization, best training course. Tunisia A step for green future by the “Association des jeunes méditerranéens pour les échanges culturels”, best voluntary service. Israel Jerusalem revisited by the “Israel Federation of Community Centers”, jury special prize for supporting peace development process.
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“I have learned things about myself I wasn’t even aware of” How a EuroMed Youth project in Jordan is turning youth workers into youth leaders. Read the full story
Youth Employment Promotion
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Mediterranean neighbour countries have asked the EU to prioritise entrepreneurship and SME promotion with a view to creating opportunities for young unemployed people. This pilot project (2014-2017) builds on experience gained with the EU programme “Erasmus for young entrepreneurs”: its general objective is to facilitate learning, networking and exchange of experience for new young professionals (aged between 18 and 35) through periods spent working in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) run by experienced entrepreneurs in another country. These exchanges of experience follow a twoway flow (EU-Southern Mediterranean and viceversa) of young professionals.
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SUCCESS STORIES Tunisia The debate culture takes root Algeria I am a citizen, so I can have my say Jordan Learning (by doing) to become youth leaders and agents of positive change Libya LibyaBlog, giving youth a voice Palestine - Spreading colours over isolation Egypt I learned to be a fully-fledged citizen Jordan Listening to what the young have to say
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Eastern Partnership: building up civil society Support for Youth is a key priority in the Eastern Partnership (EaP – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), covered under the EaP’s thematic platform on Contacts between people, which supports interaction between the citizens of the partner countries and the EU, focusing in particular on students, teachers, researchers, young people, artists and cultural professionals. Eastern Partnership countries face a common challenge of young people with fewer opportunities in rural or deprived urban areas, of enhancing employability among the young, and to raise awareness about the nature and value of youth work, establishing closer links with broader civil society and a greater engagement in the policy process.Support in meeting these challenges will ultimately contribute to the broad objectives of the Eastern Partnership, contributing to dynamic societies and a strong civil society.
EU Neighbourhood
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EaP Youth Forum In October 2013, in the first event of its kind, the Eastern Partnership Youth Forum brought together approximately 200 participants, including young people, youth researchers, youth workers and youth policy makers, from EU and Eastern Partnership countries with the aim of launching a regular platform for cooperation. The meeting focused around three key issues:
• Enhancing the recognition of youth work and non-formal learning;
• Raising the quality and visibility of non-formal learning and youth work at the local level;
• Highlighting current youth cooperation
within the framework of the Youth in Action Programme’s Eastern Partnership Youth Window and exploring opportunities offered by Erasmus+.
Read the Conclusions of the Forum.
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SUCCESS STORIES Ukraine Fairy tales to heal family wounds Russia Photo Youth – the art of crossing borders Moldova The young say ‘no’ to corruption
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Youth projects in the East
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The EU supports youth priorities through individual projects implemented in every country of the Eastern Partnership, but also, crucially, through regional projects, implemented across the EaP, thus sharing experience between the EU and the eastern partner countries, while also bringing together youth workers from the eastern partners themselves.
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Fairy tales to heal family wounds
Eastern Partnership Youth Window
Between 2011 and 2013, the European Commission has allocated €31.5 million for cooperation within the Youth in Action Programme with the Eastern Partnership countries through the “Eastern Partnership Youth Window”. In 2012 and 2013, the EaP Youth Window financed 1,500 additional projects involving about 21,000 young people and youth workers from Youth in Action and EaP countries. Through its grants scheme, the programme provides support to disadvantaged young people. It contributes to raising awareness of the nature of youth work in the region, and helps share best practices in this sphere. It helps youth workers to benefit from training and capacity-building opportunities, improving their competences in working with young people, particularly those from rural or deprived urban areas and from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.
Eastern Partnership Youth Regional Unit
The Unit assists the Eastern Partnership countries in developing constructive and mutually reinforcing youth policies. It aims to support and strengthen the response of the EaP countries to the needs of young people through regional cooperation between policy institutions, youth organisations, youth workers and young people.
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“At school, it is difficult to show what you can do, or what you think. Here we can express ourselves freely”
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They came from orphanages, foster families and deprived backgrounds: 28 teenagers from four different countries gathered in the coastal village of Koblevo, Ukraine, for a ten-day workshop aimed at helping them overcome their uneasiness, teaching them the social skills they need to live and work together, with a strong focus on respect and dialogue.
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Read the full story
www.eapyouth.eu/en
http://ec.europa.eu/youth/orphans/eastern-partnership-youthwindow_en.htm Project fiche
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Youth and education for all – Erasmus+
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As well as regional projects that are specific to each region - Mediterranean and Eastern Partnership - partner countries also benefit from youth and education opportunities under the new Erasmus+ programme, which are open to the whole Neighbourhood and even beyond.
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Erasmus+
Support to higher education and student mobility is a key investment in the future of the Neighbourhood, with increased budgets to match the EU’s commitment in this field. From January 2014, a new programme, Erasmus+, will bring together all the previous EU and international schemes for education, training, youth and sport, replacing seven existing programmes with one: the existing Lifelong Learning Programme (Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Comenius and Grundtvig), Youth in Action, and five international cooperation programmes (Erasmus Mundus, Tempus, Alfa, Edulink and the programme for cooperation with industrialised countries). The main aim of the programme is to improve people’s skills and ultimately their employability as well as to support the modernisation of education and training systems. The previous Erasmus Mundus Programme allocated €80 million in the Southern and Eastern neighbouring countries in 2012-2013, more than double the amount initially foreseen, to promote cooperation between higher education institutions through partnerships, mobility and exchanges of students, researchers and academic staff (with scholarships). http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/index_en.htm
Youth in Action programme – Youth in the World
The new Erasmus+ programme will also include the Youth in Action programme, which features a strong international dimension. Through the ‘Youth in the World’ Action, it helps strengthen relations between the EU and its neighbours, as well as the rest of the world, by providing young people and youth workers from Europe with the opportunity to take part in exchanges and other non-formal education activities with their peers living outside the Union. Youth exchanges for young people aged between 13 and 25 are covered under the sub-action for neighbourhood cooperation, along with training and networking projects. Examples of possible themes include: strengthening civil society; tackling racism and xenophobia; improving understanding between different ethnic and religious groups; women in society; minority rights; regional cooperation; heritage and the environment, etc.In 2012, 1,474 young people and youth workers from the Southern Mediterranean took part in 391 Youth in Action projects. In the East, the Youth in Action Programme works under the Eastern Partnership Youth Window. More information about these neighbouring regions, as well as support and advice in finding partners and developing activities, can be found on the relevant regional SALTO Resource Centre: SALTO Eastern Europe and Caucasus SALTO EUROMED.
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e-twinning Plus
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Extending to the Neighbourhood the Erasmus+ eTwinning Lifelong Learning initiative, eTwinning Plus is a pilot project which provides a platform for schools in the Eastern Partnership countries and Tunisia. The project aims to provide a safe, online environment for schools to engage with other schools in the EU and different countries. The idea is for teachers, head teachers, librarians etc. to work on projects and share resources with like-minded education professionals in the existing eTwinning network. The platform is offered as a free service. http://plus.etwinning.net/en/pub/index.htm
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PHOTO GALLERIES Images from across the Neighbourhood highlighting EU cooperation projects in the field of youth. High-resolution pictures available for download. South and East.
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Useful Links
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EuropeAid – Children and youth http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/children-youth/index_en.htm European Commission – Youth http://ec.europa.eu/youth
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Youth in Action http://ec.europa.eu/youth/youth-in-action-programme/actions_en.htm
EU Neighbourhood Handbooks From the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre website, a number of different handbooks can be downloaded, offering tips to media professionals for improved coverage of EU cooperation activities, but also providing information on how to access EU funding or to navigate through EU jargon. A wealth of knowledge at your disposal, just a click away on www.enpi-info.eu.
EuroMed Youth Programme www.euromedyouth.net Eastern Partnership Youth Window http://ec.europa.eu/youth/orphans/eastern-partnership-youth-window_en.htm EaP Regional Youth Unit www.eapyouth.eu Erasmus Mundus http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus Erasmus+ http://ec.europa.eu/education/erasmus-plus SALTO Eastern Europe and Caucasus www.salto-youth.net/eeca/
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SALTO EUROMED www.salto-youth.net/euromed/ EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership http://youth-partnership-eu.coe.int/youth-partnership EU-UNICEF press pack: a partnership for children www.enpi-info.eu/maineast.php?id=470&id_type=3&lang_id=450
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Documents and publications
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Eastern Partnership Youth Forum (Kaunas October 2013): Joint Conclusions
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http://eapyouth.eu/sites/default/files/documents/12-11-13_eap_youth_forum_joint_conclusions.pdf
EuroMed Youth publication: Youth work in Tunisia after the revolution
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www.euromedyouth.net/Youth-work-in-Tunisia-after-the-revolution.html
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EuroMed Youth publications: Studies on EuroMed Youth Policies in Mediterranean partner countries
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www.euromedyouth.net/Studies-on-EuroMed-Youth-Policies.html
SALTO Youth Euromed publications
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www.salto-youth.net/rc/euromed/EMlibrary/emeducpub/
Programme Guide for Erasmus Mundus 2009-2013
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http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/programme/programme_guide_en.php
EU Neighbourhood Library documents www.enpi-info.eu/library/theme/Youth
EU Neighbourhood Library Our online database Action plans
key quotes
Agreements
Browse key quotes on youth issues by top EU officials, projects and beneficiaries on the ground - EAST and SOUTH
Declarations
Country reports
Resolutions Strategy documents
press packs Other Info Centre Press packs are available online: EAST and SOUTH
www.enpi-info.eu/library/ DOCUMENTS
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YO U T H P R E S S PAC K The EU: a major donor for the Neighbourhood
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EU support to the region is mainly channeled through the European Commission’s Directorate General for Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid. http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid
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The European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) funding approved for the period 2014-2020 is € 15.4 billion. The ENI replaces the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), for which the funding was € 11.2 billion for the period 2007-2013. The new instrument provides faster and more flexible funding, allowing for incentives for best performers, to 16 partner countries to the East and South of the EU’s borders.
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East: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine. South: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria*, Tunisia. * EU Cooperation with Syria is currently suspended due to the political situation
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The EU Neighbourhood Info Centre is an EU-funded Regional Communication project highlighting the partnership between the EU and Neighbouring countries. www.enpi-info.eu
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EU Neighbourhood Info Centre An ENPI project The EU Neighbourhood Info Centre is an EU-funded Regional Communication project highlighting the partnership between the EU and Neighbouring countries. This presspack has been produced by the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre.
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Photos: UNICEF and AFP/EPA for the EU Neighourhood Info Centre Copyright EU/EU Neighbourhood Info Centre 2013-2014
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