#EaP How to strengthen cooperation with and within Eastern Partnership region in the youth field

#InstitutasEU

2015-06-23

RECOMMENDATIONS How to strengthen cooperation with and within Eastern Partnership region in the youth field

These recommendations were developed during the seminar “Next steps of youth policy development in EaP", which took place in Lithuania May 28June 3, 2015, in Mokymų centras “Daugirdiškės”.

Seminar brought together national youth councils from EaP region countries (Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine), National youth council of Latvia, strongest regional youth NGO in Armenia - Youth initiative center; and Institute for policy research and analysis (Lithuania).

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Seminar built a bridge between EU Presidency Eastern partnership youth forums in Lithuania (October, 2013) and Latvia (February, 2015) and provided space to reflect on the results of forums and transform them into strategies and policy actions.

Project gathered together youth policy stakeholders, youth councils representatives from 8 countries, in Lithuania, to discuss the youth policy development, co-management and youth work implementations and future youth policy vision in the region.

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2015-06-23

We see the need to promote several over-arching priorities: • international cooperation in the various forms and frameworks; • strengthening youth participation and participatory (youth) policy-making; • promoting and supporting evidence-based policy-making; • these three fall in line with European values of open and democratic governance.

Youth mobility opportunities and restrictions: • raising awareness of foreign affairs ministries and embassies about youth policy, youth work and youth NGOs;

• easier visa procedures for mobility programme e.g. ERASMUS+ participants, maybe free of charge visa’s (already works in many instances);

• to set Youth / youth policy / youth participation as priorities of financial support / grant programmes at the EU MSs Embassies in the EaP region. Including cooperation for development” programme;

• as soon as possible to launch Eastern partnership youth window;

• easier access for youth NGOs to Erasmus+ programme - financial conditions, prefinancing (more than 65%) etc.

• launching bilateral youth exchange programmes, e.g. Lithuanian – Ukrainian youth exchange programme, which would allow large number of youngsters from both countries to get to know each other, countries, history, commonalities better and develop cooperation ties between youth and youth NGOs.

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Cooperation • launching various international frameworks and platforms for peer-learning on different levels - ministries (protocol agreements), experts, youth exchange programmes, international conferences and forums, 3rd Eastern Partnership Youth Forum, other similar occasions.

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inter-parliamentary groups on Youth;

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stronger cooperation among National Youth Councils from EU and EaP region;

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support development of Non Formal Education (NFU) and its providers, recognition of competencies gained through NFU;

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support cooperation among youth researchers, put more emphasis on better understanding situation of young people.

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2015-06-23

Support •

launch youth ambassadors initiative – young people who have participated in mobility projects (Erasmus+, Youth in Action) in EU countries;

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promoting youth policy experts, NGOs in the EaP region;

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translating manuals on youth policy, youth participation, youth work, non-formal education, cross-sectorial cooperation to languages of the region.

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Youth policy academy in Lithuania for youth leaders, youth ministry staff, young politicians.

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development of Open Youth Work, youth centers, youth worker education / certification.

Town twinning •

promoting new / more town twinning between regions;

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including youth dimension in the twinning projects.

The seminar “Next steps of youth policy development in EaP” was funded by EU programme ERASMUS+

More information about seminar “Next steps of youth policy development in EaP": http://tinyurl.com/NextStepsEAP

About #InstituteEU VšĮ Politikos tyrimų ir analizės institutas / Institute for Policy research and Analysis is an independent, autonomous, non-political, non-profit organization based in Lithuania.

Fields of Expertise and Activities: - Research of public policies (Social policies, Education, Youth, Culture etc); - Consultations on public policy development; - Operational performance and quality improvement of organizations; - Capacity building and training; - Advocacy and Communication work.

Politikos tyrimų ir analizės institutas V. Žalakevičiaus g. 4A-34, LT- 10111 Vilnius marius.ulozas@gmail.com +370 686 26260 #EaP

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