2020 A CHALLENGING YEAR FOR YOUTH 2020 was a difficult year for all. The global Covid-19 pandemic had direct impacts on the youth sector that had to adapt and overcome multiple challenges: European mobility got frozen by the closing of borders, lockdowns made it more difficult for youth and social workers to reach their public… Young people reached yet another level of social exclusion, feeling let down by their government, having to endure isolation, stress and financial distress. On a more positive note, this year showed, more than ever, how crucial youth participation is, and how, given the opportunity, young people will prove to be resourceful and innovative, open to show solidarity and help their neighbours. In 2020, Youth Express Network (Y-E-N) tried its best to stay connected to its member organisations, partners and young volunteers. We took part in 26 projects, at European, regional and local level. Our activities reached a total of 7000 people. Environment, digital tools and youth participation were among the topics we focused on the most. The Network grew bigger at this year’s General Assembly (GA) as we welcomed two new member organisations, Yeghvard Youth Ecological NGO from Armenia and ASFAR from the United Kingdom. After 4 years spent in the Coordination Office of Youth Express Network, Emmeline Kuhn left her position as network manager for new personal and professional adventures. We warmly wish Emmeline good luck in her future projects! The work of Y-E-N would not be possible without the involvement of all. We would like to thank and congratulate all of you for your hard work: young people, youth/social workers, Board members, volunteers, staff, partners, funders, supporters and friends.
TABLE OF CONTENT
ABOUT YOUTH EXPRESS NETWORK - 1 VISION 2020 - 2 Y-E-N ACTIVITIES - 3 PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES - 6 REPRESENTATION & PARTICIPATION - 8 CROSS-BORDER & LOCAL WORK - 9 STATUTORY MEETINGS - 10 PERSPECTIVES 2021 - 11
ABOUT YOUTH EXPRESS NETWORK
BOARD MEMBERS
Y-E-N is a European network of grass-root youth organisations. Our vision is to reach an inclusive society, where young people, their needs, rights and participation are recognised, valued and appreciated. Our 34 member organisations in 23 different countries all work at local, regional or European level on reaching social inclusion of young people.
Ramiz ALIYEV President
Our Board is pan European (7 volunteers) and our coordination office is based in STRASBOURG, France (2 paid-staff). Since 1993, we have organised more than 120 international training courses, seminars, crossborder and mobility projects bringing together social/youth workers and young people with fewer opportunities. We also encourage young people with fewer opportunities to make their voice heard in local, regional and international institutions, either by representing them or supporting them to create and be part of youth councils. We are full member of the European Youth Forum (YFJ) and the INGO conference of the Council of Europe.
Adina HALILOVIĆ Board Member
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Elene KAPANADZE Board Member
Olya KHVASEVICH Treasurer
Lillia MNATSAKANYAN
Board Member
COORDINATION OFFICE
In 2020, Y-E-N was financed by: •
Andrea PANTARELLI Vice President
European Commission (Erasmus+ programme) Council of Europe (European Youth Foundation) Municipality of Strasbourg Local Council of Bas-Rhin Région Grand Est French State
Véronique BERTHOLLE Secretary General
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Margaux DOS SANTOS Communication Officer
Fatma Bade ÇIMEN Secretary
Goal 1. Social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities Through this goal and the objectives that subsides it, we wanted to continue to involve in our activities young people with fewer opportunities, youth workers and social workers and to keep the focus on creating opportunities for young people with fewer opportunities to participate in international youth work activities. • Objective 1. Creation of a definition of social inclusion and young people with fewer opportunities inside Y-E-N • Objective 2. Direct work with young people with fewer opportunities on local and international level • Objective 3. Direct work with social workers and youth workers who work with young people with fewer opportunities • Objective 4. Cooperation with other institutions and organisations who work on social inclusion of young people
VISION 2020 Following the decision of the General Assembly of Youth Express Network held in Ostia, Italy in June 2013 to research the needs of our member organisations and the young people they work with, the Board decided to create a questionnaire. In September 2013, we asked our members to complete this questionnaire, assess the needs of the youth of their country, and propose topics that Y-E-N should focus on tackling in the future. During Youth Express Network’s Board meetings in Strasbourg in November 2013 and in Gdansk in March 2014, the Board members compiled and worked on all the input from member organisations, the results from the General Assembly working groups and past strategic documents and produced a paper called “Vision 2020”.
Goal 2. Active societies towards social inclusion Through this goal and the objectives that subsides it, we wanted to focus our attention to the outside, towards the communities that we live in, towards our societies. We want them to be aware of the disadvantaged young people and to react towards social inclusion. • Objective 1. Raising awareness about the issue of socially excluded young people • Objective 2. Advocacy and lobbying for social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities at local and European levels • Objective 3. Advocacy and lobbying for recognition of youth work and non-formal learning • Objective 4. Communities take action
This strategic document sets our goals until 2020. It is updated each year at the General Assembly and approved by vote by the attending members. The “Vision 2020” paper is founded on the values of human and social rights and the principles of non-formal education, active participation and interculturality. It helps us bring more impact and quality to our work while maintaining the focus on social inclusion of young people. The following version was approved by member’s vote during the General Assembly of 2019, in BERLIN, Germany. It was implemented through the activities and initiatives of Y-E-N and our member organisations in 2020.
Goal 3. Strong network Through this goal and the objectives that subsides it, we wanted to focus our attention towards the inside of our network. In order to be able to reach all of our goals and objectives we need to be a stronger network, a network where the quality of our activities is high, where we share experience and competences and where we can collaborate with each other. • Objective 1. Increasing the sense of belonging for our member organisations • Objective 2. Expending the network geographically in order to reach more young people • Objective 3. Building the capacity of our member organisations • Objective 4. Improving the quality of Y-E-N services • Objective 5. Improving the visibility of the network • Objective 6. Improving the sustainability and financial stability of the network.
Y-E-N Vision 2020 Inclusive society for young people « Youth Express Network considers inclusive a society where young people, their needs, rights and participation are recognised, valued and appreciated » Goals When establishing the goals to our vision we decided to work on 3 different levels that we identified in our strategy: young people with fewer opportunities, society and our network. We turned the 3 levels into 3 different goals, each of them having different objectives focusing on reaching the needs identified by our member organisations. Every goal has specific activities through which we will reach the goal and fulfill our vision.
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STAYING IN TOUCH WITH OUR MEMBERS
CANCELLED DUE TO THE COVID-19
ALL youth organisations faced new challenges amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Solidarity continued, or tried its best, in various forms, with adaptation, innovation... To keep in touch with our member organisations and map some of the different realities of Youth NGOs around Europe, we asked our members to send us news. We shared some of their realities through 6 articles published on our website and social media.
STUDY SESSION « SOCIAL RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS III »
Y-E-N ACTIVITIES
This Study Session was co-organised with Youth Social Rights Network and the Yo u t h Department of the Council of Europe, and foreseen for 14th - 20th June 2020 in the European Youth Center of Strasbourg.
These articles showed a variety of ideas, actions, difficulties, successes that youth NGOs faced or experienced under this context. Find these articles on our website youthexpressnetwork.org.
It was unfortunately cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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2 - Communication for youth organisations
NETWORK CALLS
Another Network Call was entitled « Hey Comm' Friends! - Connecting communication officers of Youth Organisations ». Whether they were volunteering or employed by their NGO, we invited any member in charge of the communication of their youth organisation to join Y-E-N’s communication officer for an informal discussion! Together, they shared their tips and struggles, from working on tight budgets to choosing the right social media platform! This Network Call took place on the 30th of October.
The pandemic directly impacted European youth mobility: less planes, less opportunities for young people, youth workers and youth organisations to gather and work together offline. Many of Y-E-N’s planned projects and partnerships were either postponed or cancelled so we too had to find a way to adapt our work and maintain the activity of the Network. To do so, we launched the Network Calls.
3 - Sustainable offices
With the Network Call, we invited the Y-E-N community to gather online, as we would do for a coffee break. We wanted to spark informal discussions and collaboration around topics linked to youth work and youth organisations.
For this last Network Call of 2020, we were joined by Lari Schinteie from the Sustainable Babes. Through their initiative, the Sustainable Babes aim at raising awareness on the climate crisis and educating people on their power as consumers.
1 - European youth work and the pandemic We held the first edition of the “Network Call” on the 2nd of October. It was entitled « No plane, no work? – Youth Work and Solidarity: from international to local level during Coronavirus ».
This online meeting was held on the 16th of November. We divided the content into 7 parts and presented various ideas on easy ways to implement sustainable habits at the work place. The categories were: advices on how to start ; transportation ; waste and electricity ; digital pollution ; paper and communication ; lunch and coffee break ; events.
The discussion focused on the effect that the global pandemic had on young people and youth work. Our special guest for this Network Call was Özgehan Şenyuva, Youth Researcher and former Vice-President of Y-E-N.
From the content of this online conference, we developed a « How-to Guide » including all of the efficient alternatives we mentioned. You can find it on our website, on our Library.
Most findings shared during this online meeting where the results of the research conducted by RAY Network. Videos of our Network Calls on Youtube.
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NEW WEBSITE Our coordination office, based in Strasbourg, France, had to comply with the measures that the French government implemented to avoid the spreading of the virus. The lockdowns and decreased amount of offline youth projects allowed an unexpected opportunity for our communication officer to fully focus on the renewal of our Website. The previous website presented numerous issues: it was heavy in data, contained some vague and repeated informations, translation and grammar mistakes, the navigation was not very instinctive and its overall appearance didn’t fit our identity anymore. The main task of our communication officer consisted in restructuring, « resizing » and rewriting the majority of its content, thus ensuring a fresher, lighter and more clear website. Any visitor would need to understand quickly the mission, values and work of Youth Express Network. More modern and easier to navigate through, our new home on the internet is now matching our identity more accurately! Its weight in data was lowered to a third of its original size. Visit the final result at youthexpressnetwork.org and find there all there is to know about Youth Express Network!
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CIRCULAR ECONOMY FOR YOUTH (CEYOU) Since 2020, Y-E-N is partnering with Pontydysgu, an organisation from the United Kingdom, and 4 other NGOs in a KA2 on Circular Economy. One of the results of this partnership will be a toolkit on “How to educate young people about circular economy”. It is supported by Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. Although the partners were able to gather in Athens for a first transnational meeting between the 12th and 15th of January, the project had to adapt in light of the rise of the global pandemic, and replace the gatherings by online meetings. Online calls happened at 6 separate occasions for regular updates, and an online transnational meeting was organised on the 5th and 6th of October.
PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES
In the frame of CEYOU, Y-E-N worked at local level and with local partners: we got in contact and worked with Patchworkers, a local organisation working in the field of ethical clothing and social entrepreneurship, and we implemented 2 web conferences in French, together with 3 other local organisations: one on sustainable and circular fashion, and the other on eco-anxiety.
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MARSA PROJECT (Move Against Rash Statements and Actions)
OPEN SPACE FOR YOUTH This partnership is a Euro-Mediterranean cooperation between the three twin cities Stuttgart, Strasbourg and Menzel-Bourguiba, Supported by the Franco-German Youth Office (FGYO). 3 youth organisations work together within this project: Stadtjugendring Stuttgart from Stuttgart, Youth Express Network from Strasbourg, and Attabedol from Tunisia. It aims at promoting youth participation, citizenship and solidarity through the transformation of a public square in Menzel-Bourguiba.
The KA2 MARSA Project started in September 2018 and ended in April 2020. It aimed at countering uninformed opinions about migration through a creative and youth-friendly social media campaign of public education on the topics of migration and media literacy. Youth Express Network was mainly in charge of the French Facebook page of the campaign. In the frame of the MARSA Project, in 2020, Y-E-N collaborated with students from the ISCOM school of communication and publicity, who contributed to the French social media campaign and produced various social media posts, memes and 2 videos.
In 2020, the partners were supposed to host two youth exchanges and a seminar for youth professional, but all three of these events were adapted and postponed to 2021. A virtual youth exchange, a physical youth exchange in Stuttgart and a virtual short Study Visit/ Seminar for youth workers should happen in 2021, if the global situation allows it.
Y-E-N also presented the MARSA Project to young people as part of the final dissemination of the project. The MARSA Project was supported by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.
MINGLE AND EXPLORE HUMAN RIGHTS IN EUROPE This project coordinated by Amaro Foro e.V. (Germany) aims to engage young leaders, especially Roma and marginalized youth to promote and work on democracy and human rights, and to become active and assertive citizens. Youth exchanges were supposed to take place in 2020 but they were postponed to 2021 due to the global pandemic. The project is supported by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.
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YOUTH FORUM ACADEMY
15th-21st of June - 105 participants Our coordination office followed this seminar held by the European Youth Forum for managers and communication officers of Youth NGOs. WEBINAR ON DIGITAL TOOLS 29th of October - 25 participants Our coordination office participated in this webinar to learn more digital tools, useful for facilitating an online conference or video meeting.
REPRESENTATION AND PARTICIPATION
ONLINE EUROPEAN YOUTH EVENT April-May
The first series of EYE Online events took place between early April and end of May 2020 offering a variety of activities focusing on trending topics.
ASFAR DIGITAL TALK
16th of September - 34 participants We talked about youth work during the pandemic on the podcast of our member organisation ASFAR.
ERASMUS DAYS
15th-17th of October
YFJ GENERAL ASSEMBLY
We raised awareness on youth participation as part of the Erasmus Days web campaign.
Our Board Members took part in the General Assembly of the YFJ. Our statute of full member allowed us to vote for the key decisions of the GA, including the election of the YFJ new board and additional member organisations.
EUROPEAN WEEK OF WASTE REDUCTION
20th-22nd of November
21st-29th of November
We took part in the web campaign EWWR. Two of our online workshops were labeled EWWR.
SEMINAR « ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE » RE-ENTER CONSULTATIVE E-MEETING
23rd-27th of November - 60 participants
27th-28th of MAY - 20 participants
This training was organised by the Youth Department of the Council of Europe.
Organised by the Council of Europe to identify the key focus and learning features for the 4th edition of the Enter! Long-term training course.
EUROPEAN YOUTH WORK CONVENTION
WEBINAR NETIQUETTE 23rd of July - 20 participants
Webinar of our Member organisation PRONI on the correct behaviour to follow during meetings online.
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7th-10th of December - 1000 participants
The 3rd EYWC served as the kick-off event for implementing the European Youth Work Agenda.
TRAINING « VIOLENCE IN THE LANGUAGE » 9th of December - 40 participants
This training was organised by the Youth Department of the Council of Europe.
CROSS-BORDER YOUTH SEMINAR 15th of February - 60 participants
« Study on the co-construction of shared ambitions » Organised by the Grand Est region and the Upper-Rhine conference, this seminar aimed at presenting the results of a study conducted on 1403 young people of the UpperRhine region.
TRINATIONAL YOUTH FORUM IN BASEL 3rd of September - 60 participants
CROSS-BORDER AND LOCAL WORK
Young people aged 18 to 29 from France, Germany and Switzerland were invited to exchange their views, hopes and concerns with their peers and decision makers.
PASSE-PARTOUT - DIGITAL GAME 24th of Sept., 7th of Oct., 1st of Dec. 100 participants
This project (www.mon-passepartout.eu), financially supported by Interreg, was awarded in 2020 winner of the EGTC Award “Building Europe Across Borders”.
TRINATIONAL WEBINAR ON YOUTH EXCHANGES 7th-8th of December - 50 participants
Exchange organised by the OFAJ DFJW on the opportunities and challenges of trinational youth exchanges with the Maghreb.
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5 ONLINE CONFERENCES ON ECO-FRIENDLY HABITS November - December 186 participants
Organised at the initiative of La Recyclerie (Amitel), these events received the support of the municipality of Strasbourg. They were developed in partnership with Youth Express Network and 2 other local partners: les Petits Débrouillards and les Défricheurs. The episodes were dedicated to the following topics: watersaving, learning how to understand labels, ecofriendly fashion, eco-anxiety and plastic pollution.
COACHING OF YOUTH NGOs 5 local youth organisations
Youth Express Network supported and shared advices and council to 5 local NGOs.
BOARD MEETINGS
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
• 16-19 of January 2020, Strasbourg • 23 of April 2020 - Online • 11 of June 2020 - Online • 29 of July 2020 - Online • 18 of September 2020 - Online • 21 of September 2020 - Online • 02 of December 2020 - Online
STATUTORY MEETINGS
For the first time and because of the global pandemic, our General Assembly of 2020 was held online through video chat and all membership fees were paid via bank transfer. The meeting was held on the 27th of August. There were in total 24 people attending the meeting, among which 15 represented member organisations. The attending member organisations voted on and approved various administrative documents, elected 3 board members and welcomed 2 new member organisations: Asfar is an NGO based in the UK and aiming at providing opportunities to Young People in the UK and the Middle East.
• 13 of December 2020 - Online
Yeghvard Youth Ecological NGO is based in Armenia and focuses on promoting environmental awareness and appreciation.
Election of Board Members
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Ramiz Aliyev – President (reelected)
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Elene Kapanadze – Board Member (newly elected)
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Lilia Mnatsakanyan – Board Member (newly elected)
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Andrea Pantarelli – Vice President
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Olya Khvasevich- Treasurer
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Fatma Bade Çimen – Secretary
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Adina Halilović – Board Member
KEEPING BUSY ONE STEP AT A TIME Due to the uncertainty of the year 2021 (pandemic / closing of borders), the Board of Youth Express Network decided to keep the focus on online activities this year: “Network Calls”, online workshops and webinars will be organised for and with member organisations at least for the first semester 2021. Topics should be: - exchange of online tools to work with young people - working with young people during a pandemic - mental health issues - personal development - career orientation These online activities will be open to our member organisations and their local young people / volunteers / youth workers.
PERSPECTIVES 2021
We hope to be back with offline activities such as our Study Session “Soci@lise: Social Rights in Digital Area” by the second semester 2021, depending on the sanitary situation. This study session is developed in partnership with Connect International and the Youth Department of the Council of Europe. It will aim at exploring and discussing how youth rights, human rights and social rights in general have been affected and transformed in the digital world during the pandemic. It is expected to happen in July 2021 at the European Youth Center of Strasbourg (if the global sanitary situation allows it). We hope to organise our General Assembly 2021 offline as well, and will keep a digital method of voting which was successful during our first online GA.
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This report was designed by Margaux DOS SANTOS from the coordination office of Youth Express Network.
It shows all the different aspects of our activities in 2020. It does not represent the official point of view of our funders.
RESEAU EXPRESS JEUNES YOUTH EXPRESS NETWORK Maison des Associations 1a Place des Orphelins 67000 Strasbourg France
Tel: +33 (0)3 88 35 37 45 Email: com@youthexpressnetwork.org Website: youthexpressnetwork.org
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