EU agreement on future budget and the new programme for youth and education
The negotiations on the EU budget for 2014-2020 (amounting to 960 billion euros) have been concluded and the European Parliament will soon vote on the deal.
The negotiations on the new programme for youth and education were also concluded and it is decided that it will be called “Erasmus+”. The total budget (including education, training, youth and sports) will amount to 16 billion euro and aims to reach four million people over the next seven year (to compare with the 19 billion euros and five million people reached proposed in 2011 by the European Commission). 77,5 % of the budget should go to education and training and 10 % to youth.
To read more about the budget deal, please click here.
To read more about the “Erasmus+” programme, please click here.
European leaders agree on more efforts to combat youth unemployment
The European Council agreed on June 28th on its conclusions, where much focus was on the struggle against youth unemployment. Regarding the Youth Employment Initiative, it was agreed upon that the EU regions where youth unemployment rates are higher than 25% will be the first to receive the disbursements adding up to six billion euro (to be spent between 2014 and 2016). For this to happen, the beneficiary member states have to have adopted plans to tackle youth unemployment by the end of this year. Also, member states are encouraged to use part of their allocations from the European Social Fund to support cross-border mobility schemes.
To read the European Council conclusions, please click here.
Council conclusions on youth work
The Council adopted in May its conclusions on “the contribution of quality youth work to the development, well-being and social inclusion of young people” in which it is stated that “Youth work should have a clearly defined position on the continuum of education and lifelong learning and spanning the areas of non-formal and informal learning”.
In the conclusions, recommendations are set out to the Member States and the European Commission to support youth work through various actions, including the setting up of a thematic work group exploring how common indicators or frameworks may be developed within the field of youth work quality systems.
To read the press release, please click here.
Montenegro joins the Lifelong Learning Programme
On 24 May 2013, Montenegro signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing its full participation, for the budget year 2013, in all the actions of the Lifelong Learning Programme which are not managed by National Agencies (except eTwinning).
Albania may join the programme in the coming weeks, subject to a decision of its Government authorising the signature of such an MoU. Bosnia and Herzegovina opted for participation in 2014 only, in the future Erasmus+.
For more information, please click here.
YES Forum Activities & Member’s Activities
Review: YES Forum General Assembly 03-05/06 2013, Cracow, Poland
In June 2013, YES Forum members gathered in the city of Cracow for the annual General Assembly. The event was hosted by Polish organisation IB Polska. As the dramatic consequences of austerity measures for youth work are being seen and felt by our members throughout Europe, the focus of the Assembly was on “To fight youth poverty and unemployment and the role of social and youth work.” We received a thorough background and insights into the Polish situation by our keynote speakers and during our panel discussion as well as by our study visits to two NGOs working with young people. We also shared with each other what the situation looks like for our organisations and in our respective communities and countries. Inspired by all these activities, the participants came up with contributions to a position paper.
A new board was also elected for the next two years taking effect from June 2013. The new board will comprise of: Sterenn Coudray, Daniel Grebeldinger, Päivi Lester and Mirco Trielli were voted into the board. To read more about the Assembly please click here.
EuropeMobility for all – new newsletter and final conference invitation
The project EuropeMobility for all, focusing on mobility for young people with fewer opportunities has launched its May newsletter. The theme of the newsletter is on preparations before a mobility action and here you may find useful tips and the first part of an inspiring success story. On the homepage of the project you may find even more practical tips and material for inspiration.
The project will end with a final conference taking place on September 18th in Örebro, Sweden, with insights from young participants in mobility actions, practitioners and high-level representatives as well as workshops, to discuss and plan future ventures and cooperation within the area of mobility.
To read the invitation to the final conference, please click here. To download the registration form, please click here.
NEWS ON THE TTMIRO GRUNDTVIG PROJECT: How do inequalities work in the adult learners classroom?
The project TTMIRO – Training Trainers for Migrants and Roma has successfully completed two of its milestone events: the Training Course that took place in Athens in January 2013 and the Event on quality assurance in adult education in Brussels in March 2013. Both the events brought together trainers, adult teachers, counsellors and trainers of trainers from the UK, Germany, Belgium, Greece and Romania. The exchange of experience and ideas gave valuable input to the project’s coming product, that is a set of training modules targeting trainers and aiming at familiarising them with learning processes of learners having different backgrounds.
In its present stage of development the project focuses on the rather hidden aspects of inequality mechanisms: are they indeed evidenced in the everyday practice of adult learning and training across Europe or is it just a phenomenon that sociologists can only study on the macro-level? The partners would welcome your contribution so please don’t hesitate to share with them your comments and opinions!
More information are available on the website: http://www.ttmiro.eu/
European Antibullying Network (EAN)
The 2nd EAN project meeting was organised on 15th and 16th May it in Liverpool. The partners had the opportunity to discuss about the actions taken place during the first phase of the project’s implementation and work on the next steps planned for the second phase, May – September 2013.
The meeting’s agenda included the evolution of the 3 project work streams and how the partners need to proceed in order to be sufficiently prepared for the 3rd EAN meeting that is to be organised on 24th and 25th September in Palermo. It is envisaged to launch the campaign for the establishment of the European Antibullying Day during this meeting. The 4th EAN meeting will be organised in Stuttgart, taking place on 22nd and 23rd January 2014.
To read more about the Liverpool meeting, please click here.
Project News: VAPE
The third issue of the VAPE Newsletter is now available. In this issue you will find a success story from the UK and a country report about volunteering in Finland.
To read the newsletter, please click here.
Call for partners: Youth Democracy Project proposal
Our YES Forum member, Barnardo’s, is looking for partners interested in a Youth in Action funded project. The project aims to enable disadvantaged young people and care leavers aged 16-25 years to develop their own understanding of how politics affects their lives, with particular emphasis on access to education, training and employment.
It is planned to submit the application on 1 October. Interested partners should contact Carla Franchi as by 15 July. To read more information about the project idea, please click here.
Calls for Proposals, Conferences and Training
Call for proposals EACEA/12/2013: Action 4.3 — Support to Youth Workers’ Mobility
The purpose of this call for proposals is to support youth workers’ mobility and exchanges with a view to promoting the acquisition of new skills and competences.
By promoting long-term transnational learning experiences for youth workers, this action will also aim at strengthening the capacities of the structures involved in the project, which will benefit from the experience and new perspective brought by a youth worker from a different background. In doing so, this call will enhance networking among youth structures in Europe and will contribute to the policy priority to support, recognise and professionalise youth work as a cross-cutting policy tool in Europe. The deadline for submission of projects is 10 September 2013.
The full call for proposals can be found here.
Call for proposals EACEA/06/2013: Action 4.6 — Partnerships
This call for proposals aims at supporting partnerships with regional or local public bodies or other stakeholders active in the youth sector at European level in order to develop over the long-term projects which combine various measures of the Youth in Action Programme.
This mechanism aims at encouraging synergies and cooperation between the European Commission – via the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency – and the different actors working in the field of youth by pooling resources and practices with a view to maximising the impact of the Programme and to reaching out to a higher number of beneficiaries. The project must include activities of a non-profit-making nature that are related to the field of youth and non-formal education. Applications must be submitted on 5 September 2013.
For more details, please click here.
Other News
Launch of the new European Youth Portal
The European Commission has made public the new European Youth Portal. It provides information and details of opportunities across all eight themes of the EU Youth Strategy. The portal contains feature articles, news items and events, with information at a European level and for all 33 countries that are part of the European Union’s “Youth in Action Programme”. Visitors are encouraged to take part in an online survey through the website to give their feedback on how the site could be improved for the future.
To visit the portal, please click here.
Study on “Youth Participation in Democratic life”
The study realised by the London School of Economics is now made available online by the European Commission. It shows growing dissatisfaction among young people with the way politics work. Young people want to participate in political life and also request more information about politics and elections and consider specific institutional settings that could improve their participation and representation.
To read the study, please click here.
