From 29 to 31 August about 45 representatives from National Youth Councils, International Youth NGOs (IYNGOs), the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe, and the Council of Europe (CoE) gathered at the European Youth Centre in Budapest, Hungary, for the Summer University on Youth Policy. The objective was to learn from each other about youth polices, exchange best practices and discuss the implementation of youth policies within the member states of the CoE. EFIL was represented at this event by the member of the EFIL Pool of Representatives Lukas Findeisen (AFS Germany), who also follows the development of youth policies within the European Union, through the process of EU structured dialogue with young people. Read Lukas’ impressions here.
The event was hosted by the European Steering Committee [1]for Youth (CDEJ) which brings together representatives of ministries or bodies responsible for youth matters from the 50 States parties to the European Cultural Convention. The CDEJ fosters co-operation between governments in the youth sector and provides a framework for comparing national youth policies, exchanging best practices and drafting standard-setting texts.
The main topics were the challenges for national states regarding youth policies due to the differences in local realities. For example in Finland[2] each year 86.5 million Euros are invested in the youth department, while in many countries it is unclear what the budget is. As an outcome a list of indicators was developed and discussed to be presented to Member states. The indicators are not binding and based on a self-assessment approach.
As EFIL we contributed through the international perspectives on youth policies and our experience in youth mobility.
[1] http://www.coe.int/en/web/youth/cdej
[2] http://www.youthpolicy.org/
For more information contact elisa.briga@afs.org