he conference “Youth for Sustainable Development” took place in Brussels 25-27 September. Around 50 participants gathered for a conference organised by JEF (Young European Federalist) in the framework of the LADDER Project to discuss about the Sustainable Development Goals, the challenges for their implementation and opportunities for democracy.
European Pool of Representatives member Lukas Findeisen represented EFIL in the conference and share his experience here.
During the last week of September around 50 participants gathered for a conference organised by JEF (Young European Federalist) in the framework of the LADDER Project to discuss about the Sustainable Development Goals, the challenges for their implementation and opportunities for democracy.
The conferenced open with an open discussion about the background of the Sustainable Development Goals with a small input by SDG Watch, the European Commission as well as Allianssi – a Finnish NGO working closely with the SDGs. This first meeting was followed by another discussion with the Policy Officer of the European Commission Martin Heather who presented the commission approach to sustainable development on an international level.
The day ended with either a visit to the European house of history or the Parlamentarium.
The second day focused more on the practical part. In a non-formal setting the “civic tec” company D21 presented a approach to promote democratic tools for schools in order to sustainably foster participation. Afterwards two session of parallel workshops invited the participants to learn more about ECAS (European Citizen Action Service) and a digital dashboard for citizenship, Youthmetre as an approach to collect information about youth, ESN (Erasmus student network) about Youth mobility and EFIL about equal opportunities for volunteering.
Lukas and Jero (member of the EFIL European Pool of Trainers)
The final third day focused on active political discussion with a plenary discussion having the European Youth Forum, the president of the young European Federalist and the vice-president of the young European socialist present. Topics discussed focused on social justice, inequality the idea of a federalist Europe and the sustainable development goals as an opportunity in this context.
Eventually, everyone enjoyed lunch in a calm atmosphere to reflect about the conference and have final discussions – a great thanks to JEF for organising this event!
For more information contact elisa.briga@afs.org