Youth Advisory Committee

What is YAC?

EFIL is committed to promoting the active participation of citizens, especially young people (aged 18-30), who form the vital volunteer base of the EFIL Network. To strengthen youth involvement in the organisation’s decision-making process, the EFIL General Assembly unanimously approved the creation of the Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) in June 2025. The YAC’s core purpose is to ensure the perspectives and insights of young people are actively integrated into EFIL’s work, particularly reflecting the objectives of the 2026-2028 strategy.

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What the YAC Does

The YAC serves as a crucial advisory body with several key roles:

  • Provide Input: Deliver youth perspectives on selected subjects upon request from the General Assembly, Board of Directors, and/or the Secretary General.
  • Inform Board Work: Be actively considered by the EFIL Board for input in specific areas of work as part of their work plan.
  • Suggest Actions: Propose relevant topics, actions, and input for EFIL’s overall work.
  • Strengthen National Engagement: Support a stronger engagement of EFIL Member Organisations with their National Youth Councils (NYC) to establish a link with EFIL’s advocacy efforts.
EFIL YAC first picture (1)

Composition and Representation

The YAC is composed of a maximum of five (5) members, ensuring a strong link between EFIL’s internal structures and its external youth representation.
The first mandate runs from 1st October 2025 to 30 September 2027.

Contact: [email protected]
Meet the Members of the 1st EFIL Youth Advisory Committee below!

Jorren Almey

AFS Low Lands

Jorren is from from AFS Low Lands, born in Belgium (Flanders) in the lovely city of Ghent. He went on an exchange to France in 2021 and after returning, he got involved with his local chapter, first helping to recruit new AFS students and later becoming active at the national level, mainly supporting host students. He has been president of his local chapter since 2023 and became a Qualified Facilitator in 2024.
In 2024, he was also part of the support team during the PEACE Camp. In addition, he represents his AFS organisation in the National Youth Council and he’s a member of the Youth Panel at EYCA, where he work on various policy projects and collaborate closely with the board.

Tom Ketelhut 

AFS Germany

Tom’s volunteer journey started 2018 on a local level. Since then he has gradually taken over roles with more responsibility and facilitated various programmes within AFS Germany. As a European Governance student, he has a strong focus on participation and working towards a European community. Recently, he became part of EFIL Youth Advisory Commitee because he believe that we need more young voices in shaping European intercultural exchanges and to foster stronger connections across local, national, and international levels while creating a broader visibility of EFIl on the national level.

Irina Jokanovic

AFS Serbia

Irina did her exchange programme in Italy in 2020/2021. In 2022, she enrolled in the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, International Law module. She has been a member of the United Nations Association of Serbia; she participated in the Belgrade Model United Nations (BIMUN) twice and has been part of its organisational team, becoming head of the UNFPA committee in 2023. Since returning from her exchange, she has volunteered with AFS and, from 2024, has been the coordinator of the local chapter in Belgrade. She is also part of the EFIL European Pool of Trainers (EPOT). She joined the PEACE camp in 2023 and two Chapex projects in 2022, one in Serbia and one in Iceland, on migration and radicalism. As a volunteer, she has taken on various roles at national events for students, mainly by creating and facilitating workshops.

Andrew Ormsby

EIL/AFS Ireland

Andrew began volunteering with AFS after he received a scholarship from AFS Ireland in 2015 to study abroad in Switzerland for a trimester, as part of the EFIL ECTP programme (now PEACE). Since then, he has been engaged at a local, national and international level as a facilitator, mentor, trainer, representative and board member, working to promote active global citizenship and intercultural learning. Andrew has been very involved with EFIL activities as a participant and team member at multiple international events, such as the PEACE camp and the VSS, and he is a member of the European Pool of Trainers. From the 1st of January 2026, Andrew is representing EFIL at the European Youth Forum, and is a co-opted member of the YAC.

Josef Burker

AFS Austria

Josef started his AFS journey with a trimester exchange to France with the (then) ECTP programme in 2014. Afterwards, he has been engaged in EFIL, national and regional structures as volunteer, trainer, camp organizer, city committee vice-chair and currently national board member of AFS Austria, in an effort to promote intercultural learning and creating spaces for youth activism. At the same time, he represented his student constituents in faculty and university student unions in three mandates. His journey through AFS continues starting 2026 as member of the Council of Europe’s Advisory Council on Youth, after having been EFIL’s co-representative to the European Youth Forum.