YES Meeting
On 20 June the Youth Empowerment Space of YMCA (YES) met together with representatives of our Programme Groups such as the Youth Policy Group, Christian Orientation Group, European Ten Sing, European Working Group on Refugees, and European Scouting & Jungschar Group.
The representatives shared the key focus and current actions of their group and had space to exchange and coordinate between each other. The Meeting was part of our long-term goal to strengthen YES and promote a stronger communication between youth on the European level.
Homebase Camp
From the 3rd to the 6th June the yearly Homebase of YMCA Germany took place at the Himmelsfels-Camp in Spangenberg!
In this camp young people who have completed an international voluntary service through YMCA Germany meet up to reflect back on their experiences and to have an outlook for actions in their own communities after coming back. They also bring a diverse mix of workshops related to civic engagement into the Camp depending on their current involvement and interests.
We participated in this camp to connect youth on the national level with broader regional and international activities and to strengthen our advocacy pillar. As such participants talked about topics such as the Vision 2030, anti-racism, digital rights or mental health.
Advocacy & Youth Policy Group
This month the Youth Policy Group has been working on finalising its new Strategy. During the process they have been meeting to discuss a better division of work and a clear purpose for the group. As part of the Strategy the YPG is setting up working groups for specific advocacy topics based on the priorities of YMCA and the interests of participants.
A small group of people has already started working on the topic of Digital Rights that is connected to YMCAs project #AlwaysOn for Youth and the report on Digital Inclusion. The working group is now accompanying the writing process of a position paper on Digital Rights in the European Youth Forum. In the following months further working groups will be developed and will start working on more specific issues.
European Youth Forum
Our staff and members of the Youth Policy Group have taken part in different dialogues, meetings, and events with the European Youth Forum and external stakeholders.
At the beginning of June they joined a consultation with the Youth Forum and the High-level Group on Social Protection and Welfare of the European Commission regarding the Social Rights Action Plan. The goal of the Meeting was to get first-hand insights of Youth Organisations on the necessities of Young People in the Labour Market and regarding Social Security Systems.
They further joined the kick-off meeting of a new Interest Group on Youth Rights of the European Youth Forum which has the purpose to develop a position paper on the need for and content of an UN Youth Rights Convention.
Recently, YMCA representatives participated in a Meeting of the Youth, Peace, and Security Coordination Network (YPS) of the Youth Forum where they discussed how to implement the YPS Agenda among member organisations. A representative from Albania further gave an overview of the impact of the war in Ukraine on the understanding of security in the Balkan region and the group discussed how to mitigate the effects of the war in Europe.
European Year of Youth
This month we joined the 5th Stakeholder Meeting of the European Year of Youth, as well as a Webinar and Dialogue on the current challenges of Youth in our society together with representatives from the European Commission, European Economic and Social Committee, Committee of the Regions, Eurofund, European Citizen Action Service, and the International Labour Organisation.
In the meetings they spoke about different relevant topics such as the equal treatment of young people in the labour market, youth participation or access to education.
Within this framework YMCA further participated in the 2nd Meet-up of the Bonn Process which refers to the agreement on the European Youth Work Agenda and the 3rd European Youth Work Convention established by the Council of Europe. The main goal of the agenda is to expand and provide quality youth work in Europe and to make it a visible and strong part of society.
At the end of the month representatives of YMCA joined a dialogue and networking event in the European Parliament on making Erasmus+ a more sustainable and accessible program for young people by introducing special offers and infrastructure for green and economic transport.
Projects
Over this last month, the YMCA has been working on various collaborations with private sector partners on potential projects to assist with the humanitarian response to the Ukraine crisis.
Pop the Bubble
YMCA took part in the “Pop the Bubble” event hosted by the European Platform on Learning Mobility and JINT. The event was part of a campaign to boost and foster quality learning mobility projects after the pandemic.
We learned about new quality tools that can aid in the creation and evaluation of projects as well as attended a breakout session on digital transformation and mental health and well-being.
Meeting Funding Coordination Network
YMCA representatives had an important meeting with the members of the Funding Coordination Network from the European Youth Forum (YFJ) to discuss how best International/European Youth NGOs can take a collective position together towards increasing funding support from the European Union in the youth sector.
It was a very productive meeting and the YMCA looks forward to future cooperation with this group.
Meeting with JINT Representative
This last month the YMCA met with a representative from JINT, the National Agency for the Erasmus+: Youth in Action and the European Solidarity Corps programmes for the Flemish Community in Belgium, to explore various funding opportunities under Key Action 1 and the European Solidarity Corps.
It was a very fruitful first conversion and the start of an encouraging partnership that we believe can aid us in achieving our mission and increasing our impact.
Over the last days of June YMCA representatives took part in the 2nd Meet-Up of the Bonn Process which refers to the agreement on the European Youth Work Agenda and the 3rd European Youth Work Convention in Bonn, established by the Council of Europe.
The main goal of the agenda is to expand and provide quality youth work in Europe and to make it a visible and strong part of society. During the Meet-Up YMCA took part in different working groups and dialogues with representatives from the European Commission and the Council of Europe to develop a policy framework that supports the youth work sector on a structural level and considers it as a tool when implementing youth policies.
In the conversations we also discussed how to specifically strengthen youth workers and youth organisations affected by the war in Ukraine.
