Every aspect of their work, involving governance, and policy-making can be found in the following article, so please feel free to have a look.
YMCA Europe General Assembly & World Council
At the beginning of the month the General Assembly of YMCA Europe and the YMCA World Council took place in Aarhus, Denmark!
The Brussels team was present to support the facilitation of the events together with the rest of the staff and to coordinate and exchange with other representatives of the movement.
Working meeting in Brussels
The joint initiative between World YMCA and YMCA Europe to attract more EU funding to strengthen the Movement further advanced this month.
We were delighted to have Razvan Sassu, Head of Strategy & Policy at World YMCA visiting our Brussels office for two full days, working together with our Secretary General Juan Simoes Iglesias and our Project Manager and Proposal Writer Jessica Woitalla (who recently joined our team) on a comprehensive action plan for the next months.
Working Group on Digital Rights
The Working Group on Digital Rights of our Youth Policy Group has finalized the position paper on Digitalisation they drafted together with the European Youth Forum (YFJ)!
The Working Group is one of several YPG-subgroups that specialize in forming positions and expertise regarding specific topics to represent on behalf of Youth in the YMCA.
As the next steps the YFJ will now vote on some final amendments to then take the positions of our Youth into the external meetings with MEPs, Commission representatives, and other committees related to the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Digital Services Act, the right to repair, political advertising, and other legislations regarding digital rights. The position paper will be published once the YFJ Board has taken their final vote.
After this process the Working Group is now collecting ideas for our internal Digital Strategy which is being developed by the YMCA Executive Committee.
Launch of new Working Group on Youth Participation to draft European Charter on Youth and Democracy
This month the Youth Policy Group (YPG) with the support of our staff team has launched a Call for a new Working Group on Youth Participation to take part in the drafting of the European Charter for Youth and Democracy.
As YMCA we have been invited to consult in the development of this Charter which is being created by the European Committee of the Regions and the European Youth Forum. The Charter will strive to build and consolidate a youth friendly democratic space to ensure the voices of young people are formally, continuously and permanently represented in the European Union.
In the drafting process we will have the opportunity to contribute through online participatory tools such as submitting proposals and amendments throughout September, as well as to apply for a final in-person consultation in Brussels in October. The final document will then be presented to decision-makers in the European Institutions in December.
Organic Governance
We are now taking further steps in the last period of our Organic Governance project as we are finalizing the collection of the project results, survey, articles and best practices in an Organic Governance Manual.
AlwaysON for Youth
Our Brussels and general staff team has attended the management team's meeting for the Transnational Projects Meeting (TPM) of the "AlwaysON for Youth" Project Consortium.
The TPM will take place in the scenic town of Bansko, Bulgaria, and the main topics discussed touched upon the dynamics of the training program, management of the TPM, and logistical details regarding the sessions that will happen in September.
We are inviting youth workers to register for the International Training Course: "Digital Youth Work" to be held rrom the 31st of August to 8th of September. The training program will engage 30 youth workers from EU countries.
They will benefit from a comprehensive digital youth work course hosted in Bansko, Bulgaria, developing both their topic-related skills in an intercultural context, as well as having the opportunity to co-create innovation labs improving the Intellectual Outputs of the project.
The Call and registration form is available .
Membership Mapping on EU Public Funding
In preparation for the next rounds of EU public funding, particularly Erasmus+, the Brussels team has launched a mapping initiative with representatives from the National Movements to further identify commonalities, strengths, and opportunities we as an Area can leverage regarding this funding source.
Keep an eye out on your inbox with an email from the Project Manager and Proposal Writer asking you to participate!
Funding Coordination Network
The Brussels team met with members from the Funding Coordination Network facilitated by the European Youth Forum (YFJ) for the monthly meeting to discuss various topics related to European Funding.
Topics that were discussed this month were the continued advocacy around operational grants, the upcoming Erasmus+ Work Program, and YFJ/European Youth Foundation (EYE) training days.
As always it was great to connect with other international/European youth civil society organizations on topics important to the sector!
