SALTO-Youth Participation - EuroMed Youth Programme IV

FOREWORD
Youth
on
the
Move
SALTO-Youth
Participation
coordinator
As I’m writing these lines, the schools
are ready to re-open their doors for children
all around Europe. A new school
year is starting and I’m wondering if
these young people who are carrying
their school bags in the streets of the
European Capital are anxious for their
future or are they more optimistic and
thinking that the World is theirs and
that the sky is their limit It’s difficult
to get a definite answer as the realities
are so complex and diverse. However,
and generally speaking, we can
notice that European countries which
have been fairly prosperous for a long
time are now facing huge challenges due
to the economic crisis and the need to
adapt to a rapidly changing World. If
we refer to the statistics, young people
seem to be more vulnerable as, for
instance, more than 5.5 million young
people in the EU under 25 were unemployed
in December 2009 and one in
five young people live in risk of Poverty.
The European Union is trying to tackle
this issue by setting up a strategy to
promote smart and sustainable growth 1
with a specific focus on youth, through
the flagship “Youth on the Move”,
which defines young people as “human
capital” which needs specific investment.
Furthermore, the renewed European
framework 2 for cooperation in the
youth field is intending both to propose
measures to overcome difficulties such as
poverty and unemployment and to raise
awareness of the importance of young
people as a capital resource for the future.
In this context, youth work and
non formal education are acknowledged
and further promoted. So, their recognition
seems to be going a step further !
To support this reflective work, the
projects presented in this issue illustrate
very well the potential of the
Youth in Action projects in implementing
the specific objectives set up
in the new EU strategy for Youth.
Indeed, through Youth Initiative
and Youth Democracy projects, youth
groups from different countries have
been able to develop activities close to
their concerns, and which have also resulted
in some concrete achievements in
the fields of participation, social inclusion
and creativity. For instance, some
projects were aimed at making young
people’s voices heard during the elections,
another was encouraging creativity
through the use of youth media,
and another provided training opportunities
for young people to obtain new
skills which can support their employability
and entrepreneurial spirit.
Furthermore, the support measures
implemented by different stakeholders,
such as National Agencies, also have
their importance in this context. Indeed,
they create opportunities for learning
and networking with the aim of supporting
young people to make the best
use of their projects and experiences.
So to come back to my first questions,
I still don’t know if young people
should be anxious or optimistic
about the future, but it is clear that
they have a prominent position in
the European political agenda and
that the combination of efforts from
the institutions and the youth field in
general can create a World of opportunities,
and that is encouraging.
1 EU 2020 : Youth on the Move
2
“A New EU Strategy for Youth - Investing and
Empowering”
3
SALTO-Youth Firework 2010 “The Power of
Non-formal Learning in Education, Training, Employment
and Entrepreneurship”.
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the
SALTO-Youth network in 2010
More concretely, we must be aware
that the implementation of the Youth in
Action programme will certainly be influenced
by this policy development. In
accordance with the reflection begun last
May in Paris 3 , practitioners and youth
leaders should further examine whether
this process, which defines eight fields
of action, matches the reality of their
lives, and how they can benefit from it.
FATIMA LAanAN
Coordinator
SALTO-Youth Participation
Contact
participation@salto-youth.net
Belgium, Brussels
09.2010
2