Euroblog

What if Belgian and German youngsters could spend a weekend together in Ypres and Berlin?  Now you can!  Come and debate, think and enjoy MISSION EUROPE 2010!

After one weekend in Ypres and one in Berlin you’ll be thé most aware European citizen!  Explore Europe and the world in a different way: hold discussions under the Menenpoort in Ypres or the Brandenburger Tor in Berlin, visit the European parliament in Brussels, make international friends for life and much more!  Are you between 15 and 18? Visit http://www.gerbel.org!

Mission Europe: Ypres – Berlin (MEYB) is an international project from the 1st until the 3rd of October and from the 11th until the 14th of November 2010, respectively in Ypres (Belgium) and Berlin (Germany).  Our project will bring 16 youngsters from Belgium and Germany together to participate in debates, discussions, workshops (the nuclear-assault game, intercultural evening activities…) and sight-seeing tours (such as the European parliament, Checkpoint Charlie, Flanders Fields…) concerning mainly the first World War and the EU; and secondly the UN, Human rights and pan-European problems.

To prepare the youngsters for this project, we will introduce them to each other and to these topics before the weekends through online forum discussions. MEYB will be mentored by 8 young adults who will lead discussions, give lectures and lead bicycle trips.  As such, the methodology of MEYB is based on peer-to-peer education, not only by passively absorbing knowledge through lectures, but also by giving the participants the opportunity to actively shape their understanding through discussions and debates.  The aims of MEYB are to improve awareness of the EU, strengthen English and social skills and immerse youngsters in the first World War and its consequences.  Thus, we aim to contribute to the formation of a socially-adept, open-minded, and globally-aware future generation.

Javi.tv went to the Eurotastic picnic last week in Brussels, and they came back with this report:

Eurotastic picnic – Europese dag van de jeugd from javi tv on Vimeo.

August 12 is the International Day of Youth. To celebrate this, the youth councils in Belgium organized the  Eurotastic Picnic.

200 young people and youth workers gathered this afternoon in the Royal Park in Brussels to have lunch, drink a Fairtrade juice while DC’s Buscemi and Sonar took care of the right tunes.

Before the event started, the press was addressed by Philippe Cori (UN Brussels): “It is important that we mobilize governments around the world to invest in young people and mutual understanding.”

Stijn Jacobs of the Flemish Youth Council referred to the research on engagement by young people (Steunpunt Jeugd) “This research proved that people do care about environment, poverty and injustice They want to do something about that in their own way. We must support them, appreciate them and stimulate them.”

Halfway  the picnic it started raining, but chattering continued under some party tents. Some of the participants even started dancing. But that is what party tents are made for, no?

On 12th of August, young people worldwide celebrate INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY. Therefore we invite you to a big (sustainable) picnic in the Royal Park of Brussels.

Bring your own sandwich to the park and share with a lot of young people between 12 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Oxfam will provide sustainable drinks. Buscemi, Cosy Mozzy and DJ Sonar will spice up with some music.

(In collaboration with Pure Fm and FM Brussel, and with the support of the belgian EU Presidency Youth)

• Facebook event 

Coyote is a magazine addressed to trainers, youth workers, researchers, policymakers and all those who want to know more about the youth field in Europe. It is published by the partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of youth.

Coyote´s interest on the event gave its first outcome already before the conventionhad started, through Coyote Extra – a special issue focusing on the themes of the event. Participants had the chance to explore the key themes of the convention through the pages of the Coyote Extra.

Coyote is also going to dedicate its next issue (no:16) to the event. if you were a participant at the event and want to contribute to Coyote, you can send an email to: youth-partnership@coe.int. You can also access all the previous issues at: http://www.youth-partnersip.net/youth-partnership/publications/Coyote/Coyote. The issue no:16 will be online by November 2010.

Euroblog -together with all other cool things of the convention- will also have their due space in Coyote no:16!

Antwerp will be the European Youth Capital 2011! With this title we will give young people more space in the city.  To live, to work, to party, to organise,  to show their talents… but also to make their voice be heard.  It will be a year filled with European exchanges, events, youth initiatives, conventions…

The AEYC2011 project team is looking for European volunteers to help make it all happpen.  Interested?  Mail to Daisy.somers@stad.antwerpen.be or call +32 3 292 67 53.

The First European Youth Work Convention closed on Saturday morning. More than 400 participants from 50 countries explored the diversity in youth work throughout Europe during three days. They took part in an intensive debate on the crucial challenges for youth work today and in the future through plenary sessions, workshops, visits to local youth projects and thematic seminars.

The different forms of youth work in Europe were a big topic of discussion and this diversity is reflected in the Declaration which is the final outcome of this Convention. During the Convention, youth work was defined more briefly as the provision of ‘space and opportunity for young people to shape their own futures’. Precisely because of the diversity of youth work, there needs to be an equivalently diverse approach to identifying the contribution it makes both to young people and to society. Therefore the Declaration requests for more information and knowledge on youth work so its impact can be better understood, disseminated and evaluated.

The Declaration requests policy makers to take the crucial challenges and recommendations into account in existing policies on youth work or when developing new initiatives. This Declaration will provide also input for the Resolution on Youth Work of the Council which will be approved in November by the Ministers of Youth. Finally the Convention recognized the responsibility of youth workers themselves to contribute when it can on the debate and the development of youth work and policies.

Youth workers, policy makers, researchers and experts definitely will continue discussing the role, impact, opportunities and challenges for youth after the Youth Work Convention. Therefore the Belgian EU Presidency Youth hopes the outlined agenda in the declaration will culminate in a 2^nd European Youth Work Convention. But now it is time to go back to our working fields, offices or just to start a well deserved holiday.

Kris Snick is Presidency Policy Officer during the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU. During the Belgian Presidency he represents the three Belgian Youth Councils (Vlaamse Jeugdraad, Conseil de la Jeunesse en Rat der deutschprachigen Jugend) and the European Youth Forum. He ensures a fluent cooperation of these actors with the Presidency Youth.

The two conferences came to an end. We were wondering how they’ve experienced the conference. Besides that we also wanted to know if they learned things that are usefull to their own organisation.

How would you summarize the last week in one sentence?

What is your main conclusion at the end of this week?

What’s the most positive experience you had this week?

Was there something negative?

Did you learn things that will be useful in your  organisation?

It’s the last day of the convention and the visitors take a tour true Ghent.
They get the chance to visit several different youth organisations in the city.
JAVI tv follows them around.