Following its objective on regional co-operation in the youth field and building upon recent processes of strengthening the youth field in South East Europe (SEE), the EU-CoE youth partnership organises a peer-learning seminar on the state of youth work and its relevance for youth policy, in co-operation with the Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth, with SALTO SEE Resource Centre and with the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO).
Building on developments in the region, the activity aims to make a contribution to strengthening youth work in the region, by analysing its state of play and identifying the support needed from youth work policy, and in turn will consider the crucial role that youth work can play in supporting youth policy at different levels. The seminar will address this aim involving representatives of the triangle of youth work practice, policy and research. The seminar objectives are:
- to strengthen the knowledge about youth work in South East Europe;
- to explore current challenges and needs that youth work as a field has in SEE and how youth policy can respond to them, at different levels, through frameworks, capacity building, and support tools;
- to enhance synergies between different relevant actors in the region for the development of the youth work sector;
- to analyse the crucial role that youth work can play in supporting youth policy at different levels.
The seminar will bring together up to 45 participants with different profiles. The group will be ideally composed of a combination of:
- youth work practitioners;
- youth work managers;
- youth work trainers and related profiles;
- youth workers’ organisations;
- youth organisations;
- policy makers especially from SEE and from other European countries interested in cooperation in SEE, working at different levels (local, national, regional);
- teachers involved in youth mobility and non-formal education activities in SEE;
- researchers;
- representatives of the European Commission and of the Council of Europe’s youth sector;
- representatives of other entities involved in regional co-operation.
Participants should be:
- active in South-East Europe in the youth sector;
- if active elsewhere, concerned with or involved in the development of youth work and youth policy in South-East Europe;
- aware, if relevant, of the situation of youth work in their respective context and ready to share ideas and experience to reflect on the relationship with youth policy;
- able to communicate in English at a working level;
- ready to interact through various non-formal methodologies;
- able to participate for the whole duration of the event.
Deadline for applications: 5 September 23:59 CEST
The seminar will take place in Slovenia (venue tbc) on 13 – 15 November 2018 (2.5 days).