Our contribution to the future of the Youth Work Agenda

2020

Our contribution to the future of the Youth Work Agenda

From 7-10 December 2020, more than 1,000 participants from 46 European countries took part in the 3rd European Youth Work Convention (#eywc2020), where representatives from local, regional, national and European level were represented. The convention was held by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) in the occasion German EU Council Presidency and the German Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE).

The 3rd European Youth Work Convention has aimed explicitly at putting flesh on the bones of the European Youth Work Agenda while respecting its political framework and describing future steps, actions and measures to be taken under the Bonn process.

During the event, ERYICA had the opportunity to facilitate two workshops in co-operation with Eurodesk. The first of them, “Recognition of youth work professions - The case of youth information workers", aimed at sharing the various steps taken to ensure the recognition of youth information by #ESCO and developing a competency framework, and how other professions of youth work can do the same. The second one, “Youth work engaging for sustainability”, was focused on the importance of greening youth work.

The final outcome of the convention was the Final Declaration "Signposts for the future" which plays a crucial role in establishing the implementation process for the European Youth Work Agenda. This final Declaration seeks to capture the deliberations of participants, both to motivate and to guide the youth work community of practice all over Europe within the Bonn process. The final Declaration also seeks to strengthen the political commitment, at all levels, for the maintenance, development and innovation of youth work provision throughout Europe.

We are delighted to see that, among many other important proposals that ERYICA is also involved in, the paper includes a call to action to make youth work greener and to develop curricula for youth worker education and training (in our case, a competency framework), both of which ERYICA is currently working on in co-operation with Eurodesk.

European Youth Work Agenda

On 1 December, the Council Resolution on the Framework for establishing a European Youth Work Agenda was published in the Official Journal of the EU:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=uriserv:OJ.C_.2020.415.01.0001.01.ENG

The document gathers the resolutions, recommendations and opinions for the future of the Youth Work Agenda. The Agenda will include diverse themes included in one of the eight thematic areas: quality youth work, innovation and tackling challenges, promotion and recognition, youth work in the new normal, co-operation within and beyond the community of practice, provision of youth work, youth work in policies and implementing the agenda. These thematic areas consisted the basis for the work of the 3rd European Youth Work Convention.