European Youth Initiative Fund receives the “Time to be Welcome” award

On Monday 10 December, the European Youth Initiative Fund received the “Time to be Welcome” award from Vice-President of the European Commission Mr. Jyrki Katainen who recognised three best youth projects aimed at the inclusion of migrants and refugees.

Throughout 2018, the European Youth Forum has been implementing the European Youth Initiative Fund in partnership with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). In the framework of the EYIF, seed funding has been provided to 10 youth-led initiatives run with the meaningful involvement of young refugees and asylum-seekers. The award is an important recognition of the tremendous work that young people have invested into building bridges between local and displaced youth and their communities while realising the grass-root level projects.

The award ceremony was part of the conference on “Best practices of integrating refugees and migrants through youth organisations” organised by the World Organisation of Scouts Movement to celebrated the end of their two-year-long project called “Time to be Welcome” funded by Erasmus+ and implemented in a collaborative partnership between 10 youth organisations. The event gave space to young people actively involved in volunteer activities aiming to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for displaced people to share their experience, achievements and lessons learnt.

Carina Autengruber, Vice-President of the European Youth Forum, took part in an inspiring panel discussion where she stressed that “youth organisations play a great role in youth inclusion. They are the best when it comes to reaching out to vulnerable youth including refugees and migrants.

The “Time to be Welcome” award handed out by the Vice-President of the European Commission shows the growing institutional acknowledgment of the crucial role young people and youth organisations have in welcoming and supporting displaced people who arrive to Europe with the hope of finding safety and a better future.