Reporting live from European Youth Work Convention

Final day of the European Youth Work Convention 2015

On the last day of the Convention a declaration was published bringing together the findings from the three days of debate and discussion and making a series of recommendations addressed to European countries, the EU, the Council of Europe and the UN, as well as to other institutions concerned with young people. The declaration concludes that youth work is not a luxury and is a central component of a social Europe. If investment is not made in youth work then it is an abdication of responsibility to the next generation; a lost opportunity to strengthen contemporary civil society and it weakens potential for dealing effectively with some of the major social challenges (such as unemployment and extremism) of our time.

The Convention was concluded with high level key note speeches including addresses by Tibor Navracsics, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport and Ahmed Alhendawi, Secretary General's Envoy on Youth, United Nations. There was then a panel discussion to reflect on the declaration, which featured Youth Forum President Johanna Nyman.

For other news from the European Youth Work Convention see its website.

Wednesday 29th April: Day 3

Digital storytelling

This morning it was time to hear some more stories from youth workers and those involved in youth organisations, not from them directly, but from their stories recorded in an innovative way using a digital storytelling technique.

Laura Lopez, policy officer at the European Youth Forum, presented three short videos - the end result of the Youth Forum digital storytelling project which took young youth workers, from the Youth Forum’s membership, on a journey of personal discovery. The result – the short videos – are personal, often moving accounts of the difference that youth work can make.

You can see the three videos shown here: http://www.eywc2015.be/

Unequal Europe

The plenary then heard from Professor Vandenbrouke, from the University of Leuven, who presented a Friends of Europe report which demonstrated the growing inequalities between European countries and that poverty is increasing amongst younger demographics.

Going into the detail

In the late morning the delegates broke up again into workshops, to delve into the detail of the Convention’s seven themes. The outcomes of these workshops will feed into the final declaration to be published tomorrow.

You can follow developments live on social media with #EYWC2015

Tuesday 28th April: Day 2

Afternoon - out into the field!

This afternoon delegates are on field visits to a choice over more than 30 local youth work projects in and around Brussels, to get a real insight into what is happening on the ground and to help learn and share good practice with each other. One group visited Youth Forum member, Obessu (Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions). Obessu brings together 25 organisations from across Europe and its mission is to empower young people to take part in democratic society and the link between formal and non-formal education is vital in their work.

Morning – opening session

The second day began with delegates coming together in plenary to hear stories from young people who have been involved in youth work and hearing how their experiences have made a huge difference to their lives.

We heard from a young teacher from Cyprus, who explained how youth work can be used for peace building and how it helped her, personally, to grow and become more confident. Natallia, from Minsk, is a young musician was inspired by a youth exchange for musicians and is now a successful musician. A volunteer from Romania, Raluca, told the plenary how non-formal education and her experiences as a youth worker have changed her life!

Morning - workshops

Now the real work begins!

The Convention has split into many workshops, exploring in smaller groups, the main themes of the event. All the discussions and findings from these sessions will feed into the declaration to be made at the end of the #EYWC2015.

Day 1

The European Youth Work Convention, kicking off the European Youth Week 2015 and a flagship event of the Belgian chairmanship on the Council of Europe, started in Brussels on Monday 27th April, bringing together almost 500 youth workers, academics and policy makers to debate, discuss and share good youth work practice.

This second European Youth Work Convention (following the first in Ghent in 2010) is a unique opportunity to discuss the challenges facing youth work at local, national and European level. The aim of the Convention is to “find common ground” within the huge diversity of European youth work. The Convention will close on Thursday (30th April) with a declaration, which should provide clear direction for a new strategy for youth work as well as triggering an institutional process towards an agreement on the value of youth work at Council of Europe and EU level.

Day one kicked off with key-note speakers including Isabelle Simonis (Minister for Youth, French speaking community of Belgium), Xavier Prats Monné (Director General of DG Education and Culture, European Commission), as well as Youth Forum board member Bérénice Jond. The state of youth work in Europe was laid bare by Howard Williamson, Professor of Youth Work Policy, University of South Wales. Youth worker Paul Kloosterman got the whole plenary singing along to Lionel Ritchie to inspire the delegates to demonstrate the value of youth work. Some music and games along with a networking session rounded off the first day of the Convention at The Egg conference centre in Brussels.

The European Youth Forum is very pleased to be a partner of the Convention, where tomorrow it will present its digital storytelling project (the end product of a workshop with Youth Forum members telling the personal stories of how youth work has made a difference to their lives). Now is the perfect time to debate youth work and its impact, since young people have been hardest hit by the economic crisis and continue to suffer several years later. Meanwhile, however, across Europe budgets for youth work have been cut by governments’ austerity measures. We look forward to a strong declaration at the end of the Convention, which we hope will lead to increased recognition of youth work and the hugely positive impact that it has.

The Youth Forum’s President Johanna Nyman will also speak at the closing ceremony on Thursday. We will be updating this news article, with live updates from the Youth Work Convention.

You can also follow live on social media using #EYWC2015.