Youth Forum launches campaign #4YouthWork!

Last week in Brussels the European Youth Forum hosted 9 member organisations for three days of discussions, which included meetings of the Youth Forum’s Youth Work Network and Education Network, as well as a high level event at the European Parliament, which the Youth Forum organised with the Parliament’s Youth Intergroup.

The European Youth Forum launched its new web application #4YouthWork, together with two publications (Study on the Social Value of Youth Organisation/ Validation of non-formal education in the youth sector) at the European Parliament on Thursday. The new web app aims to raise awareness about youth work through social media. Millions of young people take part in and benefit from youth work but too few are shouting about it. We encourage all youth workers to “Show their youth work” via our new app!

The event was the opportunity for member organisations to raise challenges and best practices on youth work and to engage with various stakeholders on the impact of youth work. MEP Brando Benifei also highlighted the important role of EU institutions in pushing forwards the recognition of youth work and youth organisations. The Youth Forum is looking forward to continuing to work on this closely with the Youth Intergroup.

Over the three days there were also discussions about what has been achieved by the Youth Forum and its member organisations in this areas, as well as debates on the social value of youth organisations and the importance of validating the skills and competences acquired through non-formal education and informal learning and youth work recognition. We also looked ahead to 2017 and beyond to see how to best support each other in our advocacy efforts for the recognition of youth work within the new Youth Forum work plan and the members organisations’ priorities on these topics.

More photos from the European Parliament's event here.