Welcome to the international symposium "FUTURE OF EU COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF YOUTH in the context of the new Erasmus+ programme"

BACKGROUND INFORMATION In the last decade the European youth policy has been developing rapidly, encouraging EU member states to develop complementary youth policy measures and strategies on national, regional and local levels. Last year, the independent programme in the field of youth (Youth in Action programme), which has been an important part of the EU youth policy, has come to an end, and a new joint ERASMUS+ programme has been launched for the period 2014-2020, covering education, training, youth and sports. As Youth in Action, also Erasmus+ is supporting policy reform in the field of youth, but on the structural level it has introduced at least one big change – it is by now quite clear that there will be no separate programme committee for the youth chapter, which has provided a valuable link between policy and the programme in the last 7-year period. The working party of the Council will therefore now be the only body representing member states at the EU level in the field of youth. With this symposium, planned for the end of May 2014, we would like to offer space to discuss how these changes might affect the overall European co-operation in the field of youth and for creative thinking about how to keep and strengthen European co-operation in the field of youth and how to insure a better top-down and bottom-up transfers within the European framework. AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE SYMPOSIUM The symposium aims to offer space to discuss the future EU cooperation in the field of youth in the context of the new programme (Erasmus+) and to contribute to the development of the new map of future cooperation in the field of youth. The programme has therefore been developed in order to: • Introduce the current EU Youth Policy development and the role of the new programme within • Discuss perspectives of potential effects of these changes and assess the new situation • Review the existing forms of EU cooperation in the field of youth (in the new political context) • Discuss possible future challenges and ideas in the field of future cooperation in the field of youth PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS The symposium aims to bring together 30 experienced representatives, who have been actively involved in the EU cooperation in the field of youth in the past years (structured dialogue, peer learning process, etc.). Participants can apply as representatives or decision-makers from the national level (or regional level, if they are involved in the national decision-making processes), national youth councils or (Erasmus+: Youth in Action) national agencies. We are therefore looking for national delegations, consisting of up to 3 people, preferably: - 1 representative of the national authority (or other experienced people knowing the national situation) - 1 representative of the national youth council (or other similar elected youth representative) - 1 representative of the Erasmus+: Youth in Action national agency Participants will have the opportunity to present their opinions on the current and future changes and developments of the EU cooperation in the field of youth in the context of the new programme in the field of youth, and to discuss these opinions in smaller groups. PROGRAMME Participants are expected to arrive in the morning of 28th of May until 1 pm (or in the afternoon of the 27th, should there be no morning flights on the 28th) and depart on the 30th of May after 2 pm (or on the 31st, should there be no afternoon flights on the 30th or if you wish to join the city tour). You can see the draft programme flow in the attached PDF file under Downloads! VENUE The symposium will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in the City hotel (http://www.cityhotel.si). The hotel is located in the city centre, only a step away from the main bus and railway station as well as the sights of Ljubljana and the old city centre. The Jože Pučnik International airport of Ljubljana is only 25 km from the hotel, and the main railway and bus station are only 400 meters away. The hotel is easy to access from all of the city’s major roads and has the advantage of being just on the edge of the pedestrian only zone (the city centre). APPLICATION PROCEDURE AND DEADLINE Participants have to apply online via SALTO-YOUTH application system. Direct link to the application form is available in the top right corner of this page. (If you do not have a SALTO profile yet, you will have to create it first in order to be able to access the application form. Creation of the SALTO profile is free and will only take a few seconds. Should you experience any problems trying to access the application form please write to info@mva.si.) The application deadline is 4th of April 2014. Participants will be informed about the selection latest by the 15th of April 2014. TEAM OF FACILITATORS The training course will be run by two professional international trainers with extensive experience in the field: Ms Tsvetina Zaharlieva from Bulgaria and Mr Marius Ulozas from Lithuania. MORE INFORMATION All further information on how to get to the venue will be sent to selected participants after the selection process is concluded. Should you have further question regarding this activity in order to be able to decide if it fits you, please feel free to contact us at info@mva.si. (Note for NAs: This project is financed by TCP 2013)