Eastern Partnership Youth Forum

The planned Eastern Partnership Youth Forum will be the third conference dedicated to issues which matter young people, organised in the margins of the Eastern Partnership Summit. The previous youth fora took place in Lithuania (2013) and Latvia (2015) focusing on social inclusion and employment/employability respectively. The main objectives of the 3rd Eastern Partnership Youth Forum are: • To deepen the dialogue and advance cooperation on youth matters and education between the EU and Eastern Partnership countries by sharing expertise and experience as well as providing a space for networking and cooperation in the future, including in local and transnational projects; • To identify and discuss common challenges and propose concrete actions, which would help to address those challenges; • To feed the 5th Eastern Partnership Summit Declaration to be signed in November 2017 in Brussels/Belgium; • To inform the EU youth policy development post 2018, along with national youth policies in the countries involved. During the 3rd Eastern Partnership Youth Forum the main thematic focus will be on participation and active citizenship of young people and their involvement in the decision making process, explored from the following perspectives: • Young people as active, critical and responsible citizens • Young people and entrepreneurship – taking the future into own hands • Young people and education today: formal, non-formal and informal The 3rd Eastern Partnership Youth Forum will provide a unique opportunity to meet young people, youth workers and other stakeholders from various countries and share with them experience as well as establishing contacts and networks for future projects and initiatives. You will meet politicians and policy makers, and have the chance to discuss with them young people's concerns. You will have the opportunity to influence policies and programmes dedicated to young people – the conference's conclusions will serve to improve the youth strategies and actions in the EU and in the countries involved. The final results of the Forum will be presented at the 5th Eastern Partnership Summit which will take place in Brussels/Belgium in November 2017. Profile of participants Participants should have one of the following profiles: • 'Active' young people who can contribute to the thematic focus of the Forum from their own experience, for instance those working in a youth organisation, NGO and civil society organisation, involved in youth projects and programmes, volunteering, community activities, founders of (social) enterprises,… – both at local and transnational level. • Youth workers, and those working with young people in one of the thematic fields of the Forum. The call is open for participants from Erasmus+ Programme countries and Eastern Partnership countries who: • Can communicate in English (the activities will be held in English as the working language); • Can commit to actively take part in the Forum as well as in the preparation phase before the conference, for instance by sharing information on their activities in online spaces, contributing to the Forum design and getting acquainted with relevant background documents; • Can commit to share the experiences and learning gained during the Forum with other interested young people and/or stakeholders