Shaping European Youth Policies in theory and practice

The seminar will bring together 14 country teams of 3 actors, who would like to strengthen the implementation of youth policies in their context. 11 country teams will represent Programme countries and 3 country teams will represent Partner countries that are member in the CoE. We are looking for • country teams of 3 team members each, who are active in the youth field and would like to strengthen the implementation of European youth policy in their context; • teams that include (at least one) governmental and non-governmental youth sector representatives such as researchers, youth policy makers, youth workers and trainers; • team members coming from various backgrounds, for example national agencies, youth NGOs and youth movements, youth knowledge and information providers, public administrations; • gender-balanced teams that represent the diversity of society as well as regions in Europe. Potential members of the national delegations, working in governments or non-governmental organisations, youth groups or youth clubs, research institutes or universities, training venues or education centres, collectively, individually and/or free-lance: • youth policy and/or decision-makers; • youth activists and/or youth leaders; • youth researchers and/or academics; • youth workers and/or youth trainers. We offer a training based on: • the principles of non-formal learning and underlying methods/approaches; • reflection and critiques of relevant European youth policy documents; • engagement with the priorities underpinning youth policies in Europe; • discussion of instruments, principles and approaches to youth policy; • introduction to relevant stakeholders, roles, activities and resources for support for youth policies; • experiences made in two previous editions in 2013/2014 and 2015/2016; • support in developing and realising personal/organisational action plans. The objectives are: • to introduce European youth policy frameworks and relate those frameworks to the variety of policy realities; • to analyse youth policy concepts and strategies, as well as investigate their specific approaches and instruments; • to interrogate the main principles of youth policy, from evidence-based and participatory to transversal and cross-sectorial narratives; • to facilitate the translation of European youth policy frameworks to manageable strategies for intervention at local, regional & national level. Dates and venues • First residential seminar: 13-15 November 2017 in Zagreb (concepts and theories); • Reflection phase in own context or work place (practice and reality); • Second residential seminar: March 2018 in France (reflection and critique).