Today #youthUsCy will give you the chance to become familiar with the opportunities Council of Europe (CoE) offers to Youth in order to be educated, trained and make their voice heard in international, regional, national and local level.
Youth Department
The Department is the one that organizes all the activities related to youth inclusion and education in the operations of CoE. It provides funding and educational support for international youth activities aiming to promote youth citizenship, youth mobility and the values of human rights, democracy and cultural pluralism. Most of the programmes the department organizes take place at European Youth Centres (EYCs) in Strasbourg and Budapest; international training and meeting centres with residential facilities having professional staff included an advisory team giving educational and technical assistance in preparing, running and following up activities.
The Youth Department in collaboration with other bodies of the CoE is giving Youth the chance to participate in seminars, trainings, forums and other programmes. Some of them are described below:
The Congress and Youth Delegate Programme
Since October 2014, the Congress of CoE has been inviting young people from different backgrounds – youth activists, youth workers, students, young politicians – to take part in its two annual plenary sessions, to have their say in the debates. Since 2016, Youth Delegates are invited to participate in both sessions, being involved in the Congress’ work for the whole year and as part of their participation, they were invited for to develop their own projects at local and regional level. The aim is to create a space for dialogue between youth delegates and the elected representatives and to enable young people to express their views on the issues being debated. For more info click here: http://www.coe.int/t/congress/files/topics/youth/call-2017_en.asp
World Forum for Democracy
Initiated in 2012, the Forum is a platform for dialogue and innovation in democratic governance, which promotes the Council of Europe principles and it aims to address key challenges democracy is facing and foster a debate between actors to find concrete solutions. The participants are coming from various sectors and includes: government officials, parliamentarians, civil society organizations, private sector actors, academics, international organisations, youth councils, schools of political studies and citizens. For more info please click here: https://rm.coe.int/1680693fe5
Seminar “Youth participation in Internet Governance”
The seminar will explore how youth participation in Internet Governance can be ensured in a meaningful and inclusive manner and will formulate recommendations for future action to be taken by the Youth Department and the Council of Europe to support youth participation. The three day programme will aim to provide a space for participants to learn about the topic of the seminar, to share from their practices and experience, to identify challenges and opportunities and work towards a common approach and actions. The programme will therefore include plenary presentations and several working group sessions. The deadline for applications is Wednesday, 6 September 2017. For more info please click here: http://www.coe.int/en/web/youth/-/seminar-youth-participation-in-internet-governance-
NO HATE Campaign
It is a youth campaign aiming to address and combat hate speech by mobilising young people to speak up for human rights and democracy online, and to reduce the acceptance of hate speech by reporting and denouncing it. It is composed of national campaigns in over 40 countries which together with European partners and online activists work to implement the campaign objectives and priorities for 2016 and 2017. For more info click here: http://www.coe.int/en/web/no-hate-campaign/about-the-campaigns
You can find the education and training activities programme calendar here: http://www.coe.int/en/web/youth/calendar-of-activities