Conferences and seminars
Access to social rights for young people is linked, in the philosophy of the Enter! project, to a variety of themes. Exploring these themes among those involved in youth related policies, youth research and youth work and how they are interpreted and tackled in different countries across Europe was is one of the intervention of the Enter! project.
Several seminars focusing on thematic challenges or on the national level, were organised. Their format varied according to needs, level and themes; however, the common denominator of the seminars and conferences was the aim to explore and further develop knowledge and understanding among youth workers, youth policy makers and research around a specific topic linked to the themes of the Enter! project, exclusion, discrimination and violence.
Check here for the current activities in the Enter! project.
"The state of youth work: exploring the future of youth work and young people's access to social rights"
Seminar organised by De Montfort University and Global Hands, in co-operation with the Youth Department of the Council of Europe 15 - 16 November 2012, Leicester, United Kingdom
This two-day seminar took place in Leicester on 15th and 16th November 2012 and was jointly organised by De Montfort University’s Youth Community and Education Department and the Council of Europe’s Youth Department, and it was further supported by Global Hands (Leicester).
The key theme was promoting access to social rights for young people in general and for the most marginalised young people in particular, as well as the role of youth work in this process. This is an issue which has become more important than ever and the event offered a space for young people, academics, practitioners and policy makers to explore the state of youth work, its ability to support young people in accessing their social rights and to debate and construct its direction of travel during a time of austerity and flux.
Council of Europe seminar "From Regional and local youth policies opportunities for young people to access to social rights for all young people "
National level seminar in Italy on access to social rights for young people, 4 - 6 November 2013, Pisa, Italy organised in co-operation with the Accademia Europea di Firenze and Tuscany Region project Giovanisi
From 2011, the Tuscany Region has decided to pay particular attention to interventions in favor of the new generations with the aim to focus on a social component essential to boost Tuscany and its economy, open to the innovation, able to exploit the talents of young people and to provide opportunities for all citizens. In this context it has been started, with the approval of PRS 2011-2015, a regional integrated project, called Giovanisì, with the aim of investing in young people in terms of opportunities for the development of individual skills, quality and stabilization of the work, emancipation and social participation.
The Regional project, activated thanks to public and private tools and policies and available EU and Governmental financial resources , is part of the Community strategy Europe 2020 aiming at, as a tool to achieve a smart, inclusive and sustainable growth, guaranteeing to provide young people with quality education and training, effective integration into the labor market and international mobility. Giovanisì aims, in particular, to support interventions already planned by the Regional Government to support participatory youth policies, pointing in some cases to the enhancement of existing measures such as those related to local internship and to the quality training and education as well as to implement ex novo new measures which correspond to the youth needs such as, for example, those initiatives related to international mobility in European countries, in synergy with the European Initiative Youth on the move and those related to housing and co-working. This national level seminar was organised in order to stimulate the sharing and comparison of youth policies, planned and implemented in some Italian Regions and provinces, such as: Tuscany, Puglia, Trentino Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Province of Turin. The sharing and comparison allowed participants to analyse systems and practices of youth policies and how far they facilitate and support the access to social rights of young people.
Seminar with National Youth Councils on Access to Social Rights for Young People
The seminar for National Youth Councils on Access to Social Rights for Young People took place at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg on 29 – 31 October 2013, in the framework of the Council of Europe’s Youth Department project entitled ‘Enter! Promoting Access to Social Rights for All Young People’. The seminar brought together 25 representatives of youth councils and youth workers involved in the Enter! project from 19 countries. It aimed to increase the expertise of National Youth Councils in using the framework of access to social rights for young people to advocate for and develop policies and programmes. It invited National Youth Councils to facilitate collaboration between youth work practitioners, people responsible for policy formulation at various levels and researchers and experts in the field of social rights.
Seminar on local youth participation and access to social rights
13 - 15 November 2013, Strasbourg
The seminar brought together some 40 youth workers and youth leaders, local decision-makers, young people and researchers to identify strategies and ways forward for supporting youth participation on the local and regional levels as a means to ensure access to social rights for young people.
The objectives of the seminar were:
- To engage young people, youth workers and local and regional authorities in a dialogue on issues related to access to social rights
- To examine how to improve practices of local youth participation in decision and policy making
- To explore experiences of the role of youth work and youth participation as a means for young people to access their social rights, from different realities and perspectives
- To collect ideas to improve the Charter on local youth participation in what concerns its visibility and use among local and regional authorities, youth workers and young people
- To develop guidelines for supporting local youth participation
Seminar “Gender equality in youth projects” (2010)
European Youth Centre Strasbourg, 23 – 27 June 2010
The seminar on gender equality in youth projects, held in Strasbourg in June 2010, deepened the work done by the Directorate of Youth and Sports on gender “matters” and gender based violence, with a special focus on gender equality in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The seminar made several proposals for inclusion of a gender equality dimension in the Enter! and in the projects set up by the LTTC participants.
More information about the seminar:
Consultative Meeting on Youth Information and Counselling (2010)
European Youth Centre Budapest, 14-18 June 2010
The consultative meeting on youth information and counselling held in Budapest in June 2010, discussed ways to improve access to information for young people and youth workers in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, including the role of young people in producing and providing information. Links were made with the LTTC through some projects of participants; very interesting examples of successful synergies between youth work and youth information were provided, among others, by ERYICA (the European Youth Information and Counselling Agency) and by JES, a project on recognition of young people’s competences in Antwerp, Brussels and Gent (Belgium).
More information about the consultative meeting (presentation, agenda, participants) available below:
Expert Seminar on "New Ways of Participation in Multicultural Youth Work" (2010)
European Youth Centre Budapest, 14 -18 June 2010
New ways of participation in multicultural youth work were shared and discussed at the seminar in Budapest in June 2010. The programme and recommendation focus on the participation of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods and the ways to support un-recognised forms of participation while working towards equality in the access to existing structures and processes of youth participation.
More information about the seminar (presentation, agenda, list of participants) available here:
Expert Seminar: Youth Policy Approaches for Access to Social Rights of Young People from Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods (2010)
European Youth Centre Strasbourg, 1 - 3 December 2010
The seminar aimed at identifying, reviewing and prioritising main issues and proposals to be taken up for a policy recommendation by the Committee of Ministers to the Member States and other areas of youth policy on social inclusion and access to social Rights for young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
This expert seminar followed five meetings within the ENTER project addressing issues related to access to social rights of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods. This expert seminar took the recommendations of the ENTER! seminars as a starting point to explore how to integrate them into a policy document to the Committee of Ministers on the access to social rights for young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods.