An online course to develop the skills of professionals facilitating virtual moments of dialogue, consultation and sharing amongst youth leaders and institutional representatives.

A meaningful youth participation in democratic processes does not only depend on the political contexts and the policy design mechanisms in place. The way a youth consultation is set and carried out, the methodological approach used to design a policy, and the youth dialogue facilitators’ skills, are all critical elements affecting the results of an event where young people and policy makers interact and cooperate.

If those elements are important in traditional settings, they become essential when political discussions take place online: in the digital space, the intercultural dialogue dimension might be underestimated and an extra series of factors (digital fatigue, technical problems, limited non-verbal communication, etc.) can undermine the effectiveness of the conversation.

Hence, the facilitators play a fundamental role in shaping and encouraging an effective and inclusive online dialogue towards concrete results.

For these reasons, the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe promoted an online course to improve the quality of the interactions between youth organisations and institutional representatives, increasing awareness about each other's roles for the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The course took place between August and November 2021 and was articulated around three pillars:

 facilitation competences,

 policy making and policy dialogue knowledge,

 technical expertise to set up quality online spaces for dialogue.

Presentation of the course (call for participants)

At the end of the course, a short handbook was produced, gathering the resources, tools and insights shared by the trainers and the participants. The handbook contains tools and tips to set up and facilitate online policy dialogues, ensuring a high level of engagement among all youth stakeholders following the Council of Europe’s human-rights approach.

 

 

Access the Handbook

 
Introductory session on youth policy dialogue

During the first session, a panel discussion provided an overview on the state-of-art of the youth policy sector and explored the elements necessary to ensure an inclusive and meaningful policy dialogue online.

Guest speakers:

Mai Hosny (Egypt) - Policy Analyst on Youth at the OECD’s Public Governance Directorate.

Nafula Wafula (Kenya) - Vice Chairperson for Policy and Advocacy at the Commonwealth Youth Council.

Thomas Andersson (Sweden) - Spokesperson on Youth at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

digital facilitation's principles and tools

Marinela Sumanjska

Marinela is a trainer and programme manager for education and capacity building at the South East European Youth Network (SEEYN). The video present the SEEYN Digital Tool Library: a web portal gathering many tools of digital youth work and e-learning in non-formal education.

capsules

Raphael Obonyo

Diplomat, public policy and youth specialist and widely published author.

Mr Obonyo has served as a consultant with the United Nations and the World Bank and it was appointed to a number of advisory bodies such as the Kenyan “National taskforce on the Youth Policy Review”, the “Global Diplomatic Forum” and the Africa Leadership Institute”.

Stefan Manevski

Educational advisor at the Council of Europe.

Mr. Manevski is a trainer and youth worker with vast experience in programme management of different educational activities (training courses, seminars, conferences) in the framework of the Youth for Democracy programme of the Council of Europe.

Meg Villanueva

Strategist in Sustainable Peacebuilding, Conflict Transformation and Youth.

Ms Villanueva is a independent consultant on Conflict Transformation and Advocacy for Peace. She served UNOY Peacebuilders' advocacy work and currently she is developing training programs on Youth, Peace and Security (UNSCR 2250) in Southeast Asia and the Pacific with UNDP and UNFPA. She has been engaged as facilitator for the crafting and implementation of the National Action Plan on Youth, Peace and Security in the Philippines.

Ivana Davidovska

Director of Governance and Membership at the European Youth Forum.

Youth worker specialised in European youth policy and organizational development. Former president of the youth-led organisation “YEU International”, Ms Davidovska is currently the coordinator of the Pool of Trainers of the European Youth Forum.

Mutinta Munyati

Public policy specialist working at the UN-Habitat’s Regional Office for Africa.

Ms Munyati has worked for over 20 years on issues related to Policy & Programme Development including setting up youth development programmes globally and in Africa. She has coordinated UN-Habitat’s “State of the Urban Youth” report 2010/2011 and 2012/2013.