Participation Works

Three UK Young Ambassadors, Ash, Dara and Kat, represented the UK at the EU Youth Conference on youth employment and social inclusion last month in Jerez, Spain.

The Young UK Ambassadors project aims to make international youth representation more inclusive and effective and have already had a big impact on the development of youth policy in Europe and have supported young people’s participation at the Commonwealth and other major international forums. The project is a partnership of the British Youth Council, Funky Dragon, Northern Ireland Youth Forum, Scottish Youth Parliament and UK Youth Parliament.

The group presented findings from consultation and research with young people across the UK on their experiences of employment and inclusion issues, as well as their recommendations.

They worked alongside young people from all over Europe to push for a bigger focus on youth in the new ‘Europe 2020’ strategy that will guide European and national policies for the next 10 years.

Some of the key priority areas that were presented to the policy-makers that will now be followed up are:

• Ending discrimination in hiring and working practices for young people, including introducing an equal wage
• Recognition of non-formal education and experience
• Ensuring full accessibility to jobs, specifically for young people with fewer opportunities.

This event was the first of three conferences bringing young people together with policy-makers. The next one will be in Belgium in September and the Young Ambassadors will be seeking your views and ideas to take to that event.

A full report by the UK Young Ambassadors, and details of how you can feed into the next stage in the process, will be available shortly from the British Youth Council website.

For more information or to get involved in BYC on an international scale, contact international@byc.org.uk

Thu, 20/05/2010 - 11:15