Y-E-N Activity Report 2015 [EN]

Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Annual Activity Report 2015

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

The pictures featuring on the front page were taken during the activities of our 2015 Work Plan: Seminar “Mind the Gap” (March, Bosnia-Herzegovina), Training for trainers “Inclusion LAB II” (July, Romania), “Light Your Rights” (September, Spain) and Mobile seminar “Inclusion Train” (November, France and Belgium). The posters were created by the participants of our activities.

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

2015 rhymes with Inclusion Express!

In 2015, Youth Express Network worked actively to pursue its long-term campaign «Inclusion Express» launched in 2014 for Social Inclusion and Social Rights for young people. This year, the motto was to campaign in order to persuade and the focus was set on access to social rights for young people in Europe.

Following the red thread of the Campaign, Y-E-N organised 8 projects to encourage social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities. Inspired by last year!s method, the activities benefit to both youth/social workers and the young people. The great results encourage us to continue like this for the year to come! Furthermore, the collaboration with the network Roots & Routes on the seminar «Light Your Rights» empowered the value of youth work as effective tool to promote social inclusion of young people in Europe.

This year, we also offered a Training for Trainers for our member organisations which was a great success. The Youth Exchange «Cooking for Inclusion» came out of it, that our member organisations developed between them directly!

On the local level, Y-E-N worked on employability through French-German projects for vocational education students and long-term unemployed young Germans hosted in French enterprises. The regional platform «Alsace Mobility Crossroads» on youth mobility was also created under the coordination of the Network and three cross-border seminars dedicated to French, German and Swiss youth/social workers were organised.

The communication strategy of the year aimed at making a more visible network and we managed to reconnect with our members, enhancing the feeling of belonging to the network. And it!s a success! In 2015, Youth Express Network reached 60% of our member organisations! attendance to the GA and in the projects. Let!s keep on this track!

The internal communication group also started to conduct a research on the value and impact of our activites: «Y-E-N Impact» which will continue in 2016.

And last but not least, we gained 2 new members this year: Kosovo Youth Centres Network and Cyprus Youth Power. Welcome! Unfortunately on the side of the Coordination office in Strasbourg, we had to say goodbye to our Project and Communication Coordinator, Manuela Costeira, who resigned at the end of the year. We wish her good luck for the future!

This year full of inclusive projects would not have been possible without the work of all: so congratulations to every young person, youth/social worker, administrator, coordinator, partner, funder etc. that contributed to Y-E-N activities, but most of all... THANK YOU and we hope to have many more successful years together!

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Summary About Y-E-N...............................................................................................5 Board Members and coordination office team ……….…………….….....……6 Vision 2020 …………………………….….….………………………….…....….7 Strategic directions 2015 …...……………………........………………...…..….9 Implemented actions in 2015 ………...…………………………….………… 10

Y-E-N activities 2015 Description of the Work Plan ………………………………….…….……........11 Seminar «Mind the Gap».............................................................................12 Training «Inclusion LAB II»..........................................................................13 Mobile Seminar «Inclusion Train»................................................................14 Seminar «Light Your Rights».......................................................................15 Regional Platform «Alsace Mobility Crossroads»........................................16

Partnership activities 2015 ENTER! Youth Meeting................................................................................17 Youth Exchange «Cooking for Inclusion»....................................................18 KYCN Study Visit to Strasbourg...................................................................19 Cross-border seminars (FR/GE/SZ).............................................................20

“Inclusion Express” Campaign……………………..…….…....................21 Y-E-N Representations in 2015 ……….................................................22 Communication Strategy.……………………………………..…….….......23 Other Local Activities.……..…………………………………………….......24 Statutory meetings Board Meetings............................................................................................25 General Assembly........................................................................................26

Annexe: 2016 Work Plan….………….…................................................27 4

Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

About Y-E-N Youth Express Network (Y-E-N) is a European network of grass-roots youth organisations and social initiatives aiming to work at local, regional and European level on social inclusion of young people. We have 29 member organisations in 23 different countries. Our Board is paneuropean (5 volunteers) and our Coordination Office is based in STRASBOURG, France (3 paid-staff).

We organise, since 22 years, training courses, seminars, cross-border projects, mobile projects for youth/social workers and young people with fewer opportunities. We also do researches and studies on youth and social related issues and we try to be the voice of young people with fewer opportunities in local, regional and international European institutions, either by representing them or by supporting them to create and be part of youth councils and local youth policies.

We are member of the European Youth Forum and the Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) of the Council of Europe.

In 2015 Y-E-N was financed by: • European Commission (Youth in Action and Erasmus + programmes) • Council of Europe (Youth Department / European Youth Foundation) • Municipality of Strasbourg • Low Rhine General Council • Eurodistrict • French government (Direction Régionale de la Jeunesse, des Sports et de la Cohésion Sociale)

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Y-E-N Executive board elected in June 2015

Mirela LUPU (Romania) President

Valentina AULISO (Italy) Vice-President

Mariam SAHAKYAN (Armenia) Treasurer

Katarina VUCKOVIC (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Secretary

Stéphane BURGERT (France) Board Member

Y-E-N coordination office in Strasbourg, France

Brigitte LUDMANN Director

Véronique BERTHOLLE Project & Network Coordinator

Manuela COSTEIRA Project & Communication Coordinator

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Youth Express Network Vision 2020 Following the decision of Y-E-N General Assembly held in Ostia, Italy, in June 2013 to research the needs of member organizations and the young people they work with, Y-EN Board created a survey-questionnaire and spread it throughout the network.

During Y-E-N Board meetings held in Strasbourg, France (November 2013) and Gdansk, Poland (March 2014), the material from the survey was analyzed and compiled with the results from the General Assembly working groups and past strategic documents. The results of this work stands in a document called « Vision 2020 », approved by Y-E-N member organisations during our latest General Assembly held in Kyusdentil, Bulgaria, in June 2014.

Through this “Vision 2020” we want to bring more impact and quality to our work while maintaining the focus on social inclusion of young people. This strategic document will be implemented through the activities and initiatives of Y-E-N and our member organizations.

This vision is based on values of Human and Social Rights, and the principles of nonformal education, active participation, interculturality and needs centered.

Y-E-N Vision 2020 Inclusive society for young people.

Youth Express Network considers inclusive society a society where young people, their needs and participation are recognized, valued and appreciated.

Goals When establishing the goals to our vision we decided to work on 3 different levels that we identified in our strategy: • young people with fewer opportunities • society • our network We turned the 3 levels into 3 different goals, each of them having different objectives focusing on reaching the needs identified by our member organizations. Every goal has specific activities trough which we will reach the goal and fulfill our vision.

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Goal 1. Social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities Through this goal and the objectives that subsides it, we want to continue to involve in our activities young people with fewer opportunities, youth workers and social workers and to keep the focus on creating opportunities for disadvantaged young people to participate in international activities.

• Objective 1. Create a definition of social inclusion and young people with fewer opportunities inside Y-E-N. • Objective 2. Direct work with young people with fewer opportunities on local and international level.

• Objective 3. Direct work with social workers and youth workers who work with young people with fewer opportunities.

• Objective 4. Cooperation with other institutions and organizations who work on social inclusion.

Goal 2. Active society towards social inclusion Through this goal and the objectives that subsides it, we want to focus our attention to the outside, towards the communities that we live, towards our society. We want them to be aware of the disadvantaged young people and to react to social inclusion.

• Objective 1. Awareness rising on the issue of socially excluded young people.

• Objective 2. Advocacy and lobbying for social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities on local and international level.

• Objective 3. Work towards recognition of youth work and non-formal education.

• Objective 4. Community takes action.

Goal 3. Strong network Through this goal and the objectives that subsides it we wanted to focus our attention towards the inside of our network. In order to be able to reach all of our goals and objectives, we need to be a stronger network, a network where the quality of our activities is high, where we share experience and competences and where we can collaborate with each other.

• Objective 1. Sense of belonging of member organizations to Y-E-N. • Objective 2. Expansion of Y-E-N in order to reach more disadvantaged young people.

• Objective 3. Capacity building of member organizations.

• Objective 4. Improving the quality of Y-E-N services.

• Objective 5. Improve the visibility of the network.

• Objective 6. Improve the sustainability and financial stability of the network

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Strategic directions of 2015 were: 1. Social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities 2. Capacity building of human resources and support to our members 3. Involvement of our members 4. Communication strategy

1. Social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities Objectives: - Give tools of social inclusion to social workers.

- Open an activity or a certain number if places at one of our activities for young people who face exclusion.

2. Capacity building of human resources and support to our members Objectives: - One activity for developing the teamers and trainers competences and abilities in deeper way (for Y-E-N activities and member organisation activities).

- Depending on the needs, providing to Member Organisations tools and methods to organise their own activities.

3. Involvement of our members Objectives: - At least 50% of our Member Organisation present at the 2014 GA. - Increase the present 50% participation of Member Organisations in partnerships of Y-EN!s projects.

4. Communication strategy Objectives: - Clear platform for communication between Member Organisations and YEN day to day activities.

- Defining the messages and what we want to communicate and define an action plan for it.

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Implemented Actions in 2015 Strategic Direction

1) Social Inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities

Activities Three activities through the EYF Work plan «Inclusion Express» Campaign: - Seminar « Mind the Gap » (April, BosniaHerzegovina) - Training Course for trainers «Inclusion LAB II» (July, Romania) - Mobile Evaluation Meeting «Inclusion Train» (November, Strasbourg and Brussels) Seminar «Light Your Rights: Reveal the Social Value of Youth Work» (September, Spain) «ENTER! Youth Meeting» 2015 (June-July, Strasbourg) Youth Exchange «Cooking for Inclusion» (July, Hungary) «Alsace Mobility Crossroad» creation of a regional platform on youth European Mobility Hosting of long-term unemployed young Germans in French enterprises Training Course for trainers «Inclusion LAB II» (July, Romania)

2) Capacity Building of Human Ressources and support to our members

Kosovo Youth Centres! Network (KYCN) Study Visit to Strasbourg Cross-border seminars (France/Germany/ Switzerland) on youth work and linguistic workshops in French and German «Inclusion Express» Campaign

3) Involvement of our members

4)

Communication Strategy

Attendance of Board members in various events New internal and external communication strategy (working group) New Website «Y-E-N Waves» : Research on the social utility and impact of Y-E-N activities

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Work Plan: «Inclusion Express»

Our long-term campaign «Inclusion Express» for Social Inclusion and Social Rights for young people was the red thread to our 2015 Work Plan. This year, the focus was set on access to social rights for young people in Europe.

Three activities were organized within this plan:

-Seminar «Mind the Gap: Raising Awareness on Social Inclusion

74 participants

of Young People in Europe», Brcko (Bosnia-Herzegovina) April 2015

-Training Course «Inclusion LAB II: Training for Trainers towards a youth inclusive Europe» Milcoveni (Romania) July 2015

-Mobile seminar «Inclusion Train», Strasbourg (France) and Brussels (Belgium) November 2015

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine

25 countries

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Strategic directions: Social Inclusion of Young People with fewer opportunities

Activity: Seminar «Mind the Gap»

Seminar Mind the Gap

19th-25th April Brcko (BosniaHerzegovina)

30 participants from 12 different countries

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, France, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine

The seminar «Mind the Gap: Raising Awareness on Social Inclusion of Young People in Europe» is the first activity of the 2015 Work Plan.

It gathered 30 participants coming from 12 di!erent countries.

The aim and objectives of this «contact making seminar» were: to develop a common vision of our «Inclusion Express» campaign; to take a snapshot of the present situation and to prepare the campaign; to share, learn and collect good practices on social inclusion of young people based on the experience and expertise of young people and youth/social workers; to raise awareness on the impact of youth work as a tool to

actively promote inclusion.

social

During these 5 days, young people as well as youth/social workers had the chance to share about access to social rights for young people and to collect good practices on social inclusion. They also met local decisionmakers and journalists in Brcko and visited local NGOs. Last but not least, they used their artistic skills to create tools for the campaign and to record a song, along with a new motto «Social Inclusion is not an Illusion» and a flash mob performed in Brcko.

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Strategic directions: Social Inclusion of Young People with fewer opportunities

Activity: Training «Inclusion LAB II»

Training for Trainers Inclusion LAB II

The activity «Inclusion LAB II: Training for trainers towards a youth inclusive Europe» was the second of the 2015 Work Plan.

It gathered 30 participants coming from 19 di!erent countries.

3rd-11th July Milcoveni (Romania)

The aim of this T4T was to train youth/social workers to organize activities related to social inclusion of young people and access to social rights in their communities. The idea was to contribute to the development of participants’ training/ facilitation skills but not only. We also provided a space of broadly reflexion and experience on the concepts of Dignity and Social Inclusion.

30 participants from 19 different countries

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, BosniaHerzegovina, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain,Turkey

inclusive practices in youth work, reflect on the principle of dignity and experience the power of the feeling of indignity, learn about Human Rights and Social Rights, improved their skills in group facilitation and learn how to lead a session on Social Inclusion.

The training was also aiming at highlighting the values before entering the techniques and methods.

During these 7 days, youth/social workers had the chance to share 13

Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Strategic directions: Social Inclusion of Young People with fewer opportunities

Activity: Mobile seminar «Inclusion Train»

Mobile Seminar Inclusion Train 14th-20th November Strasbourg (France), Brussels (Belgium) 24 participants from 15 different countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Lithuania, Macedonia, The Netherlands, Romania, Serbia, Turkey

The evaluation meeting and final public conference «Inclusion Train» was the third and last activity of the 2015 Work Plan. It gathered 24 participants from 15 di!erent countries.

The aim and objectives of this mobile seminar were: to evaluate the impact of the «Inclusion Express» campaign on participants, their organisation and community; to promote a debate on social inclusion of young people in Europe; to share, learn and collect good practices on social inclusion of young people based on experience and expertise of the participating workers; to raise awareness on the impact of youth work as a tool to actively promote social inclusion; to create a booklet on «How to campaign for social inclusion?».

During these 4-day mobile seminar, the youth/social workers as well as the young activists of the campaign had the chance to reconnect with each other; to learn about policies and mechanisms to defend the access to social rights (especially through a presentation of the NGO ACCESS) and to share inclusive methods in youth work within a visit to the CSC Elsau in Strasbourg and a field visit of Culturegehem and local NGOs in Brussels.

Moreover, they met a Senior Advisor on Migration at the Council of Europe to discuss about access to social rights for young migrants and refugees.

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Strategic directions: Social Inclusion of Young People with fewer opportunities

Activity: Seminar «Light Your Rights»

Seminar Light Your Rights 21st-27th September Mollina (Spain) 22 participants from 8 different countries

Belgium, Cyprus, France, Hungary, Italy, The

Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Turkey The seminar «Light Your Rights: Reveal the Social Value of Youth Work» organized in collaboration with the international network ROOTS & ROUTES (R&R) gathered 22 participants from 8 di!erent countries.

This seminar was in the frame of the University on Youth and Development (oragnized by the NorthSouth Centre of the Council of Europe). The aim was to support access to social rights for all young people and to promote the social value of youth work.

The main objectives were to identify mechanisms of social inclusion that already exists or can work in young people’s local reality; to empower young people to know their rights and youth/

social workers to support them to defend these rights; to raise awareness on the impact of youth work as a tool to promote social inclusion and to equip young people and youth/social workers with artistic and communication tools to campaign for social inclusion of young people on-line and o!-line.

In the first three days of the seminar, the participants explored what Social Inclusion, Social Rights and Youth Work mean. Then, they created an artistic performance showing their message «We have the lights, you have the Rights» presented at the local festival dedicated to the local community of Mollina as well as during the UYD in front of 250 young representatives from youth organisations coming from 5 di!erent continents.

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Strategic directions: Social Inclusion of Young People with fewer opportunities

Activity: ÂŤAlsace Mobility CrossroadÂť

Alsace Mobility Crossroad Since September 2015 Alsace region 2069 young people 1161 NGOs representatives

The creation of a regional platform for European mobility of young people brings together: - Players from the youth crossborder, European and international mobility; - Orientation, guidance and information; - Major federations of non-formal learning and institutions (cities, counties, region)

promote actively youth mobility; to inform youth leaders, local decisionmakers about crossborder, European and international mobility of young people and its added value.

This platform supports and implements a program to inform and support young people in their mobility project.

The objectives are: to inform young people about mobility opportunities and access to these; to inform and train youth practitioners to

The platform will run until June 2017.

Particular attention is paid to young people who, because of their social or geographical situation, have less access to mobility opportunities.

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Strategic directions: Social Inclusion of Young People with fewer opportunities

Activity: ENTER! Youth Meeting

ENTER! Youth Meeting 30th June-3rd July Strasbourg (France) 180 young people in vulnerable situations, youth/social workers

!

The Enter! Youth Meeting 2015 «Access to social rights for all young people!» was organised by the Youth Sector of the Council of Europe and YE-N was part of the Programming Committee and Facilitating team.

This activity o!ered young people, especially those e x p e r i e n c e i n g discrimination, exclusion and violence in their environment, the opportunity to have their voices heard on solutions for improving their access to social rights.

180 young people, youth workers and local and regional authorities’ representatives from all over Europe participated in this meeting in order to learn and share experiences about social rights, situations and responses in other countries, as well as about

the work of the Council of Europe in this field.

The strategic role of this youth meeting was to discuss the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to the Member States on the access of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to social rights, which has been adopted in January 2015 and to support its promotion and implementation at all levels.

The meeting resulted in a message sent to the Council of Europe and young people discovered Strasbourg and local organisations and services; shared realities, activities, talents and hobbies and got motivated to be more active in their communities.

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Strategic directions: Social Inclusion of Young People with fewer opportunities

Activity: Youth Exchange «Cooking for Inclusion»

Youth Exchange Cooking for Inclusion 22nd-30th July Kecskemet (Hungary) 30 participants from 7 different countries Bosnia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Spain

The youth exchange «Cooking for Inclusion» was a partnership project hosted & organised by our Hungarian member organisation and other YE-N members.

The aim of this youth exchange was to use cooking as a tool to promote social inclusion and intercultural dialogue.

It was also a very good opportunity for youth mobility, communication, networking and creativity booster.

After team building activities, the group took part in field visits and food workshops to learn about local and healthy food.

Each evening, participants in mixed groups made a national dinner with responsible person from the relevant country. All participants could try themselves out in di!erent tasks: cooking,

decoration, entertainment, social media.

Everyone had possibility to become leader or member of the subgroup, work in international group and use English language or other creative way to communicate and understand each other, taste very delicious national food from di!erent countries, have a look to ohter cultures and learn how to cook.

As a result, a cook book was created as well as a blog and a photo competition.

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Strategic directions: Capacity Building of Human Ressources and support to our members

Activity: Kosovo Youth Centres! Network (KYCN) Study Visit

Kosovo Youth Centres’ Network (KYCN) Study visit to Strasbourg

The study visit gathered 14 Kosovo Youth Centres’ Network (KYCN) representatives, 12 Kosovo Youth Ministry Representatives, 3 representatives from the French Ministry of Youth, 4 youth non-governmental organisations, 2 European youth networks (Y-E-N and Balsika) in Strasbourg.

15th-16th June Strasbourg (France)

The study visit was for KYCN the opportunity to take experience on youth network management, to be informed on the situation of youth in France and to find opportunities for furhter common partnership projects. The guests also had the chance to visit the European institutions in Strasbourg.

As a result, KYCN became member of our Network and participated in the «Inclusion Train» seminar.

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Strategic directions: Capacity Building of Human Ressources and support to our members

Activity: Cross-border seminars (France/Germany/Switzerland) on youth work

Cross-border seminars (FR/ GE/SZ) 3 seminars 107 participants from 3 different countries

France, Germany, Switzerland

The objectives of these cross-border seminars were to foster cooperation and exchange of good practices among French, German, Swiss youth workers and youth organizations from the Upper Rhine Region.

The cross-border Partnership Building Activity «Where does Youth Work go?» in February in Karlsruhe (Germany) as well as the cross-border seminar on «How to organise a crossborder youth exchange?» in November in Strasbourg (France) had both the aim to encourage local youth organisations to set up new crossborder projects; to create sustainable cross border partnerships and to sensitize the young people from Upper Rhine region to mobility.

The cross-border workshop on «Youth work and social media» organised in October in Strasbourg (France) was aiming to inform youth/social workers about the No Hate Speech Movement; to sensitize youth/social workers about the ethical issues related to the use of social media when working with young people and to promote EU’s linguistic diversity and intercultural awareness.

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Strategic directions: Involvement of our members

Activity: “Inclusion Express” Campaign

«In

clu

s Ca ion E mp xp aig res n s»

1 Website 3 European support measures+ 13 local offline campaigns

More than 2000 people reached

4 Facebook pages/groups

“Inclusion Express” Week was part of our European “Inclusion Express” Campaign and mobilised our members & partners in order to organise simultaneous activities in their country and on the local level. Between flash mobs and workshops, here are some pictures of countries who took part in this inclusive week!

a Armeni Kosovo

Georgia

Croa Italy

tia

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Strategic directions: Involvement of our members

Activity: Y-E-N representations in 2015

Statutory Meetings of the European Youth Forum (YFJ)

Y-E-N is now a candidate member of the YFJ !

Meetings of the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe

Participation in the World Forum of Democracy with the Municipality of Strasbourg

Brigitte LUDMANN, Director of Y-E-N, is the vice-president of the “House of organisations� (Maison des associations) since June 2014

Participation in the European Youth Work Convention

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Strategic directions: Communication Strategy

Activity: The Communication Working group

le visib ge! e r Mo ok pa ebo Fac

bsite! e W New

“Y-E-N Waves” is a research conducted to evaluate in a quantitive and qualitative approach the impact of Y-E-N activities on the participants and member organisations

»

s ve

Group interviews in member or partner organisations with former participants

-N

Wa

-E «Y

Data from projects of 2014 and 2015 collected 23

Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Other Local Activities: Strasbourg and region

Building bridges between Formal and Non-formal Learning through activities at the University of Freiburg (Germany) and Mulhouse (France) for Chemistry students (French and German) in order to improve their employability and their intercultural competences

Long-term training course for professional carers

Coaching of local youth organisations on how to create and run a youth organisation, on the Erasmus+ programme and mobility opportunities for young people

Young people from different backgrounds and different experiences from Erasmus+ participated in the Europe Day (9th May) as «living books» of the Living Library project 2 Training Courses «My Way of volunteering for Europe» for French Civic Volunteers (Supported by the French Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Cohesion)

Preparation and implementation of a one-week vocational visit in Strasbourg for 6 German groups of learners (Financially supported by the French-German Youth Organisation)

French-German Cooperation Training and information Day on how to work with young people with addictions for German social workers

2- to 6-month Work placements in France for 12 long-term unemployed young Germans

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Statutory Meetings Board Meetings

In 2015, Y-E-N had 6 Board Meetings: March 2015 in Vukovar (Croatia) 2 in July 2015 in Milcoveni (Romania) September 2015 in Strasbourg (France) November 2015 in Rotterdam (NL) December 2015 in Strasbourg (France)

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

General Assembly

In July 2015, the General Assembly of Y-E-N took place in Milcoveni, ROMANIA. The event gathered 20 participants in total: representatives of Y-E-N member organisations, Board members and staff members.

The GA elected five Board members as well as accepted two new member organisations: Kosovo Youth Centres Network and Cyprus Youth Power.

The Assembly discussed the Vision and missions of Y-E-N and how they can be translated in concrete actions and activities for the next 3 years.

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

Annexe: 2016 Work Plan The last Y-E-N GA in July 2015 in Romania adopted a strategic vision for the next 3 years that forsees 2016 as a year for follow-up of our “Inclusion Express” campaign for social inclusion and access to social rights for young people in Europe.

But this year, the Work Plan “Angle it Right: New Persepctive on young people with opportunities” also aims to address the need of an appropriate perception of young people with fewer opportunities.

The objectives of the project are:

- To create a safe space for young people with fewer opportunities to reflect on their own life story; - - To identify and recognize in their life story, the experience, resources and potential that these young people have, that make out of them more than “young people with fewer opportunities”; - To inform young people with fewer opportunities about their rights; - To enable young people with fewer opportunities to stand for their rights (individually or collectively); - To create a space for young people with fewer opportunities to show themselves the way they want to be seen; - To valorize youth initiatives at local level.

The three main activities of this Work Plan are:

- A study visit “Localise it! Study visit on local youth initiatives” in March-April 2016 in Dordrecht (The Netherlands) to valorise youth initiatives at local level; - A Training course “Voice it! Young people tell their story and claim for their rights” (using the Digital Story Telling) in August-September 2016 in Groznjan (Croatia) to empower young people with fewer opportunities to see themselves differently by telling their own story to themselves and to others; - A seminar “Brave it out! Regional Experts meetings on community development” in autumn 2016 in Ostia (Italy), Novi-Sad (Serbia) and Tbilissi (Georgia).

Otherwise regarding the Y-E-N team, the goal for 2016 is to recruit more than 5 Board members. Furthermore, as of the 1st of January 2016, Véronique BERTHOLLE became the new Director, Brigitte LUDMANN the Mobility Project Coordinator and a new Network Coordinator arrived: Emmeline KUHN joined the coordination office team on the 1st of March 2016!

2016, let!s go!

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Youth Express Network Activity Report 2015

This report has been written by Emmeline KUHN from the coordination office of the Youth Express Network.

It shows all the different aspects of our activities in 2015.

It doesn!t represent the official point of view of our funders.

YOUTH EXPRESS NETWORK Maison des Associations 1A Place des Orphelins 67000 STRASBOURG France Tel: +33 3 88 35 37 45 Email: y-e-n@wanadoo.fr Website: youthexpressnetwork.org Facebook page: Youth Express Network

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