This is the tenth article out of 12 about the European Youth Goals, written by Citizens of Europe editorial staff.
What are the Youth Goals?
The Youth Goals are 11 purposes that young Europeans consider as political priorities in nowaday European Union.
These goals were developed during a meeting cycle between young Europeans and decision makers: the “EU Youth Dialogue – Youth in Europe: What’s next?” , that took place between 2017/2018.
After those meetings the Council of European Union decides to give more space to the issues that affect young people in its political agenda, by creating new and different paths for supporting them to improve their skills.
The EU Youth Dialogue – Youth in Europe: What’s next? is a dialogue mechanism and it was an essential part of the EU Youth Strategy 2019- 2027. The main purpose of this strategy is to create a more democratic and equal society thought by and for young people.
Space and Participation for All
One of the main purpose of this Youth Goals is to reinforce democratic skills in young people and push them to partecipate actively to the political and social process.
If young people are underrepresented in political institutions is because they are note envolved properly in the decision- making process and they are not engaged correctly. They usually don’t have access to physical spaces in their communities and they don’t have the opportunity to support their personal, cultural and political development.
This is the reason why it’s important provide youth-led physical facilities and infrastructures to give them the opportunity to get spaces autonomous, open and safe, accessible to all.
Anothe element to focus on is to provide youth-friendly, relevant, comprehensive information, also developed by and with young people, in order to enable their participation.
Goals
- Ensure young people can adequately influence all areas of society and all parts of the decision-making processes, from agenda setting to implementation, monitoring and evaluation through youth-friendly and accessible mechanisms and structures, ensuring that policies respond to the needs of young people.
- Ensure equal access to everyday decision making for all young people from different backgrounds.
- Increase youth participation and thus equal representation in the electoral process as well as in elected bodies and other decision-making organs at all levels of society.
- Ensure safe virtual youth spaces are accessible to every young person which provide access to information and services as well as ensure opportunities for youth participation.
- Ensure sustainable funding, common recognition and development of quality youth work in order to strengthen youth organisations and their role in inclusion, participation and non-formal education.