International Forum “Enhancing youth participation through cross-sectoral collaboration”

Designed as a discovery journey, the Forum is open to national delegations (40 participants in total) that are interested in gaining new insights while also exploring the challenges and opportunities of cross-sectoral collaboration in their own local/national contexts. It further emphasises the opportunities offered by the EU Programmes to integrate active participation and democratic values into our work done in different sectors.

The Forum will take place between 23-26 April 2025 in Jurmala, Latvia. 23 arrival day, 24 and 25 full Forum days, 26 departure day.

What can you expect?

A platform to gain inspiration and discover:

• New practices of cross-sectoral collaboration
• Examples of how Erasmus+ can be used to foster youth participation in democratic life and the support the overall participation priority
• Overview of the current competence frameworks and professional development opportunities for youth workers and teachers in the field of participation and civic education
• Opportunities to overcome the challenges in fostering youth participation in collaboration between the sectors.

A community with whom you can jointly reflect on:

• How can we better use the EU (youth) programmes (e.g. KA2 and beyond)?
• How can we find synergies and bridge cross-sectoral collaboration?
• How ready are we to deal with the new democratic challenges (technology, algorithms, radicalisation)?
• What can we do together in our national and local contexts?

During the Forum, NPiY will launch the results from two mapping initiatives - Mapping practices of cross-sectoral collaboration, including examples of E+ funded projects and Mapping competencies of youth workers & teachers/educators (covering Estonia, Latvia and South-East Europe region), which will provide valuable insights and inspiration for further cooperation initiatives among the participants. The Forum’s programme builds on the outcomes produced in the first edition of the Forum (November  2023) - report available here - and the NPiY Analytical paper “Youth Participation and Citizenship Education: A Cross-sectoral Perspective”. Additionally, it builds on the recommendations produced during the SALTO PI cross-sectoral Participation Forum, organised in November 2024.

The Forum will include a variety of methodologies:

• plenary sessions where invited experts will present the outcomes of NPiY mappings, provide inputs on trends of youth participation and the impact of new technology on democracy and citizenship
• small working groups where participants will share their insights and practices
• spaces to interact with participants from other countries
• spaces to interact with members from the same national delegation in order to identify potential local/national actions

Who is the Forum for?

National delegations, 3-4 members, which include representatives from both sectors:

• Representatives of National Agencies for E+ & ESC - Youth and Education & Training (where the NAs work separately, we invite one representative from each sector)
• Representatives of youth work sector (youth workers, youth managers etc.)
• Representatives of formal (general) education sector (teachers involved in civic education/other relevant subjects; headmasters and school staff in decision-making positions)
• Representatives of municipalities (youth workers, other staff involved in youth participatory initiatives - e.g. local youth councils)
• Experts and/or Representatives of other structures (professionals in teacher/youth workers’ training providers, curriculum developers, leaders of youth councils/parliaments etc.)

Considerations in the selection of national delegations:

• Participation is open to all National Agencies/countries interested in the topic of the Forum, even if they are not part of NPiY Strategic Partnership; both from Youth and Education & Training sectors.
• Include at least 1 NA representative and at least 1 representative from each sector (youth work and formal education);
• Interest in gaining inspiration from other European countries;
• Interest in building a reflection process on local/national realities.

Application process is open for all participants who match the categories listed above. Selection will be made by each National Agency. Participation of the selected participants is conditional on the participation of at least 1 NA representative.

The Forum is part of the Strategic Partnership New Power in Youth (NPiY SNAC), between several Erasmus+ National Agencies in the field of youth and SALTO Resource Centres. This is the 2nd edition of the Forum and is hosted by the Latvian National Agency for Erasmus+ & European Solidarity Corps.

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