12-14 December 2011
Paris, France

The EuropeanYouth Forum (YFJ) with the support of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) organised a conference in Paris to address the youthemployment crisis and its solutions. The conference was attended by four representatives from Rural Youth Europe: Kadri Toomingas (Rural Youth Europe Board), Jari Joutsenvaara (Finnish 4H), Gunvor Guttormsen (Norwegian 4H) and Amanda Hajnal (Rural Youth Europe Secretariat).

The conference was organised in January 2012 in Brussels by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), a consultative body of the EU bringing together different groups of civil society and business. The conference dealt with different outcomes of the crises we are currently in and what the EU might do about it. Rural Youth Europe was invited to send a speaker for the panel discussion titled “Getting youth on board”. Michael Schwab, Chairman of Rural Youth Europe, attended the conference as the Rural Youth Europe representative.

Reach Your Potential! Developing Youth Leadership in Rural Communities
4-11 August 2012
Żerków, Poland

Rural Youth Europe in co-operation with the Organisation for Development in Rural Areas (WSnRROW) in Poland are organising the European Rally 2012 in the western part of Poland. The European Rally 2012 will bring young people together from across Europe to gain the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to take active roles in their local communities.

The Rural Youth Europe board has received 8 project entries for the Rural Youth Project of 2011 competition. Project entries have been received from Austrian Rural Youth, Danish Young Farmers, Estonian 4H, Finnish 4H (2 entries), Latvian 4H, Young Farmers of Ulster, and Wales Young Farmers Clubs. All the projects are of very high quality and demonstrate that our member organisations are doing very creative and valuable projects at the grass-roots level. It will be a hard decision for the judges! The winning projects will be announced early next week.

“Partnerships for Youth – Getting the Young into Jobs and Business for Successful Working Life”
20-21 March 2012
Berlin, Germany

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and its Local Economic and Employment Development Programme (LEED) will organise the 8thAnnual Meeting of its Forum of Partnerships and Local Governance entitled “Partnerships for Youth – Getting the Young into Jobs and Business for Successful Working Life”. The OECD would like to invite participants from youth organisations to take part at the event.