This year, throughout our different projects (Together Thursdays and COFOE), we aim at raising awareness of the European institutions’ impact on the lives of rural youth, while promoting active citizenship by giving a voice to the issues faced by rural youth in Europe.
We are very proud to have Anja Fortuna from ZSPM representing our network as the new vice-president of the European Youth Forum (YFJ). In this blog we are introducing you to the European Youth Forum (YFJ), our main channel to advocate our member organisations’ and rural youth’s interests at the European level.
What is the European Youth Forum?
The European Youth Forum is a platform made up of nearly 100 National Youth Councils and international youth NGOs from across Europe. Rural Youth Europe, as well as our partner organisation MIJARC Europe are full members at YFJ and our partner organisation CEJA is an observer member.
According to Siobhán Gallagher, our Special Interest Board Member and contact person regarding YFJ matters, “the European Youth Forum provides Rural Youth Europe many opportunities to network with NGO’s & Youth Councils facilitating the exchanging of ideas, influencing policy issues and much more. RYEurope’s involvement in the YFJ helps strengthen the advocacy work we do at a European Level ensuring that the voices of rural young people is heard.”
Members of YFJ. Updated information on which organizations are members of the YFJ can be accessed at www.youthforum.org
Mission
YFJ works through its various bodies, commissions and task forces towards the European Union, Council of Europe, United Nations and other policy makers to promote issues affecting young Europeans. YFJ meets twice a year at the Council of Members meeting (COMEM) and the General assembly.
The YFJ’s work focuses mainly on articulating and voicing the concerns of its membership and seeking their inclusion on the political agendas of governmental institutions—namely, the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the United Nations—in complementarity to the work of its member organizations. It is based in Brussels where it maintains a permanent secretariat.
As the Vice-President of the biggest youth platform in the world and as a rural youth representative I see my role in showing the importance of rural youth advocacy and in raising the awareness that there is a lot of things we need to do in order to improve the lives of young people living in rural areas. When it comes to the yearly work plan my main responsibilities are leading the Sustainable Development cluster, working on membership engagement and cooperating with United Nations and other organisations working on global level.
– Anja Fortuna, Vice-Presidente of European Youth Forum.
The YFJ provides a space for organizations to develop sustainably and offers strategic support for capacity building, networking, and the dissemination of good practice to build a strong and united youth movement in Europe. It empowers youth in their ability to come together and build independent, democratic, representativе, and inclusive associations.The YFJ is a place for debate that leads to the development of policies and positions based on the opinions, experiences, and expertise of young people from all over Europe.[1]
Don’t forget to subscribe to YFJ news not to miss a single information about what is going on in the youth field at the European level.
The European Youth Forum is funded by:
[1]https://www.youthpolicy.org/mappings/regionalyouthscenes/europe/actors/nongovernmental/
This blog is part of the Together Thursdays project, co funded by the European Union.
