On October 28 and 29 2016, representatives of ECYC’s member organizations (MOs) joined the network’s Secretariat and Bureau in Nicosia, Cyprus, for the latest Chief Executives and Presidents meeting. Are you wondering what a C.E.P. meeting is? Based on ECYC’s statues, C.E.P. meetings are non-statutory, take place three times in a two-year period and, as their name implies, they reunite Presidents and Chief Executives from ECYC’s member organizations. The main aim of this type of meetings is to allow exchanges of best practices, provide networking opportunities, visit youth clubs, collect information from MOs, discuss the work plan etc.

On the first day of the meeting, participants were welcomed by the president of the Cyprus Youth Clubs organization (KOKEN) Yiannis Georgiou, who presented the history of his organization and its main tasks. Afterwards, Bureau member Elena Lotrean officially announced Andrea Casamenti’s candidacy for the position of Board member of the European Youth Forum. Andrea has been working in ECYC as project manager and external representative for the past two years and, if elected, he would be mainly interested in focusing on the Youth Work and Volunteering portfolio and in advocating for stronger youth organizations in Europe. You can take a look at his introduction video here and read about his expertise and his plans for the European Youth Forum on the YFJ’s website. Please support him by contacting the member organizations of the European Youth Fourm and convincing them to vote for Andrea!

The morning session continued with a presentation on advocacy at international level. As ECYC’s member organizations often showed interest in the ways in which ECYC attempts to influence EU policies, the Secretariat prepared a list of possible pathways for getting our messages across when working with the European Commission, the European Parliament or the Council of Europe. For instance, ECYC can disseminate its view on a certain topic by setting up meetings with the competent representatives of the European Commission, while presidents of national organizations were advised to contact the MEPs from their countries who are part of the Youth Intergroup. To sum up, there is not only one way to influence the decision-making process at international level and the most important thing is to target the right group of people. Then, Andrea’s presentation focused on the mid-term evaluation of Erasmus+ in 2017. In particular, Andrea stressed the importance that ECYC’s member organizations influence the evaluation process, as it will influence the budget allocated to the programme in the next few years and what the programme starting in 2021 will look like. National and regional organizations can do so in different ways, but mainly by contacting the ministry in charge of drafting the national report on Erasmus+ in their country..

Afterwards, participants split in two working groups and came up with concrete plans for doing advocacy. One group identified better funds for youth organizations as the main priority for advocacy at national level and recognition of youth work at international level. Regarding the first topic, participants said that member organizations of ECYC should target governments, municipalities, the private sector and funders through campaigns and meetings. For further recognition, ECYC should provide the European Youth Forum, national ministries, MEPs and representatives of EU countries in Brussels with qualitative documentation (ex. position papers), speak ‘their’ language and establish a network of connections. At the same time, ECYC’s member organizations should present the work of youth workers, statistics and useful data, values etc. to each country’s ministry of youth/education, promote academic researches, and generate cooperation at a local and regional level. The second group, on the other hand, focused on the topic of youth poverty. At international level, ECYC should make sure that youth poverty is a key theme in the new EU Youth Strategy by set ting up meetings and presenting our policy positions to youth ministers, different Integroups and Committees in the European Parliament, as well as the DG for Education and Youth of the European Commission. To do so, ECYC needs to develop more position papers at its General Assemblies. A visibility and awareness-raising strategy is also necessary, for instance by using emails, letters, the ECYC Facebook page and website etc. At international level, ECYC members should aim to influence the national Action Plans on youth poverty by building coalitions with like-minded organizations, producing new knowledge and diffusing existing research, translating information etc.

In the afternoon, participants took part in a picturesque excursion around the villages of Pitsilia, on the Troodos mountains. The first stop was the charming little village of Kyperounta and the local youth center. There, participants had the chance to learn about the work of the youth center, which regularly organizes events and fun activities in the area, but also to taste traditional delicacies, such as palouze, apple zivania and traditional apple sweet. The visit to the youth club was followed by a short walk around the village and a visit to the holy church of saint Arsenios, located just outside Kyperounta village. The Youth Information Center of the Agros village, Agros Youth Club, presented an overview of their work and their previous projects and proposed some interesting NFE activities.. The presentation of the YC was followed by a stroll around one of the village’s rose factories and the excursion came to an end after the group had a traditional dinner at the Agros Youth Center.

Stay tuned for information on day 2 of the C.E.P. meeting in Cyprus!

For more information on the meeting, contact us at ecycsecretariat@fcjmp.be