”Nothing about us – without us”

Active citizenship in European Regions based on Mainstreaming Youth in the AER

Svein Kr. WaaleDeputy Chairman of Vestfold County Council, Norway

Head of Sub Committee Youth in the Assembly of European Regions

Anton Kuzmin Vice-President of the Olomouc Youth Council, CZ

(Both members of the AER Youth Team)

CoR Seminar in Pecs, Hungary, September 11th 2006

”Nothing about us – without us” Created in 1985, the AER is the political organisation of the regions of Europe and their speaker at European and international level. Its mission: To defend the interests of the regions in the political process and to develop interregional cooperation.

Currently (2006), AER has more than 250 member regions from 30 countries, and 13 interregional organisations.

The headquarters are in Strasbourg (F), with offices in Brussels (B) and Alba Iulia (Ro).

AER is divided into 4 committees (A,B,C,D) The Sub-Committee Youth and the AER Youth Team are placed under the Committee D (Culture, Youth, Education, Media)

”Nothing about us – without us” AER YOUTH RESOLUTIONS AND WORK PROGRAMMES

1999 General Assembly LYON - A Message for Young People2000 General Assembly SEINÂJOKI - AER Youth Activities2001 General Assembly SOPRON - Sub-Committee Youth planning First

Youth Summer School2002 1st Youth Summer School OPATIJA - Youth Declaration2002 General Assembly NAPLES - Support to EU Youth Convention of 20022003 2nd Youth Summer School NAPLES 2003 2004 3rd Youth Summer School OLOMOUC - Youth Declaration2004 General Assembly VIENNA - Resolution on “Mainstreaming Youth in the

AER”2005 Work programs of the AER committees – Youth perspective2005 4th Youth Summer School MOSTAR - Elections to and constitution of the

AER Youth Team 2006 5th Youth Summer School MARAMURES - Start of the Eurorpean Youth

Ambassador Scheme & Election of a President of the AER Youth Team

MAINSTREAMING YOUTH IN THE AER – WHY?

Enable exchange of best practice between the regions and their youths

Making democratic institutions in Europe work Implementing obligations of youth participation in

local and regional politics Implementing European and International

obligations in the field of youth affairs

Y o u th Co m pe tition Y o u th S um m e r S c h o ol M a in s tr e a m in g Y o u thin th e AE R

E u r od y s s é

S u b Com m itte e Y o u th Education & training Culture Media & IT

AER Organigram 2005

Committee D

Culture

Education

Youth

Media

Sport

Committee C

Regional policy

Territorial cohesion

Infrastructure

Environment

Tourism

Committee B

Social cohesion

Service services

Health affairs

Committee A

Institutional affairs

MAINSTREAMING: Youth perspectives are taken into account in all committees

Mainstreaming Youth in the AER

Organising Model - Youth Team

2 Committee D

Sub Committee Youth

2 Committee C

2 Committee B

2 Committee A8 from Youth

Summer

School

”Nothing about us – without us”

MAINSTREAMING YOUTH – MAIN POINTS (1) A structure where both politicians and young people

work together The new model provides new ways of participation, that

is what young people ask for in their declarations from the AER Youth Summer Schools

Establishing a Youth Team consisting of 8 youth representatives, 8 politicians (2 from each committee) and the Sub Committee Youth

4 members from the YSS are elected to the Youth Team every second year

”Nothing about us – without us” MAINSTREAMING YOUTH – MAIN POINTS (2)

Political issues from the committees can be dealt with, and topics that young people are engaged in can be put on the agenda

Democracy is not a game we play, it has to do with involvement, participation and influence

We hope this model will renew and strengthen the Youth perspective in the AER structure – and in the AER member regions

Building bridges…

AER Youth Summer School 2005Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

AER Youth Team Members elected in 2005

Committee D:

*Pandora Ellis (UK)

*Kaj Nørholm (DK)

Sub Committee Youth:

Svein Kr. Waale, president (N) – Eva Almhjell (N), Saxon Spence (UK), Gerard Segu (ES) – Ares Montardit (ES), Alfred Kager (AU)

Committee C:

*Geir Knutson (N)

*Eszter Balázsy (HU)

Committee B:

*Roel Augusteijn (NL)

*Maidi Wiklund (S)

Committee A:

*Aida Cvjetkovic (CR)

*Stephan Tange (A)Armel Sukovic (BiH) C

Elisenda Anton Carbonell (E) D

Marianne Bjerkeli (N) B

Anne Gammon (UK) B

Anna Kajava (FI) A

Graham Duncan (UK) C

Anton Kuzmin (CZ) D

Anton, Anna, Marianne, Laura, Holly, Gabriela

The current young members of the AER Youth Team (September 2006)

General principles (of the youth team)

1. Active citizenship by participation and involvement2. Use of already existing arenas3. A forum for young people and political institutions4. Bottom-up and top-down approaches combined5. Representivity, election rules6. Gender equality7. Age (18 – 25)8. Reporting system9. Ownership

MAIN PRIORITIES OF THE YOUTH TEAM 2006

Issues given priority by the AER Youth Team 23rd of November 2005 Implementing EU’s plan D for debate, dialogue and democracy. Debate on

“Youth: The Future of Europe” Papers etc. with an understandable language for young people Access to arenas of political decision making: Youth Participation, Youth

Services, promote youth exchanges Making youth services accessible to all people of all locations and all ages:

Drugs and alcohol, pregnancy, sexuality and family planning, migration, improve the European social model to strengthen the voice of young people – also the disadvantaged group

Access to transport and youth services: Tourism, European Peace Youth Travel Pass, environment

Access to volunteering and citizenship opportunities. Culture, education, European Youth Pact, Youth exchanges, Youth Summer School 2006, marketing of the YT across Europe

Planning the Youth Summer Schools Help to prepare the 2006 GA Youth Section Youth Team as a part of the jury of Most Youth Friendly European Region Communication strategies within the Youth Team-Youth Web Site External evaluation of the trial of “Mainstreaming Youth in the AER”

Building bridges is about using common, democratic, meeting places and

hard work:87 hard working young people at the AER Youth Summer School

Baia Mare (Ro) 27th August to 2nd September 2006

EUROPEAN YOUTH AMBASSADOR SCHEME

Start: 27th August in the AER Summer School with 87 participants from all over Europe

Objective: Enable young people to participate and conduct projects on European issues in their home regions as well as between European regions.

First Success: During the Summer School 40 projects were developed by the participants

Next steps: Implementation of the projects in the regions and monitoring their success

Any Questions?

Thank You!