With an unanimous vote the EESC’s section for External Relations and later the EESC plenary adopted an own initiative opinion on the Youth Action Plan (YAP) in EU external action. This was the first-ever policy framework for a strategic partnership with young people around the world put forward by the Commission and the High Representative, said the EESC press office.
The EESC is uniquely positioned to facilitate engagement with youth networks recognizing the important role of young people in building a better future: greener, digital, more inclusive and more democratic, the document says.
In the opinion, the EESC calls for attention to the most marginalized young people, including young people with disabilities, and urged for all leadership work to be complemented by an equal focus on grassroots support for youth in local communities. The EESC believes that the expertise and experience of youth organizations in the EU, and around the world, is a great resource in the delivery of the Youth Action Plan. It recommends that target countries should be encouraged and given the tools to have their own tangible dedicated youth policies and national youth councils or equivalents and suggests that activities focusing on education should be centred on equality, particularly protecting young girls, and that strategies should ensure the engagement of hardest to reach.
The rapporteur on the opinion Michael McLoughlin, EESC member (Civil society organisations Group III, IR), head of advocacy and communications at Youth Work Ireland, talked to BTA about the challenges in YAP in EU external action and the role of education.
The EESC welcomed the Youth Action Plan (YAP) in EU external action, but pointed some challenges that will need monitoring and oversight. What are the most challenging areas?
There are a number in our view. Overall, it seems a high level of co-ordination and integration would be needed between a number of different actors such as EEAS, Commission DG's, Delegations, NGO's, member states and local stakeholders in target countries. This would also be replicated on the funding front.
We also feel some capacity building in basic concepts of youth work and working with young people would be needed. This would particularly be the case in the area of participation in decision making. The experience of us who are active in this field in Europe it is challenging and difficult work to ensure the right people are participating and we feel that may be even more challenging in the external environment where countries may be fragile or simply not democratic.
We feel supporting youth organizations will be challenging too although the plan is ambitious here is a good way. Often youth polices only exist on paper and there is no support for genuine independent organizations and stable funding is quite rare. Independence is often an issue in the countries where the EU conducts its external relations.
The EESC opinion recommends that target countries should be encouraged and given the tools to have their own tangible dedicated youth policies and national youth councils or equivalents. What are these tools?
In the main we should look to see if a good solid youth policy exists with the Government, the EU should really be looking for this and seeing if it is real and being implemented. Alongside this clear evidence insofar as possible of independent youth organisations and supporting these to develop with funding and technical advice. Often this "infrastructure" is needed before much else can be done. If it isn't possible, we feel partnerships can be made between European youth organizations, their ministries and those in target countries who want to bring this about perhaps with the EU delegations.
I think our prospective would be where are we working and how we are working – through funding, through aid or through scholarships or exchanges and programmes. And the EU as an external body can apply some conditions for these exchanges and scholarships – to be transparent, open especially in fragile states. Europe does not have all the answers but we may offer certain models and good practices in education in some EU member states may be very good examples in terms of methodology. We are moving to a degree away from just exams and very basic measurements towards a more broader assessment and more involvement.
Education is a center piece in the YAP. How should schools, universities and other educational institutions be supported for their roleto ensure equitable access to non-discriminatory, inclusive, affordable and accessible and quality education and global citizenship education?
Like much in the YAP there is existing work being done and a lot of aid goes into education from the EU and organizations like UNICEF are also supported by the EU, member states and the public. As always, we would like to see more joined up thinking using best practice in our member states and reinforcing the key role for young girls who we often see excluded but also seeing in other parts of the world the high rates of unemployment increasingly for young men.
As with all policies we need to guard against capture, and this is particularly the case for things like scholarships and awards. These need to be awarded transparently and through open and fair methods. We also need to guard against a "brain drain" of the brightest and youngest leaving the developing world which we even see in Europe too. We should promote south-south co-operation in this field as well as others.
In a hearing with young people involved it occurred to me – it’s a philosophical thing - that we think that these countries are a million miles behind us – and this is not true. If you engage with people you will know that there are fantastic things happening in this part of the world in terms of technology, education. There still are problems of course. But it shouldn’t just be us with the answers in an almost colonial way saying – here are the answers, we will show you how to live your lives. We have good models but the best practice can be in another southern state, a developing country, between universities, education ministries. We should work with the African union too.
Europe is very eager about mobility but mobility as “we are leaving and we are not coming back” is not so good. So we need to realize this for Africa where there is a massive migration issue. We always have to be aware of that, of what they are trying to do to protect their borders because countries that lose population don’t do very well.
The EESC stresses the need for education to be centred on equality, particularly protecting young girls. How may the EU enable that shift in areas where girls and women are deprived of basic human rights?
Inevitably this will vary from country to country. In more extreme cases basic security and humanitarian provision is necessary. Education can be folded into this but even NGO's may find it hard to work in these areas. UNICEF does tremendous work on the ground and in partnering with local stakeholders can advance this agenda too.
Where the situation is more stable inevitably Official Development Assistance has to be targeted at this issue and work will be based on partnership. Like in our own societies strong role models can assist as well as positive images in the public space.
Can you give a good example of an initiative that best illustrates the spirit and goals of YAP in EU external action?
My own organization has done exchanges between youth workers who deal with refugees in Turkiye, in our opinion we reference the work of the "Big 5" youth organizations globally and I know LSU, the Swedish Youth Council, do a lot of work in the developing world. The key to this is often the member state foreign ministry or aid organization seeing the value in the youth sector in their own country and assisting and facilitating it in this partnership work.
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