The Advisory Board (AB) met on the first and second of March 2023 in Brussels (Belgium). 26 members came to the first physical Europe Goes Local AB in Brussels since 2020.
The Advisory Board members looked back on activities that have happened since the 4th European Event of Europe Goes Local. These are a couple of the events which you can read more about on our website:
We had two project Labs in Bonn (Germany) and Chalkidi (Greece). About 25-30 participants were present on each event. During the events the participants learned about the possibilities of the European mobility programs and how to use it, discovered good practices, were supported to build new partnerships and network, get coaching for project development, and received contact and support by the NA. The Project Lab in Chalkidiki focussed specifically on regional youth work.
We joined the EU Regions Week during an online event on youth work an youth participation on 25 October 2022. We contributed via the webinar “YOUTH PARTICIPATION – How to foster youth participation in local communities?”. The first half of the event was a panel discussion “Youth participation, why should we care?”. Three organisations, including Europe Goes Local (EGL), presented their good practices financed by different EU funding.
In December 2022 there was a Study Visit in about Youth Participation in Finnish Municipalities. The aim of this study visit was to get to know the Finnish youth sector and youth participation work in Finland, especially in the municipal field and locally.
Furthermore, there was an EGL Study Visit in Croatia in January 2023. Which is part of a mentoring program which will last until December 2023. During these four days, participants from the Eastern European and Caucasus region exchanged practices and experiences, learned about the realities of municipalities and youth work, and networked. They learned about the specifics of working with young people and various activities and how to develop a youth policy strategy. They visited the EGL municipalities Kastav, Opatija, Rijeka, and Crikvenica. These municipalities shared best practices with the participants to inspire them.
The AB members also discussed the 5th European EGL Event that will take place in Stockholm in May. The main focus of the conference will be about meaningful cooperation. There was already time to discuss this during the Advisory Board in the context of different national realities.
During this conference, national working group members, European, national and local key stakeholders will meet to discuss crucial issues of local youth work and to brainstorm about how the Europe Goes Local network could contribute to develop quality and create bridges between different actors for the benefit of youth work and young people.
Like last year, participants will also be able to present good practices in local youth work and/or how European initiatives, programmes, policies and frameworks contributed to youth work development at the local level.
The members also heard about the convention Local Youth Work And Democracy. This will be a European conference under the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2024. This is a joint event with Democracy Reloading.
The Advisory Board members also discussed WorkVivo, the exclusive intranet of Europe Goes Local. Participants and trainers of EGL’s events, members of our Steering Group and Advisory Board, and members of National Working Groups can get invited to this exclusive digital space. WorkVivo is being used to connect with other people in the youth work field. But it’s also used as a communication tool and as an event tool.
