FEMYSO’s European Youth Work Agenda Statement

Last week, the Third European Youth Work Convention (EYWC) took place. The EYWC is complementary to a larger process of furthering the Youth Work agenda in Europe (EYWA). FEMYSO delegates attended as both participant and panel speakers, and followed the success of the Convention. See the video contribution of our Executive Committee Member, Hande Taner, who is also a member of the Council of Europe’s Advisory Council on Youth, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpewFN7oOyI. And find here the final declaration of the Convention, with signposts for the future: https://www.eywc2020.eu/downloads/doctrine/WebforumVeranstaltungenWebsiteBundle:Media-file-54/3rdEYWC_finaldeclaration.pdf.

Our position on the EYWA’s future is focussed on the implementation process. While great achievements are recorded and progress is at a high speed, how inclusive will the implementation of the European Youth Work Agenda be? European Muslim Youth and Students are going through dark times where the Islamophobic narrative is normalised more and taking more public space in European countries. It directly affects the lives and civic engagement of young European Muslims and targets them for how they look or what they believe in. Islamophobia is one of the active engines behind the shrinking civic space in Europe.

However, FEMYSO also recognises the socially excluded and marginalised youth of other backgrounds, who might not be aware of youth work in their local contexts in general, or of the valuable efforts of the processes led at European level. These youth must be included, not just as a ticking-the-box exercises where they are invited to share their thoughts and go, but rather, youth of ethnic, religious and lower socio-economic backgrounds must be systematically and constantly engaged in the process.

FEMYSO remains a close partner and ally to the European Youth Work Agenda processes.

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