Seminar on Democratic Youth Participation for Leaders of Youth Organizations, Members of Youth Parliaments and Governments (archive event)

From December 22 to 26, 2021 in Kaliningrad, within the framework of cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Council of Europe in the field of youth policy, the Seminar on Democratic Youth Participation was held for leaders of youth organizations, members of youth parliaments and governments.

Increasing active citizenship and promoting youth participation in society is one of the priorities of the Framework Program on Co-operation between the Russian Federation and the Council of Europe in the field of youth policy.

This event is a part of the Action Plan for 2021 of the Framework Program on Co-operation between the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation and the Council of Europe in the field of youth policy.

Traditionally, the seminar is held at the European Youth Center in Strasbourg during the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Since 2020 because of the pandemic situation due to COVID-19 it has become impossible to hold the seminar in the usual format in Strasbourg. The Russian partners and the Council of Europe decided to transform this event into the educational training on the topic of youth participation and to hold this event on the territory of the Russian Federation until the epidemiological situation improves.

The purpose of the seminar is to familiarize participants with the institutions of the Council of Europe, its approaches, and standards in the field of youth policy, in particular, concerning youth participation as a tool for creating positive changes in society.

Seminar objectives:

• To study the priorities and resources of the Youth Sector of the Council of Europe as well as its experience and principles of work in the field of youth policy,
• To form an understanding of youth participation as the concept as well as to analyze the forms of youth participation, their relevance, accessibility, effectiveness and attractiveness for different categories of youth,
• To get acquainted with various tools which could increase the level of youth participation and their application in local realities,
• To promote the development of active citizenship among participants and increase the level of participation in decision-making processes,
• To create conditions for further cooperation, development of joint projects and networking between participants.

Within five days the participants got acquainted with the institutions of the Council of Europe, discussed its approaches and standards in the field of youth policy, in particular, on the topic of youth participation, considered the system of joint management (co-management) in the youth sector of the Council of Europe, got acquainted with the “Ladder of participation” by Roger Hart, the manual “Have your say!”, the RMSOS model. They also analyzed the forms of youth participation in terms of their relevance, accessibility, inclusiveness, effectiveness and attractiveness for young people, developed ideas and recommendations to increase the level of youth participation and the role of youth in the life of the territories.

Participants are 25 people. They are representatives of youth parliaments and youth governments, leaders of youth public associations, young deputies.

Results: the acquaintance of the participants with the institutions of the Council of Europe, its approaches and standards in the field of youth policy, in particular, on the topic of youth participation as a tool for creating positive changes in the society.