Linking national and European democratic participation
Background
YFU and AFS operate in an dynamic environment where changing external policies and programmes have both positive and negative impacts on our programmes. Be it visa regulations, laws concerning package travel, the academic recognition of the exchange year or challenges and opportunities presented by the Comenius Individual Pupil Mobility programme, the ability of AFS and YFU to successfully organise high quality youth exchanges is linked not only to strong internal organisational standards, but also to the framework provided by our common external environment.
The importance of being strong actors in shaping our external environments at national and European levels has been recognised, through the creation of European umbrella structures like EEE-YFU and EFIL and national umbrella structures such as AJA, Intermundo, the UNSE, CIU or SAFU. Some national AFS and YFU organisations have become active in National Youth Councils and yet others have undertaken innovative lobbying and networking approaches. However, experience and achievements at national level lay within few individuals and isolated success stories.
Internally, EEE-YFU and EFIL are unique within the AFS and YFU networks as part of their core work involves advocacy and representation. Achievements and ongoing work at European level, such as the creation of the Comenius IPM programme and monitoring its development have led to important consequences at national level. Finding mechanisms to efficiently co-ordinate work between European national levels has remained a challenge for both networks.
Aims and objectives
This seminar sought to increase competence at national level in the field of advocacy through the exchange of good practices, skills development and learning about national and European structures and opportunities for networking. It also sought to improve the co-operation between national level organisations and their European umbrella organisations.
The preliminary objectives for the seminar were to:
- develop an understanding of the links and interdependencies of national and European level policies and programmes and how exchange organisations can influence them;
- exchange and be inspired by national level best practices and strategies;
- identify opportunities for lobbying at national level, as well as existing networking/advocacy channels, such as National Youth Councils and national level umbrella organisations (i.e. AJA-Germany, UNSE-France, Intermundo-Switzerland, CIU-Sweden, SAFU-Denmark, etc.);
- work out a framework on how member organisations can co-operate with their European umbrella organisations; and
- develop attitudes concerning the importance, possibilities and practicality of advocacy work, the power of networking, and the vital role national organisations play in European level advocacy.
The Organisers and funders
European Educational Exchanges - Youth For Understanding (EEE-YFU) is the umbrella organisation of 28 European YFU organisations. EEE-YFU facilitates co-operation and sharing between national organisations and organises educational activities to enhance their work. At European level, EEE-YFU co-operates with other youth organisations and acts as the voice of YFU promoting, YFU’s positions and values within the European institutions.
The European Federation for Intercultural Learning (EFIL) is the umbrella structure for AFS organisations in Europe. The main functions of EFIL include organisation of pan-European projects, training and sharing activities and advocacy/representation efforts for its Member Organisations, as well as facilitating the development of new AFS organisations in Europe.
The seminar was funded by the Youth in Action (YiA) Programme of the European Union. Find more information about the YiA Programme please see http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/youth/index_en.htm. Download the report from the seminar .
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