Dear Family, Dear Friends,
we have, for this issue, so many news and inspiring practices that I don’t know from where to start. Therefore, I am just welcoming you on our Mag saying that I am delighted and happy about the level we are reaching. Our YE Online Mag is going much beyond a simple collector of our Projects’ activities. It is now a concrete space for knowledge exchange.
The Family’s Projects, in addition, are themselves going beyond the simple/classic action of listing their activities. Talking about actions, they are now reached a great level of networking and interaction, overstepping the boundaries/borders of their individual assignments: this issue is the proof. And I believe that, in this delicate period where political borders are the protagonist of one of the saddest moments in our history, we need those great ideas/works/inspiring practices to fill our baggage with positivity.
But let’s go the point(s).
We have a Forum! Specifically the Youth Employment Forum! And what better than a Forum (being literally a public space where to discuss major and relevant issues) can reflect the spirit of the Fund for Youth Employment’s goals? I am convinced that all of you can take inspiration from this new and fantastic online tool created and developed by StayOn Project: a communication platform to learn and to share information. First, I really invite you to click on www.yeforum.eu (after having read the dedicated space in this issue) and then, obviously, my advice is just one: participate!!! 🙂
But… I told you that we had to list all the points! I am happy, indeed, to present you another success reached by our YouthSHARE Project. Why a success? Because it has been published into the Journal ofComparative European Politics!!! I am sure you want to know more about social economy in the EU South… therefore go and read the YouthSHARE comparative analysis, to which we dedicated a special place. Because our Mag is happier, and nicer :), if we fill it with Projects’ results.
With sincere congratulations to our projects, especially considering their high commitment to our goals, I think that I can introduce here the reflection of our Friend Tom, using a direct quotation to sum up the sense: «Ambitions, dreams, projects, livelihoods, lives – paused during the pandemic – can now hit the play button again. We may not be totally out of the woods yet, but we have adopted a modus vivendi to deal with the pandemic and its far-reaching ramifications».
While I would like just to erase from our minds and actions the word “pandemic”, unfortunately we had to learn how to how to live with it. And who knows it better than the younger generations? We all know that youth has been the category most afflicted by the various lockdown, but, as well, they are going beyond. And the European Year of Youth can be the occasion to celebrate their efforts, thanks also to the different institutions that are supporting this renovation.
To make this renovation concrete, however, we are in the continuous need of their active participation and involvement. I am talking about a “political participation in Europe”, as Victoria is going to explain us in the following pages. A special place, indeed, has been dedicated to the cooperation between the European Commission and the College of Europe, with the general scope to include young people into political institutions’ agendas and activities, guaranteeing that they authority and that their voice is heard.
Last but not least, in relation again to the European Year of Youth, our Mag wants to be the virtual space also for “external” Friends, as you already know. And one of them, for a few weeks now, is the European Youth Capital: Tirana! Please, have a look at their last updates and highlights from March.
Related to that and in particular to the European Year of Youth, I am pleased to inform all of you that while participating at the EYY2022 stakeholders and national coordinators groups, I met Elisabet Ólafsdóttir, from the National Agency for Erasmus+ (Youth and Sport) Iceland, Nicole Ziel, from the National Agency for Erasmus+ (Youth and Sport) Liechtenstein, and as well Lillian Solheim, from Bufdir, the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs. I welcome them into our Youth Employment and Regional Cooperation Family, and I am sure we will all together write much more on our regional EEA/Norway Grants initiatives.
What else?! 🙂 I really think this is a great start of the year, and this issue in particular is full and enriched by great contents. I am not adding anymore, since I think the best thing to do know is to scroll our Mag!
Gian Luca Bombarda
The Fund Director
