“Believe that further shore Is reachable from here. Believe in miracles and cures and healing wells.”
Seamus Heaney: Irish Poet and Nobel Literature Laureate
From the beginning of the new century our world has been spinning rapidly in divergent orbits. Terrorism, pandemic, climatic freak-shows and intimations of Global War form an alignment of malevolent stars. This is the world that today’s youth has inherited. And this is the world that youth has challenged with verve and humanity, through selfless sacrifice and empathy.
As we emerge from Covid captivity and start to enjoy the return of freedoms of movement and association, it is time to reawaken old momentum and motivation. 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. However, imagination and resilience are necessary parts of the armoury, as are cohesion and solidarity.
The Japanese proverb“Nana korobi, ya oki” – “Fall down seven times, stand up eight,”means choosing to never give up hope, and to always strive for more. That refrain has carried many through the darkness of suffering into the light of a future with more hopeful horizons.
Hope. Espoir. Hoffnung. Speranza. Hap. Dochas. And for the men, women and children of Ukraine… Spodivatysya
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It is important to remind ourselves, in this European Year of Youth, of the broad spectrum of European institutions/organisations’ (EU, EEA, CoE, OECD) ambitions, principles and policies in the youth sector. Individually, they offer respective frameworks, support structures, sign posts, narratives, validations of your work (projects). Combined in a cohesive alliance they can be so much stronger and join the dots, fill the vacuums, avoid the wastage of parallel entities working in silos.
The goals of the EU Youth Strategy are embedded in the principles of active participation and equal access to opportunities and “supports social and civic engagement and aims to ensure that all young people have the necessary resources to take part in society”. These main goals are expressed in four objectives:
- Enable young people to be architects of their own lives;
- Encourage and equip young people with the necessary resources to become active citizens;
- Improve policy decisions with regard to their impact on young people through a cross sectoral approach;
- Contribute to the eradication of youth poverty and all forms of discrimination.
Their driving mantras of Engage. Connect. Empower echo the binding ethos of so many of your projects as do the principles underpinning the Council of Europe Youth Sector Strategy:
- Revitalising pluralistic democracy;
- Access to rights;
- Living together in peaceful and inclusive societies.
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Today, throughout Europe, countries are still dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. Exit routes, particularly now with the resurgence of Covid in many countries, remain somewhat elusive. Recovery plans are generally still being worked out. Vaccination rollouts are the subject of debate and often disharmony. All European states, within and beyond the European Union, are also reflecting on the suitability/efficacy of issues and priorities within their national youth policies. Certainly, more countries are now paying increased attention to the following:
- Mental health;
- Youth participation in decision-making;
- Unemployment and employability;
- Social inclusion;
- Youth sector capacity-building.
The OECD has suggested that, to ‘build back better’ after the Covid-19 pandemic for all generations, governments should consider policy development in the following areas:
- Applying a youth and intergenerational lens;
- Updating national youth strategies in collaboration with youth stakeholders;
- Promoting age diversity in public consultations and state institutions;
- Leveraging young people’s current mobilisation in mitigating the crisis;
- Aligning short-term responses with investment in longer-term objectives;
- Providing targeted policies and services for the most vulnerable youth populations.
For the European Union the NextGenerationEU is more than a recovery plan – it is a ‘once in a lifetime chance to emerge stronger from the pandemic, transform our economies and societies, and design a Europe that works for everyone. We have everything we need to make this happen. We have a vision; we have a plan and we have agreed to invest €806.9 billion together. ‘In a far-reaching initiative their plan for Europe is to ….
…. Make It Green, Digital, Healthy, Strong ..
Europe is on track to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050; acknowledging that the future will be driven by technology, the next decade has been ascribed as Europe’s digital decade and will offer better interconnectivity and advances in artificial intelligence; there will be a stronger push to modernise Europe’s health systems offering better access to new technology and medical supplies in every EU country; with plans for a stronger and more resilient Europe, young people will be encouraged, and helped, in studying science and technology that offer pathways to future green and digital jobs.
Make it Equal
In efforts to build a Europe that works for everyone, for all Europeans to have equal economic and social opportunities, to celebrate diversity in all its forms:the initiative hopes toboost employment opportunities for people with disabilities, as well as for those living in rural, remote or disadvantaged areas; help more people get decent, adequate housing; investing in inclusive education for children, whatever their background, situation or special needs.
Sounds familiar? This could be taken directly from the EEA handbook for youth employment. The above resonates with the philosophies and principles that scaffold your projects. Europe is awash with good intent, and good content. Your projects are valuable mosaics in the European fresco. Maybe sometime soon European institutions/organisations will embrace their common concerns and there will be a confluence of ideas around the much vaunted theme – ‘Together we are stronger.’ In the meantime, as the old song goes ‘young hearts run free,’ and remember, speaking on behalf of a more mature generation ‘Youth lives on hope, old age on memories.’
