European-North American Conference on Youth Participation

This conference was inspired by the Youth Advisory Panel of the Austrian Commission for UNESCO. It assumed that nowadays when discussing the most important issues, the young must be taken into account. International Year of Youth (since 12th August 2011 till 11th August 2011) has been encouraging them to speak up. Based on that, during the conference, participants formulated concrete recommendations directed towards youth and youth organisations,UNESCO, National Commissions, and governments.

Time and place: 22 – 24 September 2011, Vienna, Austria

Organizers: the Austrian Commission for UNESCO

Founding sources: UNESCO (Participation Programme) and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture.

Participants: 50 young men and women from 24 European and North American countries (Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland).

Subject: active youth participation.

Impresion: The conference was a great opportunity of stating an opinion on the most important matters with confidence that somebody will hear about it. Perfectly organized, passed in both friendly and hard-working atmosphere. Organizers not only took care of creating recommendations but also getting a chance to see Vienna and get to know amazing, interesting people. Accommodation was fantastic. When it comes to experts that helped us I have to admit they were absolutely top-level. The conference let the young elaborate common ideas how to involve youth in UNESCO’s actions. All participants took part in formulating recommendations that should have been presented at the 7th UNESCO Youth Forum.

Contact person: Magda Lis magda.lis@unescocentre.pl

Webpage: http://www.unesco.at/bildung/europ-n-am_conf_eng.htm