UNDER 30': Recent Episodes
EU-Council of Europe youth partnership
Welcome to UNDER 30, the podcast series by the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership that brings research results, explores trends in young people's lives and themes relevant for youth policy and practice.
The EU-CoE youth partnership is a co-operation programme between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of youth, created in 1998, connecting youth research, policy and practice.
The training kit (T-kit) on value-based learning in mobility projects has recently been published by the Youth Partnership. Should youth work and learning mobility be value-based? Which values should guide us in design and implementation of youth work activities?
We are discussing value-based learning and the new T-kit with:
- Snežana Bačlija Knoch - a trainer and facilitator, editor of T-kit 14
- Romina Matei from SALTO European Solidarity Corps Resource Centre, contributors
Hosts: Marietta Balázs and Dariusz Grzemny
Transcript is here
Link:
T-kit 14: Value-based learning in mobility projects
More than a thousand young people were involved in the European Union's YEAs initiative. Who are the Young European Ambassadors? Listen to this episode and meet three of them, Joanna Bagadzińska (Poland), Anna Bazarna (Ukraine) and Valentin Josan (Republic of Moldova) who tell us more about this initiative and their experiences.
Hosts:
Marietta Balázs and Dariusz Grzemny
Links:
Young European Ambassadors initiative
EU Neighbours East
Council of Europe's Youth Action Week
Solidarity with Ukraine
Youth civil society was quick to respond to the recent challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. What is the state of youth civil society nowadays? How does it need to be supported? We are discussing these questions with Alex Kent from Restless Development that has published the report on the state of youth civil society and Lucas Stede from the Advisory Council on Youth in the Council of Europe.
Hosts: Lana Pasic and Dariusz Grzemny
Links:
The State of Youth Civil Society - Youth Power in a Pandemic
The symposium on "Navigating Transitions: Adapting Policies to young People's changing realities" was organised by the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership in Tirana on 21-23 June 2023. It brought together more than 100 participants to reflect on what paradigm shift is needed in youth research, youth policy and youth work to support young people’s aspirations in the realities changed by the Covid-19 pandemic and related measures. In this episode, we are reflecting on lessons learned and the outcomes of the symposium, as well as discussing the future perspectives.
Guests:
- Katrin Olt a policy maker, a member of the European Steering Committee for Youth of the Council of Europe from Estonia
- Marie-Claire McAleer a researcher from Ireland
- Zara Lavchyan, a trainer and youth work practitioner from Armenia
- Clotilde Talleu, a manager of the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership
Host: Dariusz Grzemny
Navigating Transitions: adapting policy to young people’s changing realities
During the symposium: Navigating Transitions organised by the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership in Tirana on 21-23 June 2022, we talked to three youth workers from Kremenchuk in Ukraine: Svitlana IVANOVA, Anna KOVALENKO and Alina SHEVELA. They decided to share their stories and reflected on young people's transitions in the times of war.
Hosts: Marietta Balazs and Dariusz Grzemny
The transcript of this episode is HERE.
Learning mobility activities in the youth field are restarting following the two years of break due to COVID-19 pandemic. How are youth workers, young people, trainers, facilitators and youth organisations experiencing the return to in-person activities? How are blended, online and hybrid activities taking place?
In this episode we discuss the experiences of learning mobility during and post pandemic, and the use of online, hybrid and blended activities. What types of learning environments are best fitted for learning mobility activities? What are the benefits and challenges of each?
Guests: Snezana Baclija Knoch and Sandra Zoomers van de Kraak
Hosts: Ismael Páez Civico and Lana Pasic
Would you like to know more? Have a look at our resources and quality tools!
How does revitalising democracy actually look on the ground and in practice? How can youth organisations contribute to democratic revival on the local and on the international level? How does the European Youth Foundation support local and international projects in the framework of the Democracy Here, Democracy Now campaign?
We speak to Gabriella from Fantapolitica and Sophie from the World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM) about the tokenisation of young people, the relationship between climate change and human rights education, the role of dialogue in conflict and the possibility of democratic revival through genuine youth participation. And what are our guests' expectations of the upcoming Youth Action Week?
Guests: Gabriella Sesti Osseo and Sophie Spickenbom
Hosts: Ismael Páez Civico and Mara Georgescu
Would you like to know more? Have a look atthe pilot and international activities funded by the European Youth Foundation and learn more about the Youth Action Week.
In this podcast, we discuss the Council of Europe's youth campaign "Democracy Here, Democracy Now" and its flagship event the Youth Action Week taking place in Strasbourg between 28 June and 1 July. What is the campaign, why was it launched and what are the issues in its focus? What is the purpose of the Youth Action Week and what are the expectations for bringing together over 400 young people from across Europe for a week?
Guests: Alice Bergholtz, vice-chair of the Advisory Council on Youth and Ruxandra Pandea, campaign co-ordinator
Hosts: Ismael Páez Civico and Marietta Balázs
Would you like to know more? Have a look at the Youth Action Week's page!
Youth transitions to autonomy could be defined through many lenses. How did these definitions evolve in time? How have they been used to young people's lives and societal changes? How were policies developed to support young people?
This episode was made as a preparation for our symposium Navigating Transitions, which will take place in Tirana on 21-23 June 2022.
Guests: Ewa Krzaklewska, Maria-Carmen Pantea and Howard Williamson
Host: Tanya Basarab
Would you like to know more? Have a look at symposium's website and watch the video version of this conversation!
Learning mobility activities in the youth field are restarting following the two years of break due to COVID-19 pandemic. How are youth workers, young people, trainers, facilitators and youth organisations experiencing the return to in-person activities?
In this episode we discuss the experiences of learning mobility during and post pandemic, and the changing needs of all actors. What should be done to ensure the quality of learning mobility activities in the current context? How can the EPLM quality tools, Handbook and the Q!App, be useful in the current context?
Guests: Marta Brzezińska-Hubert and Darko Mitevski
Hosts: Ismael Páez Civico and Lana Pasic
Would you like to know more? Have a look at our resources and quality tools!
Youth work has been very fast in responding to the situation caused by the war in Ukraine, providing humanitarian aid and youth services for internally displaced young people within Ukraine and also to young refugees outside Ukraine. How do youth work competences help youth workers in dealing with the situation? How can young refugees from Ukraine benefit from youth work? What support is needed for youth workers who work with internally displaced young people and Ukrainian refugees?
Guests:
- Olena Glazkova - a youth worker in the youth centre in Kremenchuk in Ukraine
- Deimantė Venckutė - a youth worker and leader of the Gargždai Open Youth Centre in Klaipėda (Lithuania)
- Raluca Iordăchianu - a vice-president of the Federation of Youth NGOs in Iași (FONTIS) in Romania
Hosts: Tanya Basarab and Dariusz Grzemny
The transcript is available
Links:
Solidarity with Ukraine - a special web page of the EU- Council of Europe youth partnership
How far has youth work gained formal, social and political recognition? Bit by bit resources and actions are having an impact on how we perceive the valuable contribution it has to young people and society as a whole and an ongoing objective.
In this episode we introduce the Visible Value library of resources and inspiring stories on youth work recognition developed by the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership. With Nik, Darko and Tanya we are discussing recognition from grass-root to international level, how recognition is an important layer of youth work processes and an important pre-condition for making youth work a viable career pathway.
Guests: Nik Paddison and Darko Markovic
Hosts: Ismael Páez Civico and Tanya Basarab
Would you like to know more? Have a look at our resources on recognition of youth work.
Meet Biliana Sirakova, the newly appointed EU Youth Coordinator.
What is the role of EU Youth Coordinator? How does she work on connecting and coordinating different youth initiatives, aimed at achieving EU Youth Goals? What are her daily tasks and challenges? Listen to the podcast to learn more about how EU Youth Coordinator supports co-creation of the European Year of Youth with other stakeholders and inclusion of young people's voices in policy making.
What are her impressions of the European youth sector?
For more information, visit the European Youth Portal: https://europa.eu/youth/home_en
Guest: Biliana Sirakova
Hosts: Ismael Páez Civico and Clotilde Talleu
Participatory democracy does not rely only on elections, but also on a range of other tools and mechanisms which facilitate citizens' participation in decision-making. These tools can help young people to organise, engage with policy-makers at all governance levels and demand policy changes.
In this episode we discuss the contemporary youth participation trends, what different tools and methods are used by the Council of Europe and its member states, the European Youth Forum, and youth organisations across Europe, and what is needed to achieve meaningful participation and impact on policy.
Guests: Cornelia Perle and Christiana Xenofontos
Hosts: Ismael Páez Civico and Lana Pasic
Would you like to know more? Have a look at our resources on youth political participation.
It’s been more than a month since Ukraine was attacked by the troops of the Russian Federation. Many people fled Ukraine and found shelter in the neighbouring countries, many also moved to other regions of Ukraine, which are not suffering from heavy bombing. How is the youth sector in Ukraine involved in supporting both civilians and the armed forces? How are young people involved in organising and delivering support to the refugees from Ukraine in Moldova?
Guests:
- Mariana Țurcan - Adviser to Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova on Education and Youth, Coordinator of the Moldova for Peace platform, Member of EKCYP
- Vasyl Shatruk - former director and currently a volunteer of the Lviv Regional Youth Centre, head of NGO “Centre of Initiative Youth”, Ukraine.
Hosts: Dariusz Grzemny and Tanya Basarab
The transcript is available HERE
Links:
Background information on the situation of young people and youth sector in Ukraine before and after 24 February
Lviv Regional Youth Center is a public institution, run by the Lviv Regional State Administration. Its mission is to promote socialization and self-fulfillment of young people, including intellectual development and healthy lifestyles, and facilitation of non-formal education. It serves as a platform for communication, cooperation, and development of competencies of active young people and youth organizations in the Lviv region. Currently, the Youth Center has turned into a center of volunteers and humanitarian aid to help and support refugees, armed forces and those who remained in the areas under the war in Ukraine. They collect and distribute medicine, food, clothes, and equipment for the army. Recently, they collected money to buy a vehicle for the armed forces and now proceed with collecting money for drones.
dopomoga.gov.md - Moldovan platform run by the government offering services to refugees from Ukraine
dopomoha.md - an information and support platform for refugees from Ukraine run by Moldova for Peace
Citizenship education remains a contested term, lacking a universally accepted definition. Both, the understanding and practice of citizenship education have been discussed by educational institutions, the youth sector, political parties, ideologies, cultures and society as a whole. While citizenship education is often understood in relation to democracy, human rights and young people's participation in decision-making processes, some researchers and practitioners argue that we need to go beyond the current practice and consider a radical reform in the way citizenship education is taught.
Guests: Nika Bakhsoliani and Sérgio XavierHosts: Ismael Páez Civico and Lana Pasic
Link to the research paper: Radical Education - A pathway for new utopias and reimagining European democracies
Digital youth work comes, undoubtedly, with many benefits. It was even perceived as a beautiful, pink balloon, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic when all youth work had to be done online. However, very quickly it turned out, it also comes with many costs. In this episode, we are discussing the limits of digital youth work based on the research paper published by the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership on "Technology and the new power dynamics: limitations of digital youth work" by Alicja Pawluczuk and Adina Marina Serban. We are looking at five areas of these limitations:
- Digital technologies, mental health, and feelings of disconnectedness
- Big tech and AI v. meaningful communication and youth empowerment
- Digital inequalities in youth work
- Strategic digitalisation of youth work
- Space in digital youth work
Guests: Alicja Pawluczuk and Andrei DobreHosts: Dariusz Grzemny and Tanya Basarab
The transcript of this episode is available HERE
Link to the research paper: Technology and the new power dynamics: limitations of digital youth work
The year 2022 is full of new initiatives in the youth sector: the European Year of Youth, announced by the European Commission, the Council of Europe's campaign Democracy Here, Democracy Now and the 50th anniversary of the youth sector in the Council of Europe. In this episode, we are discussing these initiatives with Antje Rothemund, the Head of the Youth Department in the Council of Europe and Ioannis Malekos, the Head of Unit for Youth, Volunteer Solidarity and Traineeships Office at the Directorate General of Education, Youth, Sport and Culture at the European Commission. We are also trying to see what role the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership will play within these initiatives.
Hosts: Dariusz Grzemny and Clotilde Talleu
Links:
European Youth Portal - European Year of Youth
Council of Europe - Democracy here. Democracy now. Youth campaign for revitalising democracy
All of us can contribute to the development of the youth work environment! What needs to change? Do I need to be a superhero and do everything on my own? Where do I start? The EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership's upcoming publication can support you in starting a change.
In this episode, we are talking with Ajša Hadžibegović and Bastian Küntzel, the two authors ofThinking Together and Levelling Up: a thinking and action kit for the continuous development, improvement and strengthening of the youth work field. Youth work development can start with a dream, followed by a reality check and a plan of where you want to go. The Thinking kit invites you to check the reality of youth work, to think what aspects of it need improvement and seeing how others did it, develop a step-by-step action plan. The Thinking kit will be available soon.
Hosts: Ismael Paez Civico and Marietta Balázs
Link:
The Thinking kit draws on an extensive body of research on education and career pathways of youth workers carried out between 2018-2020, mapping realities and delving into specific aspects of youth work in Europe. The research was published in Youth worker education in Europe: policies, structures, practices by Marti Taru, Ewa Krzaklewska, Tanya Basarab (eds)
Visual translations: youth work environment and youth work practice architectures
The EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership has recently published a research paper “European youth work policy goals analysed” written by Ilona-Evelyn Rannala, Jelena Stojanovic and Marko Kovacic. The goal of this analysis is to showcase, examine and compare youth work policy goals/objectives of the European Union and the Council of Europe. Where do they meet? What is different? What tools do they propose to reach the youth work policy goals?
In this episode, we are discussing these questions with Babis Papaioannou from the European Commission and Ilona-Evelyn Rannala, ayouth researcher from Estonia. We also look into the European Youth Work Agenda and the response it got from the member states and the European Year of Youth.
Hosts: Dariusz Grzemny and Tanya Basarab
The transcript of the podcast is available HERE
Link:
European youth work policy goals analysed: The role of the EU-CoE Youth Partnership in the interplay between the European Union and the Council of Europe by Ilona Evelyn-Rannala, Jelena Stojanovic, Marko Kovacic
The impact of learning mobility projects is quite well known, it is well researched, mainly when it comes to the impact on the individual level. We think about it when we develop project ideas - what impact will the project have on the participants. But the impact does not end with the individuals, it also extends to a community - people who are sometimes intentionally or unintentionally affected by the project actions. Recent developments in European youth policies and programmes show that more emphasis is put on understanding the impact not only on the individual level, but also on the local community or wider society.
What do we mean when we talk about community? What impact do learning mobility projects have on the community? How to measure it? Why is it important? These are some of the questions we are discussing in this episode with our guests:
- Alexandra Severino, one of the authors of the research paper on Community Impact Indicators for Learning Mobility done by the youth partnership
- Susie Nicodemi, one of the authors of the Practical Guide on Community Impact of Learning Mobility Projects, and
- Romina Matei, for Salto European Solidarity Corps Resource Centre that developed the practical guide.
Link to more materials: European Platform on Learning Mobility
The transcript of this episode is available HERE
About time! is a new reference manual for youth policy from a European perspective published by the Youth Partnership. The manual is a reference tool for initiating youth policy and learning about the diversity of national and international governance and about the infrastructure available for youth policy, its implementation, review and evaluation. Thematically, it focuses very specifically on those areas of youth policy that have been formulated and developed through European consensus-building – participation, information, volunteering, social inclusion, access to rights, youth work, mobility and digitalisation.
In this episode, we are talking with the authors of the manual - Howard Williamson, Zara Lavchyan and Max Fras - about who the manual is for, how it was developed and what can be found there. We are also trying to reflect on the state of youth policy nowadays.
Hosts: Dariusz Grzemny and Tanya Basarab
The transcript of the podcast is available here:
Link:
ABOUT TIME! A reference manual for youth policy from a European perspective, by Howard Williamson, Max Fras and Zara Lavchyan. Edited by Tanya Basarab and Howard Williamson, ISBN 978-92-871-8663-8 © Council of Europe and European Commission, May 2021. Printed at the Council of Europe: https://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/youth-partnership/youth-policy-manual-2021
In this podcast series, we have discussed many times the impact of the pandemic and all related restrictions on the lives of young people. Some time ago, we also had an episode on the Covid-19 Knowledge Hub developed by the Youth Partnership. The Hub has been there for a year now, and since it was officially launched at the Youth Knowledge Forum in October 2021 it has been filled with new information, research papers and other relevant materials.
In this episode, we take a closer look at how the Hub functions today, what are the new findings from surveys and briefings, and what are the key priority themes.
Our guests today, Irina Lonean and James O'Donnovan, researchers involved in the development of briefings and surveys, will provide us with some insights into what’s new on the Covid-19 Knowledge Hub.
Hosts: Dariusz Grzemny and Lana Pasic.
The transcript is available here: https://share.transistor.fm/s/9177776b/transcript
Links:
The Knowledge Hub: COVID-19 impact on the youth sector - https://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/youth-partnership/covid-19
In today’s episode we are discussing two European Youth Strategies, the EU youth Strategy and the Council of Europe youth sector strategy, looking at what they have in common and where they differ but also how relevant they are now in the COVID or post-COVID period. Both strategies are institutional reactions to the situation of young people in Europe.
The reason for our discussion is the paper written by Frederike Hofmann-van de Poll and Howard Williamson who are reflecting on and analysing both strategies.
Today we are discussing this paper and both strategies together with Frederike Hofmann-van de Poll, a Senior Researcher at German Youth Institute and Miriam Teuma, Chief Executive of Malta’s national youth agency and also the chair of European Steering Committee for Youth in the Council of Europe.
Hosts: Dariusz Grzemny and Tanya Basarab
The transcript of this episode can be found here: https://eu-coe-youth-partnership.transistor.fm/episodes/european-youth-strategies/transcript
Links:
Frederike Hofmann-van de Poll and Howard Williamson, European Youth Strategies - A reflection and analysis: https://pjp-eu.coe.int/documents/42128013/101043895/European+Youth+Strategies+-+reflection+paper.pdf/ba2cb002-9705-620d-3ddb-bc4939c6d3b4
The EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership has recently published a study “Young people in rural areas: diverse, ignored and unfulfilled” co-authored by Adina Marina Șerban and Rūta Brazienė.
One of the most striking findings is that rural policies ignore young people and youth policies ignore rural youth. Generally, there is little understanding and acceptance in policy that young people in rural areas represent a diversity of groups, interests, needs and aspirations.
Hosts: Dariusz Grzemny and Tanya Basarab
Guests: Adina Marina Șerban, one of the authors of the publication, and Karen Ayvazyan from the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe.
Enjoy listening!
The transcript of the episode is available here: https://eu-coe-youth-partnership.transistor.fm/episodes/rural-youth-diverse-ignored-and-unfulfilled/transcript
Links:
Young people in rural areas: diverse, ignored and unfulfilled, by Adina Marina Șerban and Rūta Brazienė: https://pjp-eu.coe.int/documents/42128013/106317733/Rural-youth-study.pdf/1fde9ee6-48ce-a2f7-2985-124b44ae46e7
The issue of climate change and its impact on all of us has been discussed in many activities implemented both by the European Union and the Council of Europe. It also appears in many policy papers issued by both institutions. It is also present in many initiatives undertaken by youth organisations and youth movements. How can we, in the youth sector, be more environmentally conscious? How can we mainstream environmentally responsible practices? How can we make the youth sector greener?
Recently, the EU-CoE youth partnership, in cooperation with the Task Force on greening the youth sector, and in consultation with youth organisations has developed the sustainability checklist, which will serve as guidelines for youth initiatives across Europe.
In this episode, we are talking to two people this time: Pegah MOULANA and Neringa TUMĖNAITĖ.
Pegah is a human rights activist based in Europe, mostly focusing on mainstreaming and recognition of the impact that climate change will and already plays on young people. She started her lobbying work from the age of 11 and since then, has worked towards voicing the concerns of young people to decision-making bodies, including governmental authorities and institutions. She is the current Chairperson of the Climate Change task force at the Youth Department of Council of Europe. Her recent work focuses on the role the environment plays towards maintenance of peace and establishment of democracy; especially on introducing a sustainability framework which can be used by all sections of the institution. At the moment she is Chairperson of the Programming Committee on Youth, a section that is in charge of funding activities organised by youth organisations across Europe who have the aim of mobilising and educating young people on their access to rights.
Neringa is a Lithuanian Human Rights & Environmental activist, researcher and academic interested in development justice, youth empowerment and civic society cooperation. She is a member of the Pool of European Youth Researchers at the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership, an MPhil/PhD candidate at SOAS, University of London and the Director of Humanity Consulting. Neringa has led several forums in Asia, MENA and Eastern Africa, bringing together CSOs, entrepreneurs, activists and institutions (EU, AUC, UfM, ASEAN, Ministries) to facilitate youth-led policy recommendations (e.g. “Building Youth Partnership Opportunities to Advance UN Sustainable Development Goals for Education, Peace & Innovation.”) She has also collaborated with the World Social Forum, where she co-facilitated discussions on Environmental action and global civic society cooperation. Neringa's most recent research paper "Greening the youth sector: checklist for youth activities" focuses on the role youth organisations can play in mitigating the Climate Change.
Hosts: Dariusz GRZEMNY and Lana PASIC.
The transcript of this episode is available HERE (https://eu-coe-youth-partnership.transistor.fm/episodes/greening-the-youth-sector/transcript)
Links:
Webinar: "Greening the youth sector: sustainability checklist"
In previous episodes of our podcast, we have explored different topics covered in the latest Youth Knowledge Book on Young People, social inclusion and digitalisation. With this episode, we would like to focus on another topic you can find in the Knowledge book - digitalisation and social inclusion of youth people with disabilities.
This topic is explored in two articles, which you can find in chapter 3 and 4 of the book. Today we are having two authors of these chapters:
Roman Banari who wrote an article in which he presents the challenges for youth with disabilities related to accessible technology and provides an insight into how they can benefit from ICT in order to be included in participatory processes, education and the labour market.
and Judit Gombás, who is a co-author of the article on digitalisation for the empowerment of individuals with visual impairment or blindness.
Hosts: Dariusz Grzemny, and Lana Pasic from the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership.
The transcript of this episode is available HERE.
You can find Roman's and Judit's articles in the Youth Knowledge Book on Young people, social inclusion and digitalisation.
This is another episode, in which we do deeper into different topics explored in the Youth Knowledge Book on Young People, social inclusion and digitalisation. This time we look into two chapters that discuss how digitalisation is affecting young people’s mental health and well-being.
Our guest, Cathy Street wrote a chapter, in which she looks into young people’s digital well-being outlining current research findings about both positive and negative effects of digitalisation, including problematic or excessive use of technology and some theories behind these findings.
Ursula Curven, our second guest, wrote an article, in which she explores how young people who are marginalised and isolated can feel supported through the use of peer chat media such as Yik Yak, social media app that enabled people to post anonymously in short message format, similar to a text or Twitter.
My name is Dariusz Grzemny and together with Lana Pasic from the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership, we will be discussing the topic of young people’s mental health and well-being with our guests.
Enjoy listening!
Transcript of this episode is available HERE.
You can find Ursula's and Cathy's articles in the Youth Knowledge Book on Young people, social inclusion and digitalisation.
This time we are talking with two guests - Daniel Briggs, who wrote an article on the use of WhatsApp by newly arrived refugees in Europe and Antía Pérez-Caramés, who reflected on the virtual communities created and used by young Spanish migrants in Europe. Both articles were published in the Youth Knowledge Book on Young people, social inclusion and digitalisation [LINK].
Hosts: Dariusz Grzemny and Lana Pasic.
The transcript is available HERE
This episode is one of the few ones, in which we will talk with different authors who contributed to the latest Youth Knowledge Book on Young people, social inclusion and digitalisation.
Dariusz Grzemny and Lana Pasic are talking with two guests who wrote the chapter on Power, participation and geographical isolation exploring the impact of a digital project run with young people in the Scottish Highlands:
John Taylor - Area Youth Officer from High Life Highland and Anja Johnston - an assistant youth worker in the far North of Scotland, who took part in the co-design and development of the Highland project as a young person.
Young people who were involved in the project live mainly in rural areas, located sometimes tens or hundreds kilometres from the nearest town. They often do not have access to a broadband internet. Many of the villages and small settlements are not served by public transport and the only access is by car or, in some cases, by boat. Young people who live outside the main residential areas and attend school have long journey times to get there. Until summer 2018, John had never understood the term digitalisation, nor the concept of digital youth work. However, together with young people they managed to develop and run an interesting digital project.
Enjoy this episode!
The transcript is available here [LINK]
Young people, social inclusion and digitalisation. Emerging knowledge for practice and policy [LINK]
Guests: Adina Serban, Ekaterina Sherer, Snezana Baclija Knoch and Dariusz Grzemny
Host: Marietta Balazs, project officer, EU-Council of Europe youth partnership
Join the MOOC on Essentials of Youth Work here: [LINK]
More information about the course: [LINK]
The transcript of this episode [LINK]
The EU-Council of Europe youth partnership has done research on the topic of young people, social inclusion and digitalisation in 2019 and has recently published the youth knowledge book on “Young people, social inclusion and digitalisation”.
In 16 chapters, the authors critically examine if and how digitalisation can support the quest for social inclusion, ranging from the exploration of policies, tools and platforms available to young people and youth workers in Europe, supporting young people’s access to education and employment opportunities, opening up avenues for digital youth work, providing opportunities for participation for young people with disabilities, channels of integration for migrant communities and young refugees across Europe and support networks for young LGBTI persons. The book will be officially presented online on 11 May at 11:00 CEST and you can still join the presentation. You can find the link to the event in the notes of this episode.
Hosts: Dariusz Grzemny and Lana Pasic
Guests: Dan Moxon and Veronica Ștefan
The transcript is available here [LINK]
Links:
Facebook event on 11 May at 11:00 CET [LINK]
Young people, social inclusion and digitalisation [LINK]
About our guests:
Veronica Ștefan - Founder of the Digital Citizens think tank. Veronica is a professional focused on policy, education, digital citizenship and innovation in both national and international contexts. She has been working with various stakeholders for more than 14 years, at all levels. Veronica has extensive experience in advocacy campaigns, youth initiatives and public policies connected to education, participation, the labour market, technology literacy and the digital sector. Starting in 2015, Veronica has worked intensively at the intersection of new technologies, human rights and digital governance, as Member of the Media Literacy Task Force of the North-South Centre, General rapporteur for the first Council of Europe seminar on artificial intelligence and its impact on young people, and Trainer and expert in various Internet Governance Forum initiatives (including IGF Berlin 2019 and SEEDIG 2020), among other positions. Veronica is also the founder of the first Romanian digital think tank, Digital Citizens, with a genuine interest in shaping the digital society. In this framework, she combines her passion for digital education, research and policy analysis.
Dan Moxon - Director, People Dialogue and Change (UK). Dan is a Member of the Pool of European Youth Researchers co-ordinated by the partnership between the Council of Europe and the European Commission in the field of Youth. He is a researcher and practitioner in the field of inclusive youth participation, with nearly 20 years’ experience in the public voluntary and aca[1]demic sectors. In his current role at People Dialogue and Change he specialises in providing consultancy and capacity-building services for organisations that wish to develop their approach to youth participation or involve young people in policy making. He has undertaken work for a variety of local, national and international bodies, and developed participatory youth programmes for young people from a range of backgrounds, including disabled young people, young people with chronic health conditions, young people in social care, homeless young people and young Muslims. In 2018, his research supported the Estonian–Bulgarian–Austrian Trio Presidencies of the EU to enable nearly 50 000 young people to develop the EU Youth Goals.
Welcome to Under 30, the podcast series by the youth partnership that brings the research results, explores trends in young people's lives and themes relevant for youth policy and practice.
The issue of young people’s mental health and psychological well-being appeared in some of the previous episodes of our podcast when we were discussing the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of young people and on the youth services. It was also discussed during the 3rd European Youth Work Convention and the final declaration from the Convention highlights the importance of mental health promotion in youth work.
What is the impact of the pandemic and all the restrictive measures implemented all over the world on young people’s mental health and psychological well-being? How can youth work and youth policy support young people whose mental health suffered?
We are discussing these issues with Stefanos Mastrotheodoros, whose research paper on the effects of COVID-19 on young people’s mental health and psychological well-being has recently been published by the youth partnership. There are two more people with us in this episode: Nikita Sanaullah from the European Youth Forum and Sean Ellul from the Advisory Council on Youth in the Youth Department of the Council of Europe.
My name is Dariusz Grzemny and together with Lana Pasic from the youth partnership we will be hosting this discussion.
Enjoy listening!
The transcript of this episode can be found HERE
LINKS
The effects of COVID-19 on young people’s mental health and psychological well-being, by Stefanos Mastrotheodoros [LINK]
The final declaration for the 3rd European Youth Work Convention [LINK]
Welcome to Under 30, the podcast series by the Youth Partnership that brings the research results, explores trends in young people's lives and themes relevant for youth policy and practice.
Young people across Europe are increasingly experiencing challenges to accessing their rights. Even more so nowadays in times of COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode we are discussing some of these challenges, related with accessing the right to free and peaceful assembly and association and freedom from discrimination. Our discussion is based on two research papers recently published by the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership and developed by Maria-Carmen Pantea and Dunja Potočnik. You can find the links to these documents in the episode notes. Both papers were developed in preparation of the first review of the Committee of Ministers Recommendation on young people’s access to rights.
Hosts: Dariusz Grzemny and Tanya Basarab
--- The transcript of the episode is HERE
Links:
Young people’s right to assemble peacefully. A mapping study, in preparation of the first review of the recommendation CM/Rec (2016)7, by Maria-Carmen Pantea
Review of the documents on young people’s access to rights and non-discrimination: A Desk Research Study, by Dunja Potočnik
Young People’s Access to Rights - Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)7 and explanatory memorandum
The transcript of this podcast is available HERE
COVID-19 had an impact on practically all aspects of young people’s lives. Learning mobility of young people is one of them. Borders were closed, people were not able to move freely, students’ dormitories were turned into places for people in quarantine, students were losing their jobs, youth exchanges were cancelled, youth work moved online.
How big was the impact of COVID-19 on learning mobility of young people? How did the youth organisations deal with international projects being cancelled? What support was offered to young people who were in mobility projects when the pandemic started? What is the future of learning mobility of young people? What should be the policy responses? These are just a few questions we are discussing in this episode.
The EU-Council of Europe youth partnership runs the Knowledge Hub on the impact of COVID-19 on the youth sector [LINK] collecting youth research and practice that look at the two sides of the pandemic impact: challenges for the youth sector and positive initiatives.
In this episode, we are discussing the results of the desk research study on COVID-19 and Learning Mobility [LINK] developed by Ewa Krzaklewska and Özgehan Şenyuva.
We are exploring this topic together with our guests:
Ewa Krzaklewska - a sociologist and a researcher working as an assistant professor at the Institute of Sociology of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, in Poland. Her research interests relate to youth sociology, including transitions to adulthood, youth mobility, youth work and policy, as well as family studies and gender equality.
Özgehan Şenyuva - an academic and a youth researcher from Ankara, Turkey. He works mainly on learning mobility and informal/non-formal learning. He comes from youth work practice, having worked many years as a trainer, project coordinator and facilitator. He is part of RAY research Network and is on the advisory board of European Academy on Youth Work; European Solidarity Corps Resource Centre and the Steering Group of European Platform on Learning Mobility-EPLM. He is a big fan of Besiktas.
Jakub Grodecki - currently serving as a Vice President of the European Students’ Union. His primary focus within the organization is Quality of Higher Education, Bologna Process implementation and Higher Education digitalisation. He is also a member of the Advisory Council on Youth in Council of Europe. Previously, he worked as a Quality Assurance expert of the Polish Accreditation Committee and ESU QA Pool of Experts. He has an academic background in Mechanical Engineering and Management and Production Engineering done at the University of Science and Technology (AGH) in Cracow (Poland).
Episode hosts: Dariusz Grzemny and Lana Pasic
The audio file with the transcript is also available HERE
Youth organisations experience a shrinking space for civil society in a variety of ways and on many different levels. Space can start to shrink when governments see civil society as a threat. As a result, they employ tactics to discredit and weaken them, thereby shrinking the space in which they can work.
In this episode, we are discussing how the space for civil society is changing, particularly for young people. We also reflect on the most recent developments impacting this change (e.g. digitalisation, COVID-19), how young people are engaging with these changes and what can be done on different levels to address this trend.
Guests:
Andreas Hirsch is an Advisor on European Youth Policy at JUGEND für Europa, the German National Agency of Erasmus+: Youth in Action and European Solidarity Corps. He has also worked several years with a European civil society youth organisation advocating for topics ranging from gender equality to sustainability to mental health of young people.
Leonie Martin is a member of the Advisory Council on Youth at the Council of Europe, a body of 30 youth representatives who advise the Committee of Ministers on decisions relating to youth. Together with others, she works on the issue of shrinking civic youth space. She is furthermore President of the non-partisan youth NGO Young European Federalists, called JEF, which is active in more than 30 countries, organising activities and advocating on issues of European democracy and citizenship.
Hosts: Dariusz Grzemny and Lana Pasic.
Enjoy listening!
If you want to read more about the topic, visit the dedicated website of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe HERE and stay tuned for our literature review which will be available soon.
Have a look at this material on shrinking youth space: YOUTH IN EUROPE: OFFENBURG TALKS #4 : SHRINKING SPACES FOR YOUTH WORK!? – CHALLENGES FOR POST-DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES: Videos of all talks , Programme Reader
See the transcript of this episode HERE
How is youth work done? Who does it? Is it recognised? And if yes, how? How does one become a youth worker? What are the trends and developments in youth work and youth policy? How will the results of the latest European Youth Work Convention impact youth work and how youth work can contribute to the Bonn Process? These are just a few questions we are discussing in this episode, with the geographical focus on Eastern and Southeast Europe.
In order to talk about the realities of youth work in these two regions we have invited two researchers: Dunja Potočnik and Max Fras. They were both a part of teams researching youth work in Eastern and South East Europe. We are also joined by Tanya Basarab from the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership.
Host: Dariusz Grzemny
Enjoy listening!
Have a look at the publications related to the topic of our episode:
Youth Work in Eastern Europe: Realities, perspectives and inspiring initiatives, by Alena Ignatovitch, Max Fras and Tanya Basarab, available HERE
Quality Development Of Youth Work In South-east Europe - analytical paper, by Dunja Potočnik and Dragan Stanojević, available HERE
Youth Work in South East Europe: Paper on the state of play of the development of youth work, by Marko Kovacic and Lana Pasic, available HERE
The transcript of this episode is available HERE
The COVID-19 pandemic and all measures that were implemented by the European countries to control the spread of the coronavirus had a huge impact on young people's lives and the youth services.
The youth partnership developed a Knowledge HUB to highlight the research and knowledge gathering initiatives that look at the two sides of the pandemic impact: challenges for the youth sector and positive initiatives. In this episode, we are talking with two researchers involved in the HUB - Anna Lavizzari and Manfred Zentner about the impact of the pandemic on youth services, and we explore the actions to be taken by youth work, youth research and youth policy to best deal with the consequences of the pandemic related to youth services.
Hosts: Dariusz Grzemny and Lana Pasic
Visit the COVID-19 Knowledge HUB on the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership's website HERE.
The transcript of the podcast is available HERE
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Technology and digitalization have become an integral part of our lives, but particularly the lives of young people. What are the new challenges of digitalization for young people? What can youth work do to address these challenges? These are just a few questions we are discussing with:
- Lasse Siurala - a former Director of Youth Services at the City of Helsinki (1995-1999, 2001-2012) and Director of Youth and Sports at the Council of Europe (1999-2001). An Adjunct Professor at the Aalto University, Helsinki and Lecturer of youth work at Tallinn University, Dr Siurala has written articles and publications on youth participation, youth work, youth policy and evaluation, for example, with Ord J., Carletti M., Cooper S., Dansac C., Morciano D. and Taru M. (eds) (2018), “The Impact of Youth Work in Europe: A Study of Five European Countries”, Helsinki. He has been a frequent contributor to the Youth Partnership “Youth Knowledge” books including (as chief editor) vol. 5 of “History of Youth Work in Europe” (2016) and the forthcoming book on digitalisation (Connolly and Moxon (eds)).
- Daisy Kidd - works on Tactical Tech's upcoming youth and technology project
- Nika Bakhsoliani - a member of the Advisory Council on Youth in the Youth Department of the Council of Europe
Hosts: Lana Pasic and Dariusz Grzemny
Link to the article discussed in the podcast: Lasse Siurala, YOUTH WORK AND TECHLASH. What are the new challenges of digitalisation for young people? HERE
Other resources:
Data Detox Kit: currently, available in English, German, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Shan, with Czech and Norwegian coming soon
SOCIAL INCLUSION, DIGITALISATION AND YOUNG PEOPLE - Research study, by the Youth Partnership
Bridle, James (2018) New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future, Verso
Zuboff, Shoshana (2019), The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, The fight for a human future at the new frontier of power, Profile Books, London
Couldry, Nick & Mejias, Ulyses (2019) The Costs of Connection. How Data Is Colonizing Human Life and Appropriating it for Capitalism, Stanford University Press.
The transcript of the podcast is available HERE
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In 2017, the youth partnership initiated the research project on educational and career paths of youth workers in Europe. After three years, a lot of materials were collected and recently the youth partnership has published a book within its Youth Knowledge Book series called "Youth worker education in Europe".
In this podcast, we are talking about the research and the book together with Tanya Basarab from the youth partnership and Ewa Krzaklewska - a sociologist and a researcher working as an assistant professor at the Institute of Sociology of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, in Poland. Both Tanya and Ewa are the editors of the book, together with Marti Taru.
We are also joined by Ajša Hadžibegović, a youth worker and a trainer who is one of the people responsible to translate the material collected throughout the project into a more accessible format.
Host: Dariusz Grzemny
Resources:
The web page of the research project
Youth worker education in Europe. Policies, structures, practices - by Ewa Krzaklewska, Marti Taru and Tanya Basarab