SEMINAR ON STRUCTURED DIALOGUE for members of national working groups

BACKGROUND Seminar on Structured dialogue is one of the Transnational Cooperation Activities of the Slovenian national agency for Erasmus+, Youth field. Transnational Cooperation Activities represent an instrument available to the NAs for supporting the Erasmus+ Programme in fulfilling its objectives and priorities and their aim is to bring added value and increased quality to the overall programme implementation and to contribute to increasing the impact of the programme at systemic level. One of the overall goals of the Erasmus+ Programme is to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field (2010-2018) with consultations and structured dialogue with young people and youth organisations as one of the primary instruments of its implementation. In addition to this, supporting political participation of young people in the society and structured dialogue is one of the objectives of the Slovenian National programme for youth (2012-2021). Therefore, the Slovenian Erasmus+ NA for the Youth field initiated this seminar in 2015, which is a suitable time to discuss and review past experience with structured dialogue – also in the light of the recently introduced changes of its future implementation and with a special emphasis on the follow-up activities, especially at national levels. PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS: Seminar will gather high level representatives of National working groups (NWG) for structured dialogue (SD) process from different EU countries. Every National agency is asked to nominate two (2) participants who should be also members of the NWG, preferably: - one representative of the National youth council, where possible (if not, from the youth representative organisation, who is leading/is a member of NWG) - one representative from the Ministry in charge for youth (or other ministry, if they participate in NGW and NA recognised them as more relevant) AIM OF THE SEMINAR: - To empower NWGs in the field of implementing structured dialogue at all levels, with emphasis on national level - To empower NWGs in the process of follow-up and implementation of recommendations at different levels - To reflect on the new cycle and new methodology used in SD process and providing feedback to the European Steering Committee and the European Commission GOALS OF THE SEMINAR: - Explore the role and competences of NWGs in different countries - Present different approaches used to ensure follow up and implementation of the recommendations at different levels - Share best practices and examples - Prepare feedback and recommendations for the improvement of SD process DESCRIPTION: During the two day meeting of representatives of NWGs, participants will address the challenges that have been present in SD process for significant time already and are relevant for local, regional, national and European level. By sharing their experiences and providing information about different national realities, good practices will be illustrated, defined and shared with others. Since the participants involved in SD at all levels have many times identified that follow-up to the process and implementation of structured dialogue are crucial (and not only consultations with young people), participants of the meeting will try to define what is the role of NWGs also in this part of the process and what kind of support is needed for that. Besides focusing mostly on national level, the second day of the meeting will be dedicated to looking at the current European process of SD and the new proposal of the cycles and preparing comments for the upcoming review process, which will take place in Brussels in May 2015. PROVISIONAL AGENDA: The provisional timetable of the seminar is as follows: Monday, 13.4.2014 Arrival day 19.00 Dinner 20:00 Introduction Tuesday, 14.4.2015 9:00 Introduction, getting to know each other National Working groups (NWG): role, mandate and competences 13:00 Lunch 14:30 Follow up and implementation - challenges Sharing best practices 20.00 Dinner out Wednesday, 15.4.2015 9:00 Conclusions of the 1st day – possible solutions and practices to address the challenges Reflection of the process in the new cycle 13:00 Lunch 14:30 Recommendation for the improvement of SD at European level, Follow up, Evaluation 20.00 Dinner out Thursday, 16.4.2014 Departure VENUE The symposium will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in the City hotel (http://www.cityhotel.si). The hotel is located in the city centre, only a step away from the main bus and railway station as well as the sights of Ljubljana and the old city centre. The Joze Pucnik International airport of Ljubljana is only 25 km from the hotel, and the main railway and bus station are only 400 meters away. The hotel is easy to access from all of the city’s major roads and has the advantage of being just on the edge of the pedestrian only zone (the city centre). Participants are expected to arrive on Monday, 13th of April 2015 (arrivals recommended before 19hrs) and depart on Thursday, 16th of April 2015 (anytime). APPLICATION PROCEDURE AND DEADLINE Participants have to apply online via SALTO-YOUTH application system. Direct link to the application form is available in the top right corner of this page! (If you do not have a SALTO profile yet, you will have to create it first in order to be able to access the application form. Creation of the SALTO profile is free and will only take a few seconds. Should you experience any problems trying to access the application form please write to info@mva.si.) The application deadline is 13th of March 2015. Participants will be informed about the selection latest by the 18th of March 2015. FINANCIAL CONDITIONS Accommodation, food and programme costs will be fully covered by the organisers. Travel costs to the activity and back can be covered by the National Agencies of the Erasmus+ programme (covering Youth field), so please contact your respective National Agency for more information on this (see the list here: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/national-agencies_en.htm). ORGANIZERS This seminar is co-organized by MOVIT - Slovenian National Agency of the Erasmus+ Programme, Youth field, and MSS – National Youth council of Slovenia. TEAM OF FACILITATORS The seminar will be run and facilitated by two professional trainers with extensive experience in the field of structured dialogue: Tea Jarc and Simona Muršec. MORE INFORMATION All further information on how to get to the venue will be sent to selected participants after the selection process is concluded. Should you have further questions regarding this activity in order to be able to decide if it fits you, please feel free to contact us at projekti@mss.si or info@mva.si.