TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Javier Milán López
The aim of this study session was to increase the capacities of youth councils to improve the access to social rights of young people and the implementation of the CM/REC (2015)3 Recommendation ("ENTER Recommendations")
The objectives of this study session were:
- To deepen their knowledge and understanding of social rights and map ways of addressing social rights challenges in different realities;
- To introduce CM/REC (2015)3 Recommendation to youth councils;
- To map what is already being done, what needs to be improved, what needs to be started in relation to Recommendation in different realities;
- To increase competences for advocating and draft plans and tools for improvement of access to social rights and implementation of the CM/REC (2015)3 Recommendation at local level
The target group of the activity was:
35 participants young people from youth councils and youth organizations, coming from around 20 different countries (Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Montenegro, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine)
The team was formed by 6 trainers coming from 6 countries (Armenia, Georgia, UK, Greece, Spain and The Netherlands)
Basically, the programme represented the creation of ENTER Recommendations by the Council of Europe. The agenda was designed to motivate the reflection on social issues regarding young people, and how such issues are linked to social rights and to ENTER Recommendations.
We passed through getting to know each other sessions, team building, analyzing social issues in each country, the origin to ENTER Recommendations, discussing the definition and role of local youth councils, advocacy and creation of useful tools. We combined games, debates/debriefing and working in small groups.
Participants learned about:
- What advocacy is and how to use it for the implementation of the ENTER Recommendations
- Youth Councils - how they operate, how young people are taking part in the decision-making processes and taking action to stand for their rights
- Social Rights and the ENTER Project
- Challenges that young people face when accessing social rights, especially in disadvantaged neighborhoods
- Good practices to overcome those challenges
The most important outcomes are the three tools the participants developed:
- Open Letter to Stakeholders. It worked to make them aware about the ENTER Recommendations
- Online Assessment Tool for Organisations. It was for organisations to check how close they are working on the topic of improvement on the access to social rights of young people
- Youth Friendly Version of the ENTER Recommendations. This version makes the recommendations understandable and useful for young people without any prior knowledge about the recommendations
The team members worked together during all working days assuming different roles. I was reporting, leading sessions and facilitating learning process as well as working groups' dynamics, like each team member did too.