On Civil Service Day, June 23, 2023, a preparatory meeting on development of the Standard Curriculum for civil servants and local self-government officials and the training manual “Participatory Youth Policy” was held. The meeting was attended by representatives of the expert and research teams of the Council of Europe project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III”, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service, and the Ukrainian Association of Youth Councils.
The research team of the Council of Europe project presented the preliminary research results of needs and state of activity of local, regional and national authorities responsible for youth policy, which became the basis for the development of Standard Curriculum. According to the preliminary results, the vast majority of respondents who took part in the research indicated that they are interested in a curriculum on the subject of participatory youth policy and prefer non-formal education.
The Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III” is carried out in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2023-2026. The Project was built on the results and experience of the projects “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” in 2020-2022 and will extend the systematic influence by strengthening participatory youth policy and reinforce youth work in the war and in post-war context taking into account the specific needs of young people.
The project consists of three main components, which will be implemented in parallel and have cross-cutting measures:
- participatory youth policy;
- recognition of youth work in wartime;
- support of youth centres and youth organisations as platforms for civic activity and democratic participation.
Within the framework of the component “Participatory Youth Policy” there will be:
- research of the needs and the state of activity of local, regional and national authorities in the field of youth policy, in particular, taking into account the needs and realities of young people in the war and post-war period;
- development of a Standard Curriculum for representatives of local, regional and national authorities in the field of youth policy according to the Council of Europe standards on implementation of youth policy, which is based on the approaches of participation, youth participation and civic participation in the decision-making process;
- a training manual on standards, tools and resources for strengthening youth policy and youth work at the local and regional levels to remove barriers to youth participation;
- training for trainers;
- mentoring and expert support for team of trainers in the preparation and implementation of trainings at the regional and local level;
- a consolidation meeting to evaluate the implementation of training programs.
The project emphasizes the importance of the Council of Europe Youth Sector Strategy until 2030 and reflects the National Strategy of State Youth Policy until 2030, the State Target Social Program “Youth of Ukraine” 2021-2025.
The project will encourage interested stakeholders of youth policy in Ukraine to implement and disseminate the Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers to member states: on the access of youth from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to social rights, CM/Rec(2015)3; on young people's access to rights, CM/Rec(2016)7; on youth work, CM/Rec(2017)4; on protecting youth civil society and young people, and supporting their participation in democratic processes CM/Rec(2022)6.
News, resources of the Council of Europe in the field of youth and open calls for participation in the project’s activities can be found here.
