Member organisations meet to discuss to future work plan of the European Youth Forum

More than 40 European Youth Forum member organisations met in Brussels last weekend (Saturday 13th September 2014) to discuss the future work plan of the Forum for 2015-2016.

This face-to-face consultation between the European Youth Forum member organisations, board and their secretariat was part of an ongoing, democratic process aimed at drawing up the Forum’s work plan for 2015-2016. The board and the secretariat presented a draft work plan to members for review, which will now be refined based on their comments.

The work plan is drawn up every two years to set out the shorter-term guiding goals of the European Youth Forum. It is structured around the Forum’s broader, overarching strategic priorities, which run for five years (currently 2013-2018). The current strategic priorities state that:

The European Youth Forum will strive towards the following goals:

• Greater Youth Participation
• Stronger Youth Organisations
• Youth Autonomy & Inclusion

In order to achieve these goals by 2018, the Platform aims to:

• Strengthen its position as an agenda-setter on youth affairs
• Further empower member organisations to increase their ownership of the platform
• Base its work on a right-based approach

These priorities inform and direct the new, draft work plan, which will be approved by a vote of all member organisations at the Forum’s General Assembly in November, in Cluj Napoca, Romania. Last weekend’s meeting was preceded by an online consultation open to all members, and a second online consultation remains open to receive feedback. In particular, member organisations highlighted the importance of reinforcing the role of the Forum as an agenda setter at the European and Global level, and this will now be emphasised in the final draft work plan that is put to vote at the GA.