The Youth Forum to help tackle social inclusion of young people

The European Youth Forum, together with eleven organisations, launched its work last week (15th of January) on an in-depth study on social inclusion of young people.

The organisations[1], which met in Brussels, form the editorial board for the study, and are all members of the Social Platform, a European umbrella organisation of NGOs working in the social sector. The report on social inclusion will be launched in May at the European Youth Event, organised by the European Parliament and the Youth Forum in Strasbourg.

In today’s Europe, young people are the group at highest risk of social exclusion. While youth inclusion has often been promoted through employment measures, the new report takes a wider approach and looks at how welfare systems, through access to benefits and services, affect the rights of young people.

On the whole, social security systems are designed to mainly address the needs of children, working adults, or pensioners, without taking into account the specific needs of young people in transition. To avoid an intergenerational divide, safety nets should be provided at all ages. This is why the Youth Forum’s new study will call for welfare systems to be updated to better respond to the current social and economic context and to face new challenges such as demographic changes, migration or precarious jobs.

The report will also aim to highlight that young people should not be treated as a homogenous group. The report will look at how well states ensure the inclusion of disabled and migrant youth, young parents, or other groups with specific needs.

At the first meeting, the editorial board agreed on the priorities of the report, building on the expertise of the members. The starting point is that social inclusion is not just about employment and that European social policy changes must reflect this. The report will also include other crucial aspects such as state interventions in the fields of education, housing, and work-life balance.- and whether these are enough to ensure youth inclusion in society.

We look forward to sharing the findings of the report with you in May!

If you would like to get more information about the project or to receive a notification when the report is published, please contact clementine.moyart@youthforum.org

[1] AGE Platform, CECOP, COFACE, EAPN, EASPD, EDF, EUROCHILD, EURODIACONIA, European Women’s Lobby, FEANTSA, SOLIDAR