RAY Triangular Summit 2018

The 3rd Triangular Summit took place right after the EU Youth Conference to facilitate a high involvement of stakeholders from the European youth field. Youth delegates and representatives from national authorities followed the invitation to actively participate in the conference together with representatives of the European Commission Youth Unit, representatives of National Agencies of the Erasmus+: Youth in Action Programme, representatives of the Council of Europe and the Youth Partnership, youth work practitioners, youth representatives and activists and researchers with an interest in youth studies and related themes, including members of the Pool of European Youth Researchers and the European Platform on Learning Mobility.

Two members of the European Parliament – Othmar Karas and Milan Zver contributed with welcoming video messages, highlighting the importance of youth work in general and the Erasmus+ Youth in Action programme specifically.

In the following, the latest research findings (pdf 10 MB) of the network have been presented, including a comparison of survey data from 2009 onwards aiming to inform the implementation of the renewed EU Youth Strategy ‘Engaging, Connecting and Empowering young people’ and the next generation of the Erasmus+ Youth in Action Programme. The presentation and following discussion among participants have been clustered around the 3 topics: Erasmus+ Youth in Action and
– European Values
– Participation and Citizenship
– Capacity Building in the Youth Sector

The impact of the morning and it’s sessions has been great, as the conclusions of the discussions among the 120 participants impressively demonstrate.

While in the morning mainly youth policy issues have been adressed, the afternoon has been dedicated to youth work practice and the implementation of the Erasmus+ Youth in Action Programme:
How can those implementing the programme and projects (‘practitioners’) make use of the research findings? How does it change their work and what future research evidence is needed? were the questions to be discussed.

A plenary debate with Carina Autengruber (vice president of the European Youth Forum) and Dan Moxon (Pool of European Youth Researchers, coordinated by the EU-CoE youth partnership) reflecting on the value and importance of research for youth work and it’s connection with political developments and the Erasmus+ programme rounded the programme of the Triangular Summit off.

Please find below the graphic recordings from Coline Robin summarizing the day as well as a selection of pictures.