Through our lobby work, we seek to influence policy and perceptions to create opportunities for young people to have a better chance in life. Our lobbying priorities focus on vulnerable young people and five main areas as they are:
- Social inclusion, education and employment of young people
- Participation and active citizenship of young people
- Migration and diversity of young people
- More and better mobility opportunities of young people
- Youth work and non-formal learning
We respond to European policy developments, inform decision makers about our key concerns and share good practice of our members to back our recommendations by experiences from the field.
In the following you find recommendations and policy contributions of the recent years.
Y.E.S. Forum Position on Erasmus for All
December 2011
The new "Erasmus for All" Programme proposed by the European Commission have good aspects, such as the proposed budget increase for the Programme. However, many elements leave room for improvements. The Y.E.S. Forum targets these elements, and suggests solutions in order to help the Programme to be the closest to disadvantaged youth.
To read the position paper, please click here.
Y.E.S. Forum Declaration on Volunteering
May, 2011
Voluntary activities make an impact on society as a whole by contributing to the well-being of individuals and the development of communities and local nnetworks. Based on the rich experience in youth and social work the Y.E.S. Forum calls upon the European and national stakeholders to support:
- legislation, that makes it easy for young people to volunteer
- structures and an enabling environment for volunteering for young people
To read the declaration, please click here.
Y.E.S. Forum Declaration Combating Youth Poverty
December 2010
The European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion is closely related to the EU 2020 Strategy targets, in particular to the objective to reduce number of people at risk of poverty by the year 2020. It is the responsibility of all and particularly of the EU Member States to reach these goals.
To read the Y.E.S. Forum call on combating youth poverty, please click here.
Y.E.S. Forum Contribution to the Public Debate Youth on the Move Initiative
September 2010
The Y.E.S. Forum welcomes the Commission's attempts to improve the conditions for transnational mobility of the young people. Especially the disadvantaged young people benefit very much from it. Thanks to various forms of transnational mobility, often for the first time in their lives, they receive a chance to go abroad. Transnational mobility contributes to the acquisition of the language skills, which are getting more and more important for the future professional life in the globalised world and which are often a neglected subject in school education of this target group.
To read the document, please click here.
Y.E.S. Forum Contribution to the Commission's Green Paper "Promoting the learning mobility of young people"
December 2009
The Y.E.S. Forum welcomes the Commission’s initiative to launch a discussion on learning mobility and its attempts to improve the conditions for transnational mobility of the young people. In particular, the broad scope of the Green Paper is seen as positive: it examines the situation of the young people in different learning contexts - in school and university education, in voluntary service or vocational training. Furthermore we welcome the Commission’s approach giving the same value to the experience and skills acquired in both, formal and non-formal context.
To read the document, please click here.
Y.E.S. Forum Position on the Future European Cooperation on Youth Policy
January 2009
The European Commission launched a public consultation on how EU youth policy should develop in the coming years. The Y.E.S. Forum promoted also the recently launched online consultation amongst its members and partners. As a result of discussions and debates among our members, the Y.E.S. Forum developed a comprehensive position, which reflects views and experience of our various organisations working directly with and for young people. The Y.E.S. Forum board presented this position in a meeting with Mr Lejeune, head of the unit youth in action, and Ms Le Clair, policy officer of the unit youth policy, DG EAC.
To read the document, please click here.
Y.E.S. Forum position paper
December 2007
This document is the Y.E.S. Forum response on the Commission’s Communication on promoting young people's full participation in education, employment and society [COM(2007)498]. The Y.E.S. Forum strongly welcomes the Communication and put forward recommendations referring the involvement of young people with fewer opportunities.
If you want to read the document click here.
Be part of it - A strategy for young people's participation
March 2006
This document elaborates the vision of our Y.E.S. Forum member, The Children's Society (TCS), on the participation of young people. TCS works with - and for - children and young people, and this strategy sets out, how they want to incorporate the principles of participation into the day to day work of The Children's Society.
If you want to read the full document, please click here.
Communiqué: Violences Urbaine
November 2005
This document is a position paper by the French Y.E.S. Forum member CNLAPS, which is active in street work. It outlines a critical view on the 2005 civil unrest in France, where riots took place, triggered by the deaths of two teenagers in Clichy-sous-Bois, a poor municipality in an eastern banlieue (suburb) of Paris.
The document is available in German and French.
FR please click here.
DE please click here.
Y.E.S. Forum Position on Youth Pact
May 2005
The Y.E.S. Forum strongly welcomes the Youth Pact Including and its importance for education, training and social inclusion of young people in Europe. The Y.E.S. Forum hopes that the initiative not only remains a rhetorical exercise but concrete action of the Member States will follow.
If you want to read the full document, please click here.
„Bridges for Recognition“
February 2005
The article looks at the recent debate on recognition of non-formal learning and it gives an overview about policy developments at EU level.
If you want to read the article, please click here for the German version.
Inclusion of disadvantaged young people in the EVS
December 2003
The document is a position paper of the Y.E.S. member BAG EJSA, which appeals for changes to the European Commission's Youth programme and its action European Youth Service. The paper states that voluntary services involving disadvantaged young people definitely require more human resources and consequently more support. It stresses the necessity to implement a specific framework for inclusion of all young people.
To read the full document, please click here for the German version.
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