Eurodyssey Assembly 2019

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The Eurodyssey Assembly took place as part of the annual Eurodyssey Forum on 24 October 2019 in Cagliari, Sardinia (IT).

The event brought together more than fifty representatives both from Eurodyssey regions and outside the programme to discuss the functioning of the programme, to share experiences and best practices and to explore future initiatives for Europe’s only regional youth mobility scheme.

Youth Mobility

The conference opened with two discussions on youth mobility, looking at both aspects of personal and professional development for young people as well as how youth mobility has a positive impact on regional development.

You can read more on the topic of youth mobility in this article.

How the Programme is Managed

Elections of the Eurodyssey Steering Committee

Every two years, a Steering Committee is appointed to lead the work of the programme for the coming 24-month mandate.

The Steering Committee…

Manages the coordination of all Eurodyssey activities, including the annual Forum, in collaboration with the Secretariat;
Gives proposals to the Forum and/or to the Secretariat.
Takes ownership of the decisions and their implementation;
Accepts new members for ratification by the Executive Board.

On 24 October, the following individuals were unanimously (re)elected by the Eurodyssey member regions present:

Chairperson: Esther Estany (Catalonia, ES)
Member region: Laurence Hermand (Wallonia, BE)
Member region: Arlette Brone (Brussels-Capital Region, BE)
Member region: Agneta Kardos (Timis, RO)
Member region: Emilio Terrado Vicente (Valencia, ES)
Member region: Vitória Soares (Açores, PT)

Important note: The Eurodyssey Assembly agreed upon extending the period to present new candidates to join the Steering Committee until the end of the year, beginning of 2020. The voting procedures will be arranged online. Further communication will follow shortly.

Workshops

On 25 October, two workshops were held, focusing on upcoming activities for the 35th Anniversary of the Eurodyssey Programme in 2020, and on communicating the Eurodyssey Programme across the regions of Europe.

During the 35th Anniversary Workshop, Eurodyssey members reflected on the wealth of experiences that have been exchanged since the inception of the programme in 1985 and put in motion the process of developing an outreach initiative that will culminate in a celebratory event next year to mark this momentous occasion for Europe’s oldest mobility programme. Members agreed to constitute a working group to think up and implement activities on the occasion of such an anniversary. The first meeting will take place by February 2020.

The Communications Workshop gave participants the opportunity to delve into the psyche of potential Eurodyssey participants, hosting companies and regional politicians while generating new messages, means and media to form part of an updated communications strategy fit for an evolving enterprise such as Eurodyssey.

The Future of Eurodyssey

The Assembly provided member regions with an opportunity to pause and reflect on the programme and its future direction.

During a presentation on statistics from the programme from 2009 to 2019, it was established that 3,340 trainees in total have taken part in the programme in the last ten years where it was emphasized the importance of making all these participants “ambassadors” of Eurodyssey.

Looking at employment prospects for the Eurodyssey participants in 2017 regions can be proud that 61% of trainees find a job within 4 months upon completion of their traineeship. Read all the 2018 statistical findings and 2017 employment results from the full report HERE.

The last presentation by the AER Secretariat consisted of an online demonstration to show the latest deployment of the new Eurodyssey website, including a simulated interaction between the different profiles throughout the registration and application processes, new functionalities and features, updated registration/application forms and the regions’ Vademecum and the implementation of the “InstaDiary” to promote testimonials on social media. The website will be ready for testing in the coming weeks and the expected launch is foreseen by the end of November.

Acknowledgements

Throughout the Assembly, the Eurodyssey member regions reinforced their commitment to the programme and to promoting the mobility of young people across the regions of Europe.

The Eurodyssey Presidency & AER Secretariat would like to thank all members present for their active participation, as well as the host region, Sardinia, its politicians and civil servants for this event happen.

Visit the 2019 Eurodyssey Forum event page to download all the working documents, presentations, pictures and other takeaways…