Today, Tuesday 16 May early in the morning the jury of the Most Youth Friendly European Region Award met in Brussels, Belgium. Together, they evaluated the 10 shortlisted applications. After passionate debates, the jury selected MYFER 2017’s grand winner. The winner will be publicly announced on 31 of May at the AER General Assembly in Austria. A special prize will also be awarded.
Candidates
Ten candidates from various regions applied for the prize:
- AP Vojvodina, Serbia : “Health education on reproductive health of high school students in the region of Vojvodina”,
- Hedmark, Norway : “Youth County Council of Hedmark”,
- Lower Austria, Austria : “Youth coaches for Lower Austria communities”,
- Umbria, Italy: “Creative Camp”,
- County of Vrancea, Romania : “Grow up in Vrancea – remigrated children in Vrancea county – educated, supported, counseled!”,
- Umbria, Italy : “Business at school”,
- Antalya, Turkey : “School league”,
- Antalya, Turkey : “GEDAM”,
- Catalonia, Spain: “New opportunities and unique programs”,
- Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland : “Je participe ! / Ich mache mit!”.
Rules & Criteria
The Jury members evaluated thoroughly all the applications. The candidates were rated according to specific criteria such as the impact and regional dimension of the initiative, the involvement of youth in managing and developing the initiative, its sustainability and the level of social inclusion, gender equality and the respect of equal opportunities.
Diverse initiatives
The MYFER award gathers very diverse initiatives, promoting the principles of tolerance and equal opportunities. Additionnally, the award plays a precious part in raising awareness on youth inclusion in policy definition and implementation.
The projects presented this year reflect this diversity. Some, focused mainly on fostering youth participation and consultation in local politics. Others, touch upon very specific subjects, such as sexual health education or improving younger generation’s enrollment in businesses and entrepreneurship. Most of the applications emphasized clearly the importance of education and schooling.
In the end, each program greatly participated in promoting young people’s involvement in society, public matters, and politics. All initiatives worked hard to foster cooperation, youth inclusion, strong education, good health and employment.
Jury members
Sonja Steen, Chair of the MYFER Jury, President of the AER Committee for Culture, Youth and Education
Giovanni Briganti, President of the AER Youth Regional Network Committee for Education and Culture, Member of the Youth Council of Brussels-Wallonie
Tinna Ros Steinsdottir, Child participation and network development Officer at Eurochild
David Garrahy, Head of policy and advocacy for the European Youth Forum
Sam Van Hoof, President of the European Youth Parliament Belgium, Member of the European Youth Parliament
Valentin Dupouey, Member of the Advisory Council on Youth, Council of Europe Youth Department
Organisations represented
Youth Regional Network (YRN)
Created by the Assembly of European Regions, the Youth Regional Network (YRN) is a platform of regional-level youth parliaments, councils and organisations from the wider Europe. YRN provides a truly unique forum giving young people from diverse regions a collective voice on the European stage while introducing a European dimension to youth policy in those regions.
Eurochild
Eurochild is a network of 165 organisations and individuals working in and across Europe to promote the rights and well-being of children and young people. Eurochild’s work is underpinned by the UNCRC and aims to work for and with children to promote their rights and well-being in policy and practice. This work feeds into Eurochild’s vision of a society where children and young people grow up happy, healthy and confident and respected as individuals in their own right.
European Youth Forum
The European Youth Forum (YFJ) is the platform of youth organisations in Europe. Representing 104 youth organisations, both National Youth Councils and International Non-Governmental Youth Organisations, we believe youth organisations are the tool through which we empower, encourage, involve, represent, reach out and support young people. The Youth Forum brings together tens of millions of young people from all over Europe, organised in order to represent their common interests. We advocate for a Europe with stronger youth organisations, more youth participation, social and economic inclusion, youth rights and sustainable development.
European Youth Parliament (EYP)
The European Youth Parliament (EYP) is a unique educational programme which brings together youngsters from all over Europe to learn, exchange and debate. The EYP is an organisation for young people, by young people with a mission is to inspire and empower young Europeans to become open-minded, tolerant and active citizens.
Council of Europe Youth Department
The Youth Department of the Council of Europe provides funding and educational support for international youth activities aiming to promote youth citizenship, youth mobility and the values of human rights, democracy and cultural pluralism. It seeks to bring together and disseminate expertise and knowledge about the life situations, aspirations and ways of expression of young Europeans.
The Advisory Council on Youth is a Council of Europe body made up of 30 representatives from youth NGOs and networks in Europe which provide opinions and input on all youth sector activities of the Council of Europe. It also ensures that young people are involved in all activities of the Council of Europe. It is a unique structure world-wide for the active participation of young people at such a high decision-making level.
Information on MYFER
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