Call for applications for young people to take part in the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities’ 30th and 31st sessions
20 – 24 March and 18 – 20 October 2016, Strasbourg (France)
Aims and objectives:
By inviting a number of young people to take an active part in its 30th and 31st sessions the Congress, in co-operation with the Council of Europe Youth Department, aims to create a space for dialogue between the selected youth delegates and local and regional elected representatives and to enable young people to express their views on the issues being debated.
Profile of participants:
The youth delegates, one per national delegation, should meet the following criteria:
– be open, committed and motivated to develop and strengthen dialogue between young people and elected representatives at local/regional level;
– be between 16 and 30 years old;
– have been resident in one of the Council of Europe member States for a minimum of five years; 2
– be a member of a local/regional youth council or parliament, or local/regional council or assembly or executive, or a representative of a youth NGO, or a youth-led structure, or involved in youth work, or a local or regional elected representative;
– be available and motivated to engage in the whole of the activity;
– have an interest in actively participating in policy making at local and/or regional levels;
– be able to multiply the information obtained during the session on their return home;
– speak English fluently3 (NB: during the sittings they may also speak in one of the official or working languages for which interpretation is provided (English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Turkish)).
Application procedure and selection of participants:
Those wishing to apply to take part in the 30th and 31st Congress sessions must do so by means of the application form enclosed. Participation in only one session is not possible.
Applicants must also submit a short video, for example via YouTube, of no more than 30 seconds, to support their application. The link to the video should be sent together with the application.
The deadline for submitting completed applications is Friday 5 February 2016.
Completed application forms must be sent to: [email protected].
The specific objectives are to:
– allow a number of young people, from different walks of life, to take an active part in the 30th and 31st sessions and in the meetings of the Congress’ three committees
– raise the youth delegates’ awareness of the Council of Europe’s and Congress’ aims and work, in particular their policies on youth and participation, notably the co-management system;
– examine with the youth delegates the state of young people’s participation at local and regional levels in European society and identify opportunities and obstacles to its effective implementation;
– give the youth delegates space to prepare a contribution to a number of Congress debates on thematic issues to ensure an exchange of views between them and Congress members;
– motivate the youth delegates to multiply the information and experience acquired during the sessions on their return home;
– through formal and informal exchanges, promote dialogue and co-operation between the elected representatives and the youth delegates in a spirit of mutual understanding and respect and encourage the exchange of good practices as well as the promotion of existing models of youth-led structures;
– illustrate to the Congress the importance of officially including young elected representatives in member States’ national delegations, both as full and substitute members.
Read the full call for applications here: https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?Ref=20160115-young-delegates&Language=lanEnglish&Ver=original&Site=COE&BackColorInternet=C3C3C3&BackColorIntranet=CACC9A&BackColorLogged=EFEA9C
