Launch of the JEF Structured Dialogue Brussels, November 2014
Let's start. Dear all, I'm Marta Junqué and the last May I was chosen to be the JEF Ambassador for the Youth Structured Dialogue. As a JEF ambassador I have a triple role. First, I am working with JEF s Political Commission on Internal European Policy in order to develop JEFs positions regarding youth political participation in Europe. Second, I will represent JEF s positions ion relevant platforms. There are the three SD meetings (Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg) between June 2014 and December 2015. Third, I am organising discussions in JEF about developments in SD topic. I'm writing you today because I want to listen to the ideas of all the JEFers regarding on how to empower the youth political participation, that is the topic chosen by the European Commission and the European Youth Forum for discussion in the next 18 months. In the following pages you will find: - What is the Structured Dialogue? - How can a JEFer participate in the Structured Dialogue? Planning and deadlines, - The role of the International Officers in involving the JEF local sections, - Other interesting information This approach was presented and discussed in the last Federal Committee (Bologna). I really think that this is a great opportunity to influence and change the European Policies and build a better and more representative European democracy. Therefore, I really encourage you to share your ideas and participate in the Structured Dialogues. Thanks for your collaboration and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any doubt. Let your voice be heart! Best regards, Marta Mail: Marta.junque@jef.eu twitter: @MartaJunque #JEFSD
1. What is the Structured Dialogue? 1 The Structured Dialogue (SD) is an instrument to ensure that the opinion of young people is taken into account when defining youth-related What is the Structured Dialogue (SD)? policies of the EU. To achieve this, the Structure Dialogue brings together young people and policy-makers across the EU to jointly discuss and feed into youth policy at national and European level 1. The Structured Dialogue is implemented in work cycles of 18 months. The current cycle started June 2014 and will finish December 2015. 2 Which is the role of JEF? Young European Federalist (JEF) participates as one of the key Youth Non- Governmental Organisations (YNGOs). As JEF, our role is to contribute in the debate and represent our position regarding the topics being debated. 3 Which are the SD outputs? Usually the conclusions approved in the framework of the SD are presented to Council of the European Union and are reflected in the Council Resolutions and adopted by the EU Ministers responsible for youth. Additionally, they are used by the European Commission. For example the Youth Guarantee 2 is one of the outputs from the previous editions of SD. (1) More information regarding Structured Dialogue can be found in the next link: http://ec.europa.eu/youth/policy/implementation/dialogue_en.htm (2) More information about Youth Guarantee: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catid=1079.
2. What is the topic of the current SD cycle? The topic of the current Structured Dialogue cycle targets youth empowerment for political participation. There are 8 related questions that the JEFers will discuss: Topic Subtopic Questions to be debated Current barriers Question 1: What are the barriers preventing young people from effective political participation in the decision-making processes? Youth empowerment for political participation Education Trust between youth and EU decisionmakers Role of youth organisations Role of EU decisionmakers Question 2: What should be done to stimulate a culture of political participation in all aspects of education? Question 3: What should be done to increase trust and understanding between young people and European decision-makers, empowering both to work better with each other? Question 4: How could young people and youth organisations (such JEF) be better involved in shaping policies together with decision-makers? Question 5: How could European decision-makers better take into account new forms of political participation? Social-economical approach Question 6: How should young people from all backgrounds be informed, empowered, and engaged to take part in political and democratic processes? Use of technologies Question 7: How can new and alternative technologies be used to empower young people for political participation? (social networks and other technologies) Impact of the participation Question 8: How can we ensure that the political participation process has impact in the society?
3. How can the JEFers participate? What we want is to listen to your ideas and in order to achieve this goal two mechanisms have been set: How? How often? Output Individual and online participation Facebook web page of Political Commission 2: Weekly Ideas shared and discussed on facebook https://www.facebook.com/gro ups/235173556643143/?fref=ts Start: 18/11/2014 End: 9/2/2015 Group participation (off line consultation) Events organised by the JEF national and local sections Examples of events: evening meetings, workshops with other NGO's, conferences, national PC's Depending on the JEF Section calendar The events and conclusions should be share to the JEF ambassador End: 9/2/2015 Summary of the ideas commented. It should be sent to the JEF Ambassador Please write me an e-mail when you arrange an event regarding JEF SD
4. Planning of the JEF debates Activity 1. PRE-LAUNCH Discuss approach and topics with FC 2014 2015 Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar 20. 27. 03. 10. 17. 24. 01. 08. 15. 22. 29. 05. 12. 19. 26. 02. 09. 16. 23. 02. 09. 16. 23. Holidays 2. LAUNCH 3. EXECUTE ALL - Facebook debate Question 1 ALL - Facebook debate - Question 2 ALL - Facebook debate - Question 3 ALL - Facebook debate - Question 4 ALL - Facebook debate - Question 5 ALL - Facebook debate - Question 6 ALL - Facebook debate - Question 7 ALL - Facebook debate - Question 8 JEF Sections - Debate thought the national sections 4. WRAP UP AND DEFINE JEF POSITION Summary of the conclusions 5. SPREAD THE JEF POSITION Presentation in the Latvia Conference Presentation and discussion to FC Presentation in Luxemburg Conference 09/15 6. COMMUNICATION AND FEEDBACK to JEFs
5. What are the SD Ambassador tasks? The JEF Ambassador will summaries the ideas collected from the different JEF debates and will prepare a summary that will be presented in the European Youth Conference and the JEF Federal Committee: Ideas from facebook debate (online consultation) Summary of JEF SD position Present the conclusions in the European Youth Conference (Latvia: March 2015 and Luxemburg: September 2015) Group participation (off line consultation) To be prepared together with the JEF SD Ambassador and JEF SD volunteers Prepare a resolution to be discussed in the Federal Committee in Uppsala
6. What do we need from the International Officers and JEF national sections? As defined in the Federal Committee, JEF national sections and especially the International Officers are one of the key roles to involve the local sections: 1 Be the contact point between the JEF Ambassador and the Local Sections 2 Forward this email to the local sections 3 Announce the launch in your own networks (facebook, twitter, etc) 4 Encourage the local sections to participate in facebook and to arrange their own events 5 Follow up of the events of SD in country and enforce the deadlines 6 If you have alternative ideas or questions, please write to me the JEF Ambassador
7. Any questions? As defined in the Federal Committee, JEF national sections and specially the International Officers are one of the key roles to involve the local sections: 1 Please, if you have any question 2 If you have any suggestion 3 If you want to be more involved in the SD Write to the JEF Ambassador: marta.junque@jef.eu 4 Please use the hastag #JEFSD when you talk about the JEF Structured Dialogue in the social networks
Thank you in advance for your ideas!