During Germany’s simultaneous presidency of the European Union and the Council of Europe, around 1,000 participants participated online at the Third European Convention on Youth. This unique political event gave impetus to the Convention and opened the possibility for the implementation of the European Agenda for Youth Work through the so-called Bonn Process. The Convention is just the beginning of the process.
All participants are part of a dynamic “community of practical work” in working with young people and come from 50 European countries that have participated in the Convention. This astonishingly diverse community of practical work[1] participated in the debates and contributed to the drafting of the final declaration.
The main goal of the European Youth Work Convention is to elaborate the details of the European agenda for youth work, respecting its political framework, and describing the next steps, activities and measures that will be taken within the Bonn process. The Final Declaration noted the reflections of the participants that can serve as motivation and guidelines for the community of practice across Europe during the Bonn Process. The Final Declaration also calls for a stronger political commitment at all levels to maintain, develop and introduce new approaches to working with young people across Europe.
The final declaration directly addresses the community of practice in working with young people in Europe as an important, active and responsible stakeholder within the Bonn Process. Communities of practice are defined as a process of social learning in which “people who have a common interest in a particular field collaborate over a long period of time, share ideas and strategies, offer solutions and introduce innovations”.
The community of practical work in youth work must be fully inclusive and include all types of youth work, regardless of the format used, and all types of youth workers, whether paid or volunteer, professional youth workers, those dedicated to youth work in the short term or in part, who have formal or non-formal education and all who operate in any of the 50 countries party to the Convention.
The Institute for Youth Development KULT has made an unofficial translation of the European Youth Work Convention, and the full text is available at this link.
[1] The youth practice community includes: youth workers and youth leaders, program leaders, project promoters, accredited and independent youth organizations, trainers, researchers, youth worker educators, local communities and municipalities, national Erasmus+ Youth agencies and European Solidarity Forces, youth representations, young people and policy makers at all levels of government.
