Dear friends,
It is our pleasure to officially announce IFLRY’s candidate for the upcoming Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe (‘17-’18 mandate), organised within the European Youth Forum:
Andrea Ugrinoska, 24 years old, from Macedonia and IFLRY’s Executive Director.
Andrea has freshly joined IFLRY’s office and her dedication and involvement so far have reassured us that she would be an excellent choice for the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe. Her previous experience in the youth sector has been mostly European, making her securely familiar with the relevant processes on-going in the region. She has also worked with the European Youth Foundation through their granting scheme, and her previous academic experience in conflict transformation and European studies only adds up to her knowledge of the Council of Europe as an institution.
IFLRY has a longstanding history with the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe, and it is our utmost priority to remain actively involved with the platform. Not only because many of our working areas overlap, but especially because we believe that through the unique co-management system that the Council of Europe’s Youth Department offers we can truly practice what we preach and improve young people’s life daily.
We highly respect the co-management process that the Council of Europe has in place and the issues it tries to tackle within the whole range of the institution. We also highly appreciate their outreach and involvement in certain European regions that seem to overlap with our work and priorities. On that note, we would like to share some of the topics that we would like to keep on working on if we would be elected for the upcoming mandate of the AC.
- Human Rights and Young’s people access to rights – IFLRY has its own Programme dedicated completely to Human Rights. Our joint expertise will deepen the understanding of existing barriers and effective tools for human rights protection and young people to access their rights.
- Interstate and Global Cooperation – CoE and the AC have a focus on cooperation with certain regions and countries of relevance to their work, such as Russia, Ukraine and the MENA-region. Here IFLRY can have a significant contribution, due to our global reach.
- Programming Committee – one more example of a great co-management within the AC, where due to our extensive experience with the European Youth Foundation, we could be of added value.
- Youth participation – IFLRY has a great history working and advocating for more profound youth participation in the democratic process, civil society and political parties. Starting from the co-management system itself – which besides all its glory, as any other process, faces challenges – up to a broader sense of youth participation, we have identified this field as another possibility for a significant contribution.
Last, but definitely not least, we want to make sure that our representation in the AC essentially reflects the standpoints of all the Member Organisations of the European Youth Forum. In order to do this, we will follow some of the already established mechanisms, but also look for inputs to improve this. Below we will share how we envisage this happening.
- Keeping up-to date with all the relevant processes happening within YFJ and among the Member Organisations through pro-active communication;
- Take part in all the relevant YFJ working structures in order to establish a joint effort
- Explore ways of developing a common Manifesto/Vision of what the Member Organisations who represent YFJ in the AC should stand for
- Explore the development of tools which will measure the opinion and will provide continuous input from YFJ MOs towards the AC representatives and processes
All in all, with the diverse knowledge and experience of both IFLRY as such, and our chosen nominee, Andrea Ugrinoska, we look forward to having the chance to contribute significantly to all the points we mentioned above, as well as generally in drafting the priorities of the Youth Department, approving the budget and setting its objectives.
IFLRY wants to continue shaping the European youth field in the best way possible.
If you are interested to know more about our platform, candidate or work in order to make an informed choice, get in touch!
On behalf of IFLRY,
Pauline Kastermans
President of IFLRY