(ACHRS) participated at the event “Youth Policy and Youth Work in EuroMediterranean Area”

The Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS) participated at the  “Youth Policy and Youth Work in EuroMediterranean Area” event that took place in Venice- in the Island of San Servolo (18/22 November 2013), in Italy. It was co-organised by Salto Youth Euromed, RCBS and the Italian National Agency for the Euroepan Youth in Action programme under the patronage of the European Commission.

Salto Youth Euromed, RCBS and the Italian National Agency prepared this conference for a comprehensive analysis of the youth situation in the Euro-Med region to provide policy-makers with updated, reliable information. This entails the active involvement of all stakeholders – young people, policy-makers, researchers, NGOs, international and regional organisations coming from different countries.

The event aims at looking into the results of research conducted  in some Arab countries about youth work in order to develop a process of exchange, mutual cooperation and joint actions between the fields of youth research, youth work and youth policy development in the broader Euro-Med context.

This event in Venice has allowed a strong cross-cultural comparison between different countries: Tunisia, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Israel, France, Germany, England, and Italy.

The conference was designed as a mutual learning situation, where participants could share, compare and learn from each other’s experiences. The experiences and realities of participants, as youth researchers, youth workers and governmental representatives, will therefore be the starting point of the programme and the core of the learning process.

The main objectives of the event were:

• To learn about the results of researches conducted in Tunisia, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt and Israel and to share and compare with researches done in Europe
• To promote possibilities for closer interaction between youth policy, youth research and youth work within the Euro-Med
• To identify priorities and proposals for further development of youth policy
• To strengthen the process of Euro-Med cooperation in the youth policy field
• To promote a stronger involvement of the civil society in the youth field
  
• To provide opportunities for new partnerships to develop new projects.

This conference on Youth Policy and Youth Work in EuroMediterranean was a good opportunity to focus on the research dimension, promote dialogue and the exchange of knowledge among researchers, NGOs and institutions in order to further develop cooperation and to mainstream youth in research and promoting new projects.