Symposium on Youth Policy Cooperation in South East Europe - Focus on Recognition of Youth Work and Non-Formal Learning

This symposium continued the reflection and exchange of views and development of ideas from previous symposia and other European level meetings, particularly the symposium; ‘Recognition of Youth Work and Non-Formal Learning/Education in the Youth Field’, that took place in Strasbourg, 2011, (Strasbourg Symposium). In recent years recognition has been a key issue in the region of South East Europe, particularly in the civil society sector and to a lesser extent on a Governmental level. This symposium continued to place the topic of recognition of youth work and non-formal learning/education on the political agenda of the countries of the South East Europe region and provided the possibility to focus on youth policy cooperation in the region. The symposium was organised by the Partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of youth together with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports of Albania, the SALTO-YOUTH Resource Centres for South East Europe, Eastern Europe and Caucasus, and Training and Cooperation, the Austrian National Agency for the Youth in Action Programme and the United Nations FPA. The initial concept was to focus on South East Europe and be South East Europe centric. However as the symposium was being developed, other agencies and country based institutions asked to be involved. The involvement of the delegations from the Eastern European Caucasus Region and from the Programme countries of the Youth in Action Programme highlights the importance of exchanging good practice and of learning from each other. At the same time it highlights the importance of the topic of recognition of youth work and non-formal learning/education across Europe and beyond. The basic questions on which the symposium was based were as follows: - What do we understand by recognition of youth work and non-formal learning/education? - Why do we want to further develop youth work and non-formal learning/education? - What measures are needed/can help to promote the recognition at different levels? The following were the objectives of the symposium: - To strengthen the youth sector as an independent sector next to education - To raise awareness and understanding of what non-formal learning/education in youth work means, what it can achieve, and what recognition can mean - To increase recognition of non-formal learning/education in youth work in the countries of South East Europe and give a boost to measures in the field taken by public policies and NGOs at different levels - To inform about developments in the field taking place at European level - To encourage peer-learning and inspire participants to take initiatives