A Unique Chance To Be a Youth Delegate

Join the 2023 edition of the Congress “Rejuvenating politics” initiative

The Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Councils welcomes young people to attend its 44th (21-23 March 2023) and 45th (24-26 October 2023) Congress sessions in Strasbourg (France) as youth delegates.

By encouraging a number of young people to participate actively in its sessions, the Congress hopes to provide young people with an opportunity to voice their views on all matters being debated directly to local and regional elected leaders.

This is a great opportunity to build relationships with people from all over Europe. But it’s not just that.

Being a youth delegate for a year is a unique opportunity to gain international experience, become part of a varied community of young activists, networks, and make an impact by sparking discussions from a youth viewpoint,  reinforcing the Congress’ commitment to youth empowerment.

The participants after the congress activities will be called to develop their own grassroots project back home.

To understand the nature of this event, let’s dig into the role of the congress.

 

Youth Participation in Congress

The Congress is a pan-European political body whose elected members represent over 130,000 authorities from 46 European countries. Its main activities are:

1. Promoting local and regional democracy; 
2. Enhancing local and regional governance;
3. Developing the self-government of authorities;
4. Holding regular sessions twice a year.

Since October 2014, the Congress has encouraged young professionals from various backgrounds – youth activists, youth workers, and students – to attend its sessions, participate in discussions, and share ideas with the Congress members about the problems on the agenda.

Since 2016, youth delegates have been asked to build their own initiatives at local and regional levels inbetween sessions.

You can read more about youth delegates here

The Role of the Youth Delegate

The main activity for a youth delegate consists of two part:

1.  Participating as a youth delegate in the sessions (in-person or remote)

In this first step, participants will be called to prepare short speeches and analyse policy documents. 

Note that youth delegates must commit to taking part in the whole of the two sessions in 2023:

• From Sunday 19 March (6pm) until the debriefing session on Thursday 23 March (5pm)
• From Sunday 22 October (6pm) until the debriefing session on Thursday 26 October (5pm).

2. Developing and implementing projects between the sessions

Youth delegates will continue to participate in the work of the Congress between March and October 2023. They will be asked to create a local or regional initiative that is relevant to the goals of the Congress or the session topics for 2023. They will receive assistance from the trainers in the form of mentorship sessions to develop and analyse their ideas.

The congress primarily desires three outcomes from this event:

• To involve young people directly in all aspects of the Congress’ work;
• To raise youth awareness of the Congress’ work and the tools it has developed to support youth participation;
• To encourage youth delegates to multiply the information gained during the sessions upon their return home, particularly through the development and implementation of their own local and regional projects;

Application procedure and selection of participants

For those wishing to join the 2023 edition of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities’ “Rejuvenating politics” initiative, there are a few steps to take:

• I’t’s necessary to submit this application form.
• applicants must also submit a short video via online link of no more than 30 seconds where they answer the question that has been put. Name the video with your applicant’s name and country.
• The deadline for submitting completed applications is 23:59 CET on 6 January 2023.
• Applicants will be informed of the results of the selection procedure by 10 February 2023.

For further details, click here

Travel, subsistence and accommodation

The Congress will fund the young delegates’ travel and subsistence expenses in accordance with the Council of Europe’s standards.

The organisers will offer and pay for lodging in single-occupancy or shared rooms, depending on availability and hygienic procedures. Note that the organisers are unable to reimburse the expense of alternative lodging.

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