Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen met today for the first time the new cohort of the Youth Sounding Board for EU International Partnerships, discussing expectations and the work ahead for 2023–2025. The Youth Sounding Board will play a key role in the implementation of the Youth Action Plan in EU External Action, building on the achievements of their predecessors. Commissioner Urpilainen also announced a monitoring framework for the Youth Action Plan, to track institutional change in strengthening youth engagement in EU policy-making and progress on achieving the Youth Action Plan objectives in thematic priorities.
Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen said: “I am honoured to have in the Youth Sounding Board such a talented and committed group of young people to learn from and to be inspired by. Our aim is for the voices of young people to be reflected in EU policies in our partner countries. Young people have a right to a seat at the decision-making table. The Youth Sounding Board has become a model followed by others, and it will continue to be an important pillar of our EU engagement with young people, in line with the Youth Action Plan. It will contribute to monitoring the implementation of the Youth Action Plan, able to rely on the framework that we designed also with the first cohort of the Youth Sounding Board.”
The Youth Sounding Board for EU International Partnerships is a group of young people who advise the Commissioner and the Directorate-General for International Partnerships on youth participation and empowerment in EU external action. This allows young people to have an influence on EU external action and international partnerships, contributing to making EU action more participatory, relevant and effective for young people in EU partner countries.
The first cohort of the Youth Sounding Board for EU International Partnerships were instrumental in the design of the Youth Action Plan, the first-ever EU policy for engaging young people in EU external action. The second cohort – 25 young people from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the EU – are expected to make a crucial contribution to its implementation.
The Monitoring Framework for the Youth Action Plan, launched today by Commissioner Urpilainen, has been developed in close cooperation with young people and youth organisations. It comprises two parts: monitoring actions on which the EU has a direct influence, such as EU institutional commitments and objectives, and monitoring the global state of play with respect to the overall objectives of the Youth Action Plan.
The European Commission plans to cooperate with various partners, including youth organisations, in monitoring progress against the objectives Youth Action Plan, further improving the framework, and advocating for the collection of better youth and age-disaggregated data. The Monitoring Framework will be made available online.
