NEWS May 2011 LETTER

TABLE OF CONTENTS

News from the OBESSU General Assembly

OBESSU is hiring! EP Education Committee demands to invest more in education

UNL: elected again to represent students in the Higher Council of Education

European Commission demands member states to facilitate Roma children access to education

UNSS Second Volunteering Day will be celebrated in December

Call: YFJ research grant

This is the OBESSU Newsletter that is going out every month to all member organisations and partners of OBESSU. The Newsletter is an informing collecting of news and especially events you can participate in from partner and contact organisations.

VET working group in Montpellier: new campaign on VET on the way

Call: Council of Europe International Youth Camp »Dialogue 2011«

OBESSU becomes full member of EUCIS-LLL

ETUCE Statement on cutbacks in education in Greece

OBESSU at the AKS Annual Congress with over 100 activists

Consultation: Council of Europe’s Recommendation on Child and Youth Participation

OBESSU at the Non-Formal Education Week

Call: North-South Centre’s Global Education on-line training course

OBESSU presented at the University of Mostar

Call: Training of Trainers in EuroMed - TOTEM II

CONTACT OBESSU:

Encarni Barrionuevo Communication and Administrative Assistant

Upcoming events: Summer Camp “One World, One Care”, August 16-24, Montpellier, France

HIGHLIGHTS ON

News from the OBESSU General Assemply On 14th and 15th May 2011 OBESSU held its annual General Assembly (GA) in Brussels. Chaired by Antonia Wulff, Chair of the Council of Europe’s Advisory Council on Youth and former OBESSU Board member, the GA has been a space to present the work of OBESSU in the last year as well as to set the basis for the future development of the organisation. This has been a very important event since the GA adopted the new completely revised statutes of OBESSU and new GA Internal Regulations. All the documents adopted as well as the minutes of the GA will be soon available online. Read more

OBESSU is hiring! OBESSU, the Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions, is currently looking for a full-time Policy and Project Officer and a part-time Communication and Administrative Assistant to support the work of Secretariat in Brussels. Deadline for applications is 24th May 2011. To apply carefully read the Call for Policy and Project Officer and the Call for Communication and Administrative Assistant and send your full application to jobs(a)obessu.org.

MEMBERS NEWS UNL: elected again to represent students in the Higher Council of Education On April 27, 2011, L'Union nationale lycéenne (UNL) was elected by French regional student council’s representatives to represent French students in the Higher Council of Education (Conseil supérieur de l’éducation – CSE) for the next two years. The CSE is a national body that gathers 97 different education stakeholders including the Minister of education, teachers, parents, employees and three students. This is the sixth time that UNL is chosen to represent students in the CSE and the second time in a row that UNL wins the responsibility to be the only student organization holding the three sits in the CSE devoted to students, confirming its role of representing the voice of all French school students. Read more

UNSS Second Volunteering Day will be celebrated in December After the success of the First Volunteering day (Social Work Day) which was celebrated in autumn 2010 with over 1000 school students volunteering during one day in local enterprises and organisations, the Union of Secondary School Students of Serbia (UNSS) is already organising the Second Volunteering day, which will take place on December 5, 2011. Read more

OBESSU NEWS

VET working group in Montpellier: new campaign on VET on the way The OBESSU working group on VET (WG VET) met in Montpellier, France, on the weekend 29th of April to 2nd of May to discuss OBESSU’s current work with VET students and its future developments. All WG members Johanna Griesmayer (AKS), Bjørn Bratli (SSUN), Miroslav Caksiran (UNSS), Viktor Grønne (EEO) and Jessie Seal (OBESSU board) were present and had a very intense and productive meeting discussing a new VET campaign and the possible involvement of OBESSU in VET-related events. Read more

OBESSU becomes full member of EUCIS-LLL

On May 10, 2011, the European Civil Society Platform on lifelong learning (EUCIS-LLL) held its General Assembly (GA) in Krakow, Poland, where OBESSU became full member of the Platform together with UNIQUE NETWORK, CONTACT 2103 and IESN. On the eve of the GA, OBESSU board member, Ivica ALpeza, also participated in EUCIS-LLL Annual Conference on volunteering. Read more

OBESSU at the AKS Annual Congress with over 100 activists From the 8th to the 10th of April, 2011, AKS Annual Congress took place in St.Gilgen, Austria, where over 100 activists from all the regions gathered together with their regional representatives. The Congress is an annual event organised by AKS to give its activists the opportunity to know better its structure and priorities as well as to network and explore different topics. This year, OBESSU Board Member, Lara Widmer, was also invited to hold a workshop on international education politics. Read more

OBESSU at the Non-Formal Education Week In April 2011 the European Youth Forum (YFJ) organised a Non-Formal Education (NFE) Week. The week included the YFJ WG meeting on NFE, the NFE & Health Training and the Conference on Quality Assurance of Lifelong Learning: can lifelong learning providers connect through QA? OBESSU Project Officer, Viviana Galli, took part in the two events open to YFJ member organisations and partners. Read more

OBESSU at the Non-Formal Education Week On 18th May 2011 OBESSU Board member Ivica Alpeza gave a presentation to students on the theme of “The Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions: Management of Non-profit organisations” in the frames of the Collegium on Management of Non-profit organisations of the 3rd year of studies in the Faculty of Economics of the University of Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Ivica explained what OBESSU is and its main objectives including its policies and representation work. Read more

PARTNERS NEWS

EP Education Committee demands to invest more in education On April 12, 2011, the Culture and Education Committee of the European Parliament issued a draft resolution calling Member States to invest more in education and youth mobility. Particularly, the document includes concrete measures to improve educational and training opportunities, promote mobility among young Europeans as well as to combat both discrimination and gender inequalities in the field of education. Read more

European Commission demands member states to facilitate Roma children access to education On April 5, 2011, the European Commission (EC) presented a European Framework for EU Member States to develop a national strategy for Roma integration by the end of the year, which should include specific targets and measures for increasing Roma people’s access to essential services including education, labour market, healthcare and housing. Read more

Call: YFJ research grant The European Youth Forum (YFJ) is calling for research proposals on youth organisations, young volunteers and the rights-based approach for an inclusive Europe, following its current Work Plan. Particularly, the research should address specific problems in relation to youth and should propose policy solutions for issues considered. Through this grant research programme the YFJ aims to generate knowledge in the fields of youth work and youth policy. Successful candidates will receive a EUR 2000 grant in three instalments within October 2012, when the work should be concluded. The YFJ and OBESSU encourage all those interested to apply before the 15th of June 2011.

Call: Council of Europe International Youth Camp »Dialogue 2011« The Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe (CoE) is calling for participants from its member states to participate in the International Youth Camp "Dialogue 2011" which will take place once again in Kaluga Region, Russian Federation, from the 21st to the 24th of July, 2011. Based on the principle and practice of non-formal education, the event will gather 300 young people to exchange ideas, experiences, good practices and innovation in the field of intercultural dialogue and interreligious cooperation. Among others, participants will reflect on the concept of diversity, common identity and intercultural learning: the aim is to create common understanding in order to favour social cohesion and prevent future conflicts based on ethnicity, religion, language and/or nationality. The CoE and OBESSU encourage all those interested to apply before the 15th of May, 2011.

ETUCE Statement on cutbacks in education in Greece On March 30, 2011, the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) launched a statement on the Greek Education Minister’s decision to merge 1933 schools, which will lead to the closure of 1056 schools, the lost of 3000 teachers positions and consequently, a considerably decline of the quality of education. In the statement, ETUCE stresses the fact that no social dialogue with trade unions was in place regarding this matter and that cutbacks in education should not be an answer to the current economic crisis. ETUCE, thus, invites the Greek government to initiate a “friendly” dialogue with the teachers’ organisations in order to find a collective solution to the current situation.

Consultation: Council of Europe’s Recommendation on Child and Youth Participation The Council of Europe (CoE) has launched a consultation on its Draft Recommendation on Child and Youth Participation. The recommendation has been motivated by the fact that even though its 47 member states have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), many European children do not benefit particularly from Article 12.2 which states that the child shall be provided the opportunity to be heard in any issue affecting the child. OBESSU strongly calls its member organisations to read the draft recommendation and send inputs to the CoE at childparticipation@coe.int before the 8th of June, 2011. Read more Call: North-South Centre’s Global Education on-line training course

The North South Centre (NSC) of the Council of Europe together with the Network University (TNU) is calling youth activists among others to send applications for its on-line training course Human Rights Education: Addressing Global Challenges which will be carried out from the 6th of June to the 1st of July, 2011. The course will start with providing an introduction to human rights education (HRE) as part of the Global Education context, and will then study its concepts, approaches, strategies and action. The NSC and OBESSU strongly encourage all those interested to apply before May 29, 2011.

Call: Training of Trainers in EuroMed - TOTEM II The Salto-Youth EuroMed Resource Centre is calling for youth workers and youth leaders with experience in EuroMed Youth Cooperation to apply for the TOTEM II Programme, which will start with a training seminar in Turkey on October 19-29, 2011. The aim of the programme is: on the one hand, to improve the training competences of participants as well as to provide them with a deeper comprehension of the Euro-Mediterranean context; and, on the other hand, to contribute to the quality improvement of training activities in EuroMed and to the development of a network of active trainers in EuroMed Youth Cooperation on a Euro-Mediterranean level. The topics to be explored include among others: non-formal education, education evaluation and education tools. All those interested should apply before the 11th of July 2011.

UPCOMING EVENTS Summer Camp “One World, One Care” on August 16-24, in Montpellier, France

OBESSU Rue de la Sablonnière 20 1000 Brussels - Belgium

Phone: +32 264 72 390 Fax: +32 264 72 394

E-mail: obessu@obessu.org

Dear Members, We would like to share more information about your work in the newsletter. Therefore we need your help and support! Please send us articles on some activities, campaigns or events you would like to see published in OBESSU newsletter, or send your newsletters (if available in English) regularly to the following address: obessu@obessu.org

To facilitate the inclusion of your articles please note the Deadline for Contribution is fixed on the 27th of the month.

Moreover keep us up-to-date with the activities you undertake!

Having a strong communication between OBESSU and its members but also between its members themselves should give the best possible synergies we need to be active Europe-wide.

Furthermore please inform us about the dates of your GA and give us the possibility to be in contact with the new board members!

We hope you enjoyed reading. Furthermore we would like to call attention to our homepage. All the member organisations please check your contact data under “obessu.org/about/members” and do not hesitate to come in contact. We are also open for your proposals to actions that can be interesting for other members.

Best regards,

OBESSU