ENGSO Youth concludes 2023 in Rome, Italy
From 1-3 December 2023, ENGSO Youth (EY) Committee members, representing national sport federations and National Olympic Committees, and ENGSO Youth staff members, gathered in Rome, Italy, to wrap up the 2023 activities, confirm the action plan for 2024-2027 and enrol in a communication for leadership workshop.
EY Chair Ugnė Chmeliauskaitė, EY Vice Chair Erik van Haaren, Committee members Luca Wernert, Valentin Doupona, Marija Leskovec, Isaiah Kioiloglou, and EY Project and Policy Manager Tiago Guilherme and EY Projects Manager Nadica Jovanovik attended the meeting. Committee member Mirjana Ivković and EY Communications Officer Polona Fonda joined online.
After an overview of the operations, the meeting kicked off with a communication for leadership workshop which was led by the Committee member Luca Wernert (Germany), and continued with a presentation of the communication strategy for 2024 by ENGSO Youth Communications officer Polona Fonda.
The main aim of the meeting in Rome was to finalise and confirm the organisation’s Action Plan for 2024-2027 which is based on six working groups: internal strengthening, social inclusion, sport diplomacy, sustainable development, education and employability, and health.
The action plan proposes key priorities ENGSO Youth will focus on in the coming years:
Education & employability:
- Formal Education – Inclusive and equitable quality education of youth,
- Non-formal and informal education and lifelong learning opportunities,
- Employability – Full and productive employment and decent work for youth within the grassroots sport sector.
Sustainable development
- Advocating for the urgency in greening the sport sector.
- Support ENGSO Youth member organisations and partners in adopting a social, environmental and economic approach to sustainability,
- Promoting the use of a circular economy approach within the sport sector and advocating for more sustainable and accessible cities and sport infrastructures.
Health
- Fostering the role of Grassroots Sport as an essential learning space for the promotion and improvement of physical and mental health and well-being of young people,
- Promoting the recognition of sport for all and health-enhancing physical activity in the prevention and treatment of mental health problems and non-communicable diseases in an integrated and multi-sector approach,
- Cooperating with sport and health stakeholders, NGO’s and other relevant institutions in order to increase the physical activity levels of Young People.
Inclusion
Promoting the participation of youth in sport regardless of disability, ethnicity, race, gender, socio-economic status, location, or other socio-economic background characteristics, while fostering intergenerational dialogue and solidarity through sport.
Special focus on:
- People with intellectual, physical and visual disabilities,
- Youth from different ethnic minorities,
- People with different gender identities,
- Children.
Sport diplomacy
Establish effective and meaningful youth participation mechanisms within the Sport sector.
- Strengthening ENGSO Youth partner network and establishing formal partnerships with youth and sport organisations.
Day two included a workshop on youth representation among ENGSO members, overview of the existing and upcoming projects, and concluded with a discussion on events, network and 2024 timetable.
While the Committee meeting concluded on 3 December 2023, part of ENGSO Youth stayed in Rome for the HOORAY project partners meeting.