EAPN calls for comprehensive youth inclusion strategies beyond employment

29/01/2016 – EAPN attended a stakeholder dialogue meeting organised by DG Employment on the topic of the Youth Guarantee, the Youth Employment Initiative, and the European Alliance for Apprenticeships. The European Commission provided an update of the state of play and next steps, and discussants from the European Youth Forum and Eurocities presented the civil society and local authorities perspective. In the ensuing debate, EAPN made important points about the need for comprehensive youth inclusion strategies beyond employment, which include adequate income support, access to services (particularly housing), personalised, pathway support towards quality and sustainable employment, as well as full ownership by young people of their inclusion strategies, and meaningful engagement of civil society organisations in the process. Without such a comprehensive approach, the initiatives will not reach vulnerable youth who are facing multiple obstacles, which would mean a creaming effect, leaving the most disenfranchised behind.

EP | Julie Ward: Terrorist attacks were the result of exclusion, not multiculturalism

08/12/2015 – Recent events in Europe have brought the issues of marginalisation and extremism to the forefront of public debate. On 7 December Parliament’s culture committee adopted a report on the role of intercultural dialogue, cultural diversity and education in promoting EU fundamental values. Ahead of the vote, we spoke to report author Julie Ward, a UK member of the S&D: “We have one world and we have to find some way of being mutually respectful and tolerant of each other.”

Eurochild working paper | Conditional cash transfers and their impact on children – ensuring adequate resources throughout the life cycle from a children’s perspective

Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) in general aim to exert an immediate effect on poverty by raising income, while at the same time contributing to a longer-term reduction of poverty by improving beneficiaries’ future potential to earn a living, in so doing contributing to a drop in demand for such benefits. Within the range of CCTs implemented to date, behaviour related to education, health and nutrition constitute frequent foci, with education and health the most common combination.