The Office of the Citizens' Commissioner, as the National Coordinator for the European Year of Youth 2022, organised a Co-Design Workshop for the National Plan for the Year, today, 14 January 2022, at the Experience Center of PwC Cyprus, in Nicosia. The aim of the Workshop was to ensure the synergies and collaborations required between the Ministries and State Departments involved, as well as the representative associations of young people in Cyprus, in order to achieve the objectives of the European Year of Youth.
The Co-Design Workshop was attended by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth Mr Prodromos Prodromou, the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Mr Kyriakos Kokkinos and the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare Ms Anastasia Anthousi. The Workshop was also attended by Mrs Alexandra Attalidou, representing the House of Representatives, Directors General and executives from all Ministries and Government Departments, semi-governmental organisations, the Cyprus Youth Organisation, the Delegation of the European Commission and the Office of the European Parliament in Cyprus, the Conference of Rectors of Cyprus Universities, as well as representatives of the Cyprus Youth Council and other representative youth associations.
The EU decided to designate 2022 as the European Year of Youth, having diagnosed the serious negative impact of the pandemic on young people. The main purpose of the EU is to draw attention to the opportunities and prospects that need to be secured for the young generation in the post-pandemic period. The European Year of Youth also aims to encourage the participation of young people in the democratic and social life of the Member States, in the context of building a greener, more digital and inclusive Europe. Panagiotis Sentonas, Commissioner for Citizens, referred to the objectives of the National Plan for the Year of Youth, as well as their link with the European Youth Objectives, which include, among others, gender equality, inclusive societies, mental health and well-being, ensuring employment for all, improving the quality of learning, green and digital transition. Further, he said: "The pandemic has had a major negative impact on young people - on their education, social inclusion, employment and mental health. The European Year of Youth gives us the opportunity to focus on how to re-open perspectives and opportunities for the young generation in the post-pandemic period, through the green and digital transition and the implementation of the NextGenerationEU Recovery Plan".
The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth, Mr Prodromos Prodromou, in his introductory speech, said that "as the Ministry responsible for issues of the new generation, we have seen the European initiative to declare 2022 as the Year of Youth from the very first moment with a positive lens. The choice we are making at European level is particularly apt: a Year of Youth, to focus on tomorrow, on hope for tomorrow, and that is why we need to empower young people and young people and give them opportunities. We agree with its rationale and focus, as well as the spirit behind it". Prodromou pointed out that youth have been severely affected by the unprecedented pandemic, in the shadow of which we have been living for the last two years, and need immediate support and empowerment. "Providing more and better opportunities for young people, especially the less privileged, is crucial and should be opened up at all levels: local, national and European. At the same time, our commitment to the active and meaningful participation of young people should be renewed to create a better future: a greener future, for all, inclusive and, of course, a digital future. We want young people to lead the future, the path after and out of the pandemic."
Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Kyriakos Kokkinos said, among other things, that the Deputy Ministry intends to launch targeted actions within the framework of the European Year of Youth within the year, which will be developed together with young people themselves, in order to meet their ideas, interests and expectations. "Actions for policy co-design and wide dissemination of the importance of digital transformation for a new development model that the country needs so much", she pointed out.
In her intervention, Deputy Minister of Social Welfare Ms. Anastasia Anthousi underlined the role played by the Deputy Ministry in achieving the objectives for the empowerment of young people in our country, adding: "we fully share the goal of improving the living standards of citizens and developing their potential to the fullest extent possible. The most important thing to achieve these goals is to promote strategies from childhood onwards". To this end, he said, the Ministry of State, in response to the obligations stemming from the EU Council Recommendation on the Establishment of a European Guarantee for Children (2021/1004), has proceeded with the creation of the National Action Plan, which will be submitted to the European Commission in March 2022. The aim of this Recommendation is, inter alia, to prevent and combat social exclusion of children, access to quality basic services (pre-school education and care, education, health care, food and housing).
The official launch of the European Year of Youth in Cyprus will take place on 28 February 2022, in the presence of the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr.
(EC/EHRP)
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