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The AU-EU Youth Plug-In Initiative starts off in Addis Ababa #AUEUYPII #AUEU

02.11.2017

A journey of youth inclusion towards the 5th AU-EU Summit is starting. 36 selected young people from Europe and Africa are currently in Addis-Ababa. They will meet African Union officials, stakeholders and experts, gain more knowledge of the African Union and start their work towards a Youth Agenda to be presented to the Heads of State at the 5th EU-Africa Summit.

The 5th AU-EU Summit, to take place in Abidjan, Côte D’Ivoire, on 29-30 November 2017, focuses on "Investing in Youth for a Sustainable Future". Both the European Union and the African Union have made ensuring a meaningful participation of young people in the run-up to and at the Summit a priority.

The “AU-EU Youth Plug-In Initiative” (YPII) builds on the Abidjan Youth Declaration from the 4th Africa-Europe Youth Summit in Abidjan on October 9-11 and seeks to deepen the work undertaken. It is set up as an inter-continental initiative to support 36 young people (“Youth Fellows”) in elaborating concrete proposals for the European and African leaders. The “fellows” will plug into AU and EU processes in preparation for the Summit and link up with other relevant stakeholders to develop new ideas and propositions. The outcome of the YPII is a “Youth Agenda” which together with the Youth Declaration will be presented to Heads of State at the Summit.

The AU-EU Youth Plug-In Initiative is the first of its kind to encourage young influencers to find innovative solutions on 6 key topics impacting youth on both continents. The 6 key thematic topics have been raised as priorities by youth themselves and correspond to the priorities and thematics of the overall Summit in late November: Business, job creation and entrepreneurship, Culture, sports and arts, Education and skills, Environmental preservation and climate change, Governance, political and democratic inclusion and activism, Peace and security.

The 36 Youth Fellows have been selected from over 7500 applications, based on a series of criteria, with a focus on their expertise, proven results, networks and understanding of the six thematic cluster topics.

After the plenary session of the African Union, the fellows will go to Europe for a series of high level meetings with EU officials and stakeholders to further their knowledge of EU in relation to the Africa-EU partnership.

 

For more information: contact Irene.Hvass@eeas.europa.eu / Jean.Constantinesco@eeas.europa.eu

  • A detailed overview of the clusters and the fellows is available here: http://aueuypii.org/en
  • To follow the journey of the Fellows on Twitter, check #aueuypii and/or #YPIIjourney
  • Young people from both continents are invited to join the AU-EU Youth Plug-In Initiative and send their ideas/comments to http://aueuypii.org/en/contact
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