MALTA – The final day of the European Youth Forum brought together the 120 delegates who attended the conference, representatives from across sporting organisations in Malta, diplomats, members of the Maltese Parliament and significantly the President of Malta; Marie Louise Coleiro Preca and Directorate General for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth at the European Commission Tibor Navracsics.
The round table discussion, in which Her Excellency the President made an opening address focusing upon the role of sport as a powerful tool in contributing to the European Union meeting its objectives around economics, health, regeneration, social cohesion and other areas focused on the recommendations of the forum.
The recommendations, grouped by the themes of the forum were:
Healthy Lifestyle through Sport
- Provide infrastructure that supports physical activity, which is accessible to all physically, socially, or geographically.
- Steer people towards leading a healthier lifestyle (physical activity, nutrition, emotional, social well-being) where stakeholders from educational institutions, municipalities, health and business sectors would engage in cross-sectoral cooperation by offering local activities to various target groups.
Social Inclusion and Volunteering
- Invest in both, appropriate and targeted volunteer training for organisations operating in the sport sector, to better engage and work with refugees and people with disabilities; and also, invest in providing the aforementioned target groups with training to be volunteers within the sports sector.
- Communicate the value, capacity and contribution of marginalised groups as volunteers in the sports sector.
Sport Diplomacy
- Promote and develop relations between EU and non-EU countries through sports at the grassroots level, particularly via people-to-people exchanges by accessing existing EU funding opportunities.
- Encourage the organisation of side-events during large scale European sports events in order to enhance sustainable cooperation between youth and sport organisations and institutions.
Kacper Czarnota, FISU Student and Media Committee member summarised his thoughts on the conference by saying that “EYSF is an exceptional place for networking, where one and all speak the same language – sport. Relations and bonds that were formed during the forum will last for a long time. Furthermore, having direct impact on European Union policies motivated young passionate people to conceptualize clear recommendations and examples for actions based on current EU priorities. Besides, the forum brought closer FISU and ENGSO Youth, we are looking forward to our cooperation and joint projects in the future.”
Jordan Kenny, FISU Student and Education Committee member further commented that “The forum has provided an outstanding opportunity for young people and youth organisations to lead the conversation around sport, physical activity and heath in a space which has direct influence over the legislative environment of the European Union. In developing clear recommendations and ensuring that member states had the opportunity to influence outcomes, I am confident and excited that through guidance and legislation member states will be pushed towards finding solutions to areas such as fighting obesity, supporting refugees and migrants and unpacking the value of voluntary contributions to society.”
Pink Paper: https://media.wix.com/ugd/6fa9e5_ee7d12a8300048faada70ebafc3cd5a4.pdf
(Source: Cedric Audinot)