National Agencies/SALTOs Staff Meeting on Cooperation Between Programme and Neighbouring Partner Countries
20-22 February 2024, Tbilisi
The meeting of National Agencies and SALTO staff on cooperation between the programme and the neighbouring partner countries was organised between 20-22 of February 2024 in Tbilisi, Georgia. This time the SALTO Eastern Europe and Caucasus took a turn to organise the meeting, following the previous meetings in 2019 (in Ljubljana) and 2022 (in Sarajevo) organised by SALTO South East Europe. It was also a second meeting since the Beyond Borders strategic partnership has been established in 2021. This time, the meeting brought together 21 participants, representatives of the National Agencies and the three regional SALTO resource centres.
The meeting in Tbilisi allowed to discuss and reflect on:
- actual state of play concerning:
- both youth programmes development in regards cooperation between the programme and the partner countries;
- situation of youth work in the neighbouring partner countries;
- good practices, successes and challenges in cooperation between the programme and the partner countries;
- close future, what are the plans for development, potential collaborations, synergies with other stakeholders, etc.;
- further in the future, what are the developments for the new programmes after 2027 and how the National Agencies and regional SALTO can influence it to make the best from the cooperation between the programme and the partner countries;
In the frames of the process, participants updated and edited the set of recommendations for structural changes of Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps that should allow to better develop youth cooperation between the programme and the neighbouring partner countries and to capitalise the achievements and impact of the projects. The recommendations have been gathered around 3 general elements:
- to establish a clear framework for youth cooperation between the programme and the neighbouring partner countries, give it an identity and foster a more effective and meaningful approach.
- to keep the essential opportunities for cooperation offered by the current programmes, broaden and strengthen its certain features.
- to enhance and structure communication between different stakeholders of this cooperation.
