Introduction by the Board

Welcome Reader, 

We are proud to present the third edition of the Young European Ambassadors’ (YEA) Magazine! In celebration of 2023 as the European Year of Skills, we have dedicated this year’s magazine issue to exploring the topic of skills.

Inside you will find 15 articles written by young people from across the European Union, the United Kingdom and the Eastern Partner countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. We invite you to join us in learning about all things skills: the importance of skills, the process of acquiring and developing them, the relationships between skills and different industries, and how they can be used to positively impact our communities. 

The articles cover an array of topics including, but not limited to multilingualism, geography, the arts, environmental sustainability, media literacy, the workforce, and education. Whatever your interests are, you will certainly find an article worth reading! 

While you make your way through the magazine, we also encourage you to reflect on the different skills you have learned throughout your lifetime, how they can be used to achieve meaningful change, and what skills you might still want to learn.

In the last pages of the Magazine, you can also find an overview of opportunities offered by the EU to learn new things and gain more skills, programmes such as Erasmus+, EU4Youth training and funding and much more! 

Finally, we would like to extend our gratitude to all the authors and editors who have helped to make this magazine possible. We are incredibly proud of the extraordinary time and effort they have put into developing these articles. Through the generous support of EU Neighbours East, the EU/UK Young European Ambassadors’ Board Members are very humbled to provide this platform for them to raise their voices and share opinions about the issues they most care about. 

Please enjoy the magazine. 

The EU UK Young European Ambassadors Board Members: 

Maria Pia Napoletano (EU/UK YEAs Coordinator)
Freya Proudman (EU/UK Mentors’ Facilitator)

Ebba Fagerlund (EU/UK Board Member)

Patrícia Raposo (EU/UK Board Member)

Irina Sebeko (EU/UK Board Member)

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EU NEIGHBOURS east

‘EU NEIGHBOURS east’ is the regional communication programme for the European Union’s Eastern Neighbourhood, focusing on the six Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. It is funded by the European Commission (DG NEAR) for the purpose of increasing visibility, awareness, and understanding of the cooperation between the EU and EaP countries and of the tangible benefits it has on the lives of citizens in the EU and EaP.

The ‘EU NEIGHBOURS east’ activities and results are reflected on its website and social media accounts: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and LinkedIn.

THE ‘YOUNG EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURS’ NETWORK

Committed to engaging young people in its outreach work, The ‘EU NEIGHBOURS east’ programme in 2016 launched the ‘Young European Neighbours’ (YEN) network, which included the ‘Young European Ambassadors’ (YEAs) initiative. Since then, the network has grown from strength to strength. 

It aims at fostering cooperation and sustainable links between young people and youth organisations from the EU Member States and the EaP countries. The ‘Young European Neighbours’ network is primarily an online platform that facilitates the mutual exchange of ideas and information, promoting young people’s engagement in outreach activities.

It focuses on people-to-people contact and dialogue-driven civic engagement activities, which enhance the understanding and perception of the EU and foster greater appreciation of its relationships with the EaP countries. 

The main role of the Young European Ambassadors (YEAs) Initiative is to create friendships and connections between young people from the EU and EaP countries. At the heart of the initiative is a commitment to empowering young people from the EaP and EU to be active voices in their communities by providing opportunities for youth to make cross-cultural connections, exchange knowledge and experiences, share best practices, collaborate on projects, and work towards a better future together. Workshops and training sessions are also provided to afford young people the skills they need to implement their ideas and bring about meaningful change in their communities.

There are currently more than 900 young people, representing over 30 different nationalities, across the EU and the EaP serving as ‘Young European Ambassadors’. They regularly participate in dialogue and engage online on a daily basis through the Young European Neighbours network Facebook group. To date, more than a thousand young people from the EU and EaP countries have performed the role of Young European Ambassador.