Youth Engagement Updates And Other Upcoming Youth & Student Engagements

Youth Engagement Updates and Other Upcoming Youth & Student Engagements

Recent months have been characterised by powerful convenings, genuine engagement, co-creation, and resourceful outcomes led by youth and students from across our movement. In September, GCE launched and rolled out its youth & student-led COVID-19 recovery response grant to 15 grantee partners from across the globe. Subsequently, in October, GCE led its first Youth Action Month, which saw three separate dialogue convenings led by youth, students, and allies from across our movement. You can catch up with the events here I The Economics of Education I Decolonisation, a Shared Praxis I GCE Youth Strategy I

This has been an outstanding achievement, and more importantly, a historical moment for the GCE and its membership. None of this would have been possible without the energy, collective effort, and support from youth & student members and new grantees from across the GCE movement.

Outcomes of these two initiatives will be seen shortly in the form of:

1. A global report showcasing the state of organising of youth and students during a time of crisis, at all levels. This will be compiled in partnership with grantee partners leading work in their contexts through the GCE COVID-10 grant.
2. A publishable list of demands and recommendations from youth and students across the movement and beyond. This will be synthesised from the perspectives and voices shared during our youth, and student convenings.

As we draw closer to the end of the year 2021, we understand the importance of taking time to reflect collectively and plan toward the future. As a result, we are planning to host two final convenings by December 2021.

Mapping Exercise

Mapping has been a key recommendation that has come out of the World Assembly 2021. After consultation and feedback processes with all members, we have developed a survey that we will send out across membership, including other key stakeholders. The purpose of the mapping exercise is for us to gain a deeper understanding of how many youth and student organisations are members, which organisations/coalitions/collectives are not currently linked to GCE, what these structures are doing in the field of education, how do we better link them, how they are structured and how better to engage them in the GCE movement’s activities. We encourage all of our members to share as widely as possible even with organisations that are not yet formal members. This is a crucial step in GCE building its engagement with youth and students but more importantly a crucial step toward understanding the role players, stakeholders, and their focus areas. The survey is set to launch on 1 November 2021. This will be emailed to key respondents and members as well as posted to our website.

Please feel free to contact GCE Youth Engagement Officer Consultant, Xena Scullard (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) if you have any questions, ideas, or support needs.

Kindly access the Surveys here: I English I French I Spanish I Portuguese I Arabic

And the mapping letters here: I English I French I Spanish I Portuguese I Arabic

Linking and Sharing Event

This event seeks to bring together new grantee partners and existing GCE members. The purpose would be for new grantee partners to share some of the work they are doing through the COVID-19 recovery response grant, some of the challenges and lessons they have been learning so far, and connect with existing members. This will also be an opportunity for existing members to share their experiences of being members of the GCE and most importantly for them to share the work they are doing within their contexts.

This ultimately will allow ideas and opportunities for collaboration to emerge among new potential and existing members. The event is set to take place on 18 November or 25 November, dates are still to be confirmed through consultation with partners. Please stay tuned for correspondence regarding the final dates and times, for now, please find the concept note for the event.

Kindly access the concept note here: Linking and Sharing

Global Student and Youth Caucus

As recommended within our previous World Assembly earlier this year and further supported by calls from youth and students during our convenings, GCE is planning in partnership with members to host a Global Student & Youth Caucus. The purpose of the caucus multifold

• Build bridges and connections of solidarity among youth and students across the movement.
• Review, Edit and finalise the GCE youth & student engagement strategy
• Collectively co-create action plans for 2022 linked to strategy (advocacy, research, campaigning, etc.)
• Address barriers to access and participation for youth and students within the GCE movement
• Inspiring newfound energy and opportunities for transnational collaboration among youth and students

The caucus will be hosted in a hybrid format, which means both in-person activities and virtual participation. We are currently working on cost analysis as well as scenario planning for the format of the caucus. This is so that we ensure participants’ safety but also full engagement in the process. The caucus is planned to take place between 14 -16 December 2021. There is still much to be confirmed and finalised so please do stay tuned to our social media pages and website for final details and invitations to planning conversations.

Leading up to the final stretch for the year, we want to deliberately take the opportunity to thank and honor the work and collective effort we have experienced from our partners and members such as CLADE, MELAC, ACEA, ASPBAE, GSF, ActionAid International, Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative and individual speakers and moderators. Without you, all none of this would have been possible. We look forward to co-organising and co-creating with you all in the coming weeks and months.