The under-signer trainers - from Programme and South Med countries - active also with their organisations in the framework of the youth Programmes, have gathered in Paris for the annual meeting of ESC trainers active in South Med within the frame of SALTO EuroMed TEC activities, 6-8 March 2024.

During our meeting, we discussed and agreed that the current geopolitical situation in the Middle East is severely affecting young people and youth work in Palestinian territories  in all its dimensions (including the youth Programmes we are promoting) with the risk of irreversible effects.

We acknowledge that Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes are powerful tools for the promotion of a culture of peace and solidarity within the programme countries and beyond. And especially in historical moments like the actual one, with several conflicts rising in all the neighbouring regions. They provide platforms for dialogue, cooperation, and collaboration, helping counteract divisive narratives and build solidarity networks. By bringing people from different backgrounds together and encouraging them to work towards common goals, these programs contribute to the promotion of peace and understanding at both local and international levels.

In fact, after having manifested in the recent past our concern and having acted – both at institutional and grassroot level – with the aim to mitigate the consequences of the war for Ukrainian youth, we consider it is the moment to express concern and take action for the conditions of youth, youth organisations and youth workers in the current situation taking place in Gaza and West Bank.

There, young people face survival challenges, with no perspectives for the future and no contact with the outside world. Besides the physical threat to their life, they are exposed to increasing mental health diseases and to the concrete possibility of radicalisation due to their living conditions.

Youth organisations - which used to be in the frontline dealing directly with young people – should provide the first response to young people's needs, but in the current situation lack concrete support and recognition of their role to be able to address young people's needs.

Youth workers, besides facing physical threats, are overwhelmed and often lack the necessary support in terms of resources but also sometimes in terms of competences to cope with such a situation.

The under-signers have directly experienced during past years how the youth Programmes have played a significant role in supporting solidarity, providing opportunities for exchange, volunteering, and capacity building. In the actual moment, we see that these Programmes would be even more relevant if they could provide resources, opportunities, contacts with the rest of the world to young people, youth organisations and youth workers active in the region.

Therefore, we take the initiative to recommend to the following youth Programmes stakeholders a set of limited but relevant actions:

- National Agencies could take the chance to directly address their national youth organisations to inform and encourage them about the possibilities of entering in contact with Palestinian organisations active in the youth Programmes in order to foster collaboration and create in the near future opportunities for youth workers and young people mobility and organisations capacity building. Accredited organisations already working in this field in each country could be contacted by National Agencies to raise their awareness and canalise available resources to support the collaboration through the promotion of mobilities of youth workers and youngsters (volunteering in ESC and youth exchange, job shadowing, seminars, other youth worker mobilities in Erasmus plus).

- SALTO Resource Centres could create spaces and opportunities to foster cooperation between organisations from Palestine and Programme countries, for example organising thematic conferences, seminars, and specific training courses addressing identified needs and strategically thinking about the future in the Area. 

- The European Commission could take the chance to address different stakeholders working in the framework of the youth Programmes (SALTOs, NAs, networks, and others) to highlight the importance and the role that the youth Programmes have in fostering youth work collaboration in the promotion of human rights and social justice, as defined in The New Model of Solidarity, promoted by European Solidarity Corps Programme, and consequently, provide appropriate resources to allows them to enhance such activities in the current situation.

We count on lessons learnt and measures taken in other neighbouring conflict scenarios that could be easily adapted and replicated also in the Middle East area.

Moreover, youth Programmes stakeholders can count on organisations from both shores of the Mediterranean Sea that have experience in South Med youth cooperation and can be considered as resources to identify and address needs and develop collaboration projects, with the aim of mitigating the dangerous effects of the actual situation for youth, youth organisations and youth workers.

We, as trainers and professionals, are actively involved in several projects and activities with our organisation and individually; in this frame, we are going to organise a gathering of Palestinian youth organisations and youth workers active in EU Programs for youth to collect needs and cooperatively design diverse measures of practical support.

We want to believe that collective actions can mitigate the negative impact of the current situation and authentically embrace the Programme values.

A group of trainers of the SALTO Euromed pool of trainers

Davide Tonon, Annamaria Simeone, Bruno António, Federica Demicheli, Khadija Amahal, Sana' Al-Emam, Emad Sa'adeh, Bassam Baki