Recognizing Young People as Key Experts of Their Own Lives
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (= Youth Ministry) of the Czech Republic considers and fully respects young people´s role in being the undisputed experts on their own life. They are the ones who can best identify what they perceive as the main challenges in their lives, and who can suggest what solutions will be the most beneficial. That was the reason, why youth policy in the Czech Republic embarked on an innovative path to achieve this vision when the Youth Department of the Youth Ministry was tasked with developing a new National Youth Strategy 2025-2030. The Youth Ministry's unprecedented approach to involving young people in decision-making processes resulted in the establishment of Youth Panel in March 2024 as an independent advisory body established by and operating under the Ministry.
A New Approach: Establishing the Youth Panel
The Youth Panel is an independent consultative body operating within the Education and Youth Section of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (hereinafter referred to as Section II). The aim is to enable young people from a wide spectrum of Czech society to contribute to the creation, monitoring and evaluation of youth policy through interactive cooperation with Section II through the Youth Department. The role of Section II, or rather the Youth Department, is to process all opinions and suggestions arising from the Panel's meetings into clear outputs, analyse them and, to the maximum extent possible, take them into account when working on the creation, development, monitoring and evaluation of youth policy. In 2024, the main task of the Youth Panel was to cooperate in developing the Concept for the Youth Sector and the future setting of the Panel's sustainable functioning.
Ensuring Diversity and Fair Representation
The Pilot Youth Panel was established for 2 years as of 22 March 2024. The Panel has a total of 20 members aged 15–26 who represent youth from various social backgrounds, with fewer opportunities and/or in vulnerable situations.
More than 500 applicants applied for the open call, which was spread through the social media, NGOs´ networks of contacts as well as through the ministerial communication platforms which also reached schools. The genuine interest of young people to participate in the decision-making processes in addressing challenges they face was impressive as well as their willingness underpinned by their personal strategies and life experience to contribute to improving the situation of the groups of young people they represent. Some members are selected based on nominations from NGOs working with youth with limited opportunities, and some are selected from an open call. The selection process focused on motivation, quality of application, and diversity by status (working/studying), region, age, gender, and urban/rural living.
When selecting members of Youth Panel, emphasis was placed on the diversity of the composition of Youth Panel and at the same time on a balanced composition in the parameters of age, gender, region (county) and city/rural area:
- Region: representatives from all 14 regions,
- Gender balance: 10 female and 10 male representatives,
- Age representation: 15-20 years (50%), 21-26 years (50%),
- City/rural area: 13:7.
Giving Voice to Young People with Fewer Opportunities
The greatest possible diversity of the Panel members has been ensured. Young panellists purposefully represent young people with fewer opportunities and in vulnerable situations such as LGBTQI+ community, young people with migrant background, minorities, parentless young people, young people in socially excluded areas, handicapped young people, young people with mental health problems, young people from an unstimulating family environment, young mothers, unemployed young people, rural youth, young people from disadvantageous areas etc. Young people with experience of working in youth organizations as well as being involved in various initiatives on one side and those without previous experience on other side, are also represented. Those ones who were difficult to be reached out were nominated by umbrella NGOs and network organisations and associations which directly work with these groups in vulnerable situations. To facilitate an active involvement of young people in Youth Panel, experienced mentors are available to the young panellists on voluntary basis, in order to facilitate creation of a stimulating and safe environment for exchanging and sharing ideas based on a principle that every opinion is welcome and has its value.
Working Methods and Interaction with the Ministry
Youth Panel meets in person at least twice annually and online. Primarily its activities take place online, but Youth Panel meets also in person. Its first major task was establishing a close cooperation with Youth Department of the Youth Ministry on the development of a new strategical document on providing youth support 2025+ (National Youth Strategy 2025+). It was an interactive collaboration where members of the Panel were directly involved in the development of the National Youth Strategy itself with a focus on getting to know the role of the Youth Ministry in the whole process. In addition, the interaction between young people and ministerial officials brought an opportunity for both parties to successfully develop and cultivate intergenerational dialogue and respect intergenerational justice, without which the development of modern public policies is indispensable.
The detailed rules, procedures and principles guiding the functioning of the Youth Panel are defined in the Youth Panel Charter, which serves as both the statute and the rules of procedure of the Panel.
Opportunities for Broader Engagement
Young panelists are sent, upon their requests and interest, to various events, including professional seminars and panel discussions intended primarily for decision-makers. The Youth Department prepares a newsletter for them with other opportunities to participate in decision-making processes. Moreover. the Youth Department also stays in touch with those who were not selected for Youth Panel in the highly competitive environment, but who are eager to participate in decision-making processes and wish to stay in touch with the Youth Ministry. Young panelists also elaborate opinions for policy makers regarding current challenges that public administration is addressing.
Strategic Priorities for 2024–2025
The main task of Youth Panel in 2024 was to ensure that a new National Youth Strategy 2025+ will be developed directly with and by young people. In 2025 the focus is to set up various options and processes for cooperation of the Panel and the Youth Ministry (try, test, give feedback). During February 2025 the Youth Panel's ministerial coordinator conducted bilateral one-to-one interviews with the Panel members after their one-year experience of being engaged in youth policy making. The Youth Ministry thus gathered valuable feedback on what young panelists would like to change, but also what has been tailored to them and what they would like to continue with. Some tried-and-tested formats will continue to be used (they will be improved), but new methods and forms of cooperation will also be tested.
