The “AU-EU Youth Plug-In Initiative” (YPII) brought together 36 Youth Fellows (18 European & 18 Africa), over a period of one month to draft and submit a Youth Agenda to Heads of State at the AU-EU 5th Summit on 29 November 2017. The 36 Youth Fellows were selected from over 7500 applications.
The initiative built on the Abidjan Youth Declaration from the 4th Africa-Europe Youth Summit in Abidjan on October 9-11 and sought to deepen the work undertaken. A project initiated by the European Union’s External Action Service (EEAS) and the African Union, YPII is the first of its kind to encourage young influencers to find innovative solutions on 6 key topics impacting youth on both continent: Business, job creation and entrepreneurship, Culture, sports and arts, Education and skills, Environmental preservation and climate change, Governance, political and democratic inclusion and activism, Peace and security.
On the 29 November at the 5th AU-EU Summit, the Youth Fellows submitted the Youth Agenda, presented their ideas to the Heads of State and received strong support from the likes of High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Frederica Mogherini, and international football star and YPII Godfather, Didier Drogba. The Youth Fellows also had a special session with DG DEVCO Commissioner, Neven Mimica, amongst other leading international experts.
The Phrenos team managed the 36 Youth Fellows throughout their journey, organising the plenary sessions and stakeholder meetings in Addis Ababa, Brussels and Abidjan and chaperoning the 36 Youth Fellows on a daily 24-hour basis. Furthermore, Phrenos created a 360° communication campaign (social media strategy, website, Didier Drogba teaser) as well as establishing media and social media guidelines for the Youth Fellows to follow. Furthermore, Phrenos experts and coaches worked closely with each cluster group to provide topic related expert advice as well as guidance during the drafting of the Youth Agenda.