On 25 April, we were delighted to unveil the Our Voice project at the UN ECOSOC Youth Forum. Read our detailed report and watch the event online.
The Parents’ House Public Benefit Foundation has consultative status with UN ECOSOC, which gave us the opportunity to organise a Side Event at this year’s Youth Forum. The online event’s goal was to raise awareness about the value of volunteering with young people, in addition to showcasing youth volunteering and exchange programmes.
The event was a unique opportunity to bring together decision-makers, professionals creating youth programmes, NGO representatives and the main actors of the programmes, the young people.
Zsófia Nagy-Vargha, Deputy State Secretary for Youth in Hungary, opened the programme by saying that „youth volunteering and mobility programmes are an opportunity to work together to build a fairer, more equitable and sustainable world”.
After the opening ceremony, Judit Regős, President of the Parents’ House Public Benefit Foundation, gave us the overview of the organisation’s Do Good Things! programme, with a special focus on activities with young people.
Richárd Bodrogi, Director-General of the Hungarian Tempus Public Foundation, gave a great presentation on the structure and the different opportunities of the European Union’s youth programmes.
We were really happy to announce at this event that we have launched the international Our Voice project under the Erasmus+ KA 220 programme. The project is a cooperation between the Hungarian Parents’ House Public Benefit Foundation, the Belgian De Stuyverij, the Romanian Asociatia Pro Agriensis and the Hungarian Kommunió Foundation. The leaders of the international partner organisations, Eefje Cottenier from Belgium and Zsuzsanna Márton from Romania, also shared some great insights into their valuable work with young people.
The idea behind this new project is to give young people with fewer opportunities, who are growing up in care, a chance to become peer helpers. This is done by teaching them mentoring and coaching skills with the help of professional youth workers in an international training course. After the training, they can help other young people in similar situations to have their voices heard, which will help them to make a difference in society.
The second part of the event was a round table discussion with young people. One great example was Oszkár Kállai, a secondary school student who grew up in care and has a track record of success despite his disadvantaged start in life. Oszkár has been involved with the Parents’ House for a long time and was awarded the Foundation’s St. Anthony’s Award in the „Our Hero” category in 2022. He wants to lead a children’s home in the future, which is why he’s taking part in the international project.
As Judit Regős said, „the flexibility and mobility of young people is the key to our future.”
Valeria Juesas Lozano and Júlia Pálhegyi, who took part in the European Solidarity Corps’ volunteering programme, also said that volunteering programmes are great for networking and building communities. They said that young people can learn about each other’s cultures and history, which makes them more open and helps them to work together.
Csenge Offenbacher, Youth delegate of Hungary to the United Nations, joined the event online from New York, as she was attending the Youth Forum in person. Csenge is really passionate about the wellbeing of young people in rural areas, and she’s currently representing young people in Hungary at the UN.
You can catch the event at the following link: https://fb.watch/k8PreJeOAA/