Focus

What were the main objectives of the Year?

The main objectives of the Year were to:

• promote intercultural dialogue and strengthen mutual understanding and friendship between European and Chinese youth,
• encourage young people to care about and support the development of EU-China relations,
• achieve extensive and positive impact and help ensure that cooperation between policy makers as well as between youth organizations is sustainable beyond 2011.

The EU-China Year of Youth also coincided with the European Year of Volunteering and the 10th anniversary of the International Year of Volunteering. For this reason, voluntary activities involving young Europeans and Chinese have been encouraged throughout the Year.

What kinds of activities are envisaged?

The joint action plan included various types of activities divided into the following categories: flagship events in Europe and China, joint grassroots projects, policy dialogue in the youth field and on youth-related issues in other fields and visibility activities.

Calendar of main flagship events

When	Where?	What?
10-14 January	Brussels	High-level Opening Ceremony
21-28 February	Beijing	High-level Opening Ceremony
17-23 May	Brussels and around Europe	European Youth Week
4-11 July	Beijing, Xi´An	EU-China Youth Culture Week
9-15 August	Shenzhen	EU-China Youth Festival for Universiade
4-11 September	Brussels	EU-China Volunteer bridge
20-27 October	Beijing, Tianjin	EU-China Leaders Summit

What support was available?

The EU Youth in Action Programme was the main source of potential support on the EU side for concrete joint youth projects aimed at developing partnerships, networks, voluntary projects, youth exchanges among youth organisations from the EU and their counterparts in China during 2011.

Projects promoting cooperation with China were supported in the framework of two actions of the Youth in Action Programme:

• Action 3.2 "Youth in the World – cooperation with countries other than the Neighbouring Countries of the EU". The aim is to promote the exchange of experience and good practice in the field of youth and non-formal education, as well as to develop lasting partnerships and networks between youth organisations from across the globe. More information
• Action 2, the European Voluntary Service - offers opportunities to carry out voluntary service for up to 12 months in another country in Europe or in the world. It is a true learning service for the volunteers and it benefits local communities. More information

Involvement in the Year?

The joint action plan for the Year of Youth underlined the importance of a strong mobilisation of young people, youth organisations and other actors active in the youth field at all levels for a wider impact of the Year of Youth.

In this context, the name and the logo of the Year were used for events, projects and activities taking place between 1 January and 31 December 2011, which contributed significantly to achieving one or more of the above-mentioned objectives of the Year.