Human rights: rights and freedoms that belong to all human beings, regardless of any condition. Human rights are expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and offer a normative framework for the formulation of regional and national youth policies, as well as strengthening the policies through legal obligations. Human rights are legal rights that States around the world have agreed to through international documents such as treaties, conventions and covenants. Governments, therefore, have a legal obligation to respect, protect and fulfill human rights. (Council of Europe)
Labor rights: The EU has adopted minimum requirements for the protection of young workers (under 18 years of age) and their health and safety at work. The employment of young people must be strictly controlled and protected under the conditions provided for in the Directive (COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 94/33/EC of 22 June 1994 on the Protection of Young People at Work, 1994).
Decision maker: The Cambridge Dictionary defines “decision-maker” as “a person who decides things, especially at a high level in an organisation”. We are referring to those institutions, organisations and leadership structures able to impact policies, regulations, programmes and very relevant issues affecting youth and the general population. For example, some Civil Society Organisations, such as Foundations, Associations, or industrial clusters, can be considered decision-makers due to its influence on public issues. Typically, public administrations – and some public administration officers -, parties and labor unions are the most relevant considering their active role.
European Citizenship: Created with the adoption of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, the European Citizenship is additional and complementary to your National Citizenship and applies to all EU-member States. The European Citizenship implies legal protections of EU law: the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union proclaimed on the 7th of December, 2020 and into force since the 1st of December, 2009 (Treaty of Lisbon) guarantees us political, social and economic rights, all of them also reinforced by several directives, acts, agreements and treaties (Chapter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union 2000/C 364/01, 2000). The key citizenship competencies involves Knowledge, Skills and Values (Griffin et al., 2012).
European identity: The European Union conciles the national identities within a wider project based on multicultural, diverse and resilient union of nations and communities (Dittrich van Weringh, 2005). Thus the European Identity appears as ‘ an “intermediary” identity between the national and the global’ (Foundation Robert Schuman, 2018).
Deliberative democracy: Emerging around 1990, deliberative democracy is unified by a central belief that democracy ought to involve more than voting and decision making by elected representatives. While there is considerable variation among deliberative scholars on the specifics, deliberative capacity of a democratic polity can be captured by the conditions ‘deliberativeness’, ‘inclusiveness’ and ‘consequentiality’ (Dryzek, 1990, 2009).
Stereotype: It is a widely held belief that influence in a negative way the perception and thoughts on the basis of sex, gender identity, race and ethnicity, nationality, age, socioeconomic status, and language.
Humour: It is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. It is perceived differently depending on the culture and manifests itself differently.
Paradigm: It is a way of thinking that is commonly carried out in a group of people or society. It is a logical perception, and model of how belongings work in the world.
Ethics: The discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad and morally right and wrong.
Democracy: It is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate, vote in elections, take actions, and make decisions.
Culture shock: It refers to feelings of uncertainty, confusion, or anxiety that people may experience when moving to a new country, experiencing a new culture, and being in an unfamiliar environment.
Citizenship: It refers to the legal rights and duties of individuals attached to nationality under domestic law. It is a relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual is entitled to its protection.
Objectivism: It is the philosophy of rational individualism and holds that there is no greater moral goal than achieving one’s happiness.
Consequentialism: It is an ethical theory that judges whether something is right by what its consequences are.
Virtue ethics: It deals with the rightness or wrongness of individual actions. It is person rather than action based: it looks at the virtue or moral character of the person carrying out an action, rather than at ethical duties and rules.
Environmental education: The goal of environmental education is: To develop a world population that is aware of, and concerned about the environment and its associated problems, and which has the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivations and commitment to work individually and collectively toward solutions to current problems, and the prevention of new ones. (United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 1975)
Formal education: Formal education refers to the structured education system that runs from primary (and in some countries from nursery) school to university, and includes specialised programmes for vocational, technical and professional training. Formal education often comprises an assessment of the learners’ acquired learning or competences and is based on a programme or curriculum which can be more or less closed to adaptation to individual needs and preferences. Formal education usually leads to recognition and certification (Council of Europe)
Non-formal education: Non-formal education refers to planned, structured programmes and processes of personal and social education for young people designed to improve a range of skills and competences, outside the formal educational curriculum. Non-formal education is what happens in places such as youth organisations, sports clubs and drama and community groups where young people meet, for example, to undertake projects together, play games, discuss, go camping, or make music and drama. Non-formal education achievements are usually difficult to certify, even if their social recognition is increasing.(…).(Council of Europe)
Informal education: Informal education refers to a lifelong learning process, whereby each individual acquires attitudes, values, skills and knowledge from the educational influences and resources in his or her own environment and from daily experience. People learn from family and neighbours, in the market place, at the library, at art exhibitions, at work and through playing, reading and sports activities. The mass media are a very important medium for informal education, for instance through plays and film, music and songs, televised debates and documentaries. Learning in this way is often unplanned and unstructured.
Entrepreneur: Someone who starts their own business, especially when this involves seeing a new opportunity (Cambridge dictionary)
Dumpster diving: The activity of searching through dumpsters or other large containers holding waste, in order to find food that can still be eaten or objects that can still be used (Cambridge dictionary)
Climate change: Climate change is a change in the usual weather found in a place. This could be a change in how much rain a place usually gets in a year. Or it could be a change in a place’s usual temperature for a month or season. Nasa
Deforestation: Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Wikipedia
Biodiversity: Biodiversity refers to the variety of living species on Earth, including plants animals,bacteria, and fungi. National Geographic
Greenhouse effect: The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet’s atmosphere warms the planet’s surface to a temperature above what it would be without this atmosphere. Wikipedia
Sustainable consumption: Sustainable consumption is the use of services and related products which respond to basic needs and which bring a better quality of life to people. UNESCO
Sustainable production: Sustainable production is the creation of goods and services using processes and systems that are non-polluting, that conserve and preserve energy and natural resources, that are economically viable, safe and healthy for workers and consumers, and that are socially and creatively rewarding. UNESCO
Energy production: Energy production refers to how much primary energy a country extracts from nature. This is the total of all of the harvested primary fuels and primary energy flows. Energy Education.
Renewable Energy Sources: Energy resources that are replenished naturally, but the supply of which can be endangered by overuse or subject to weather.
Non-renewable Energy Sources: Energy resources that form in extremely slow geological processes like coal and coal products, oil, natural gas, and nuclear power
Energy Consumption: Energy Consumption is the amount of energy or power used. Energy consumption refers to ALL the energy used to perform an action, manufacture something or simply inhabit a building
Sustainable Food Production: Sustainable food production is “a method of production using processes and systems that are non-polluting, conserve non-renewable energy and natural resources, are economically efficient, are safe for workers, communities and consumers, and do not compromise the needs of future generations (Foresight, 2011).
Water Use: Water use describes the total amount of water withdrawn from its source to be used. World Resources Institute
Water Consumption: Water consumption is the portion of water use that is not returned to the original water source after being withdrawn. Consumption occurs when water is lost into the atmosphere through evaporation or incorporated into a product or plant and is no longer available for reuse. World Resources Institute
Refuse: Simply means say NO. Esquire
Reduce: Reduce is about using less and having less of an impact on the environment. Part of throwing away less is buying less, and being more mindful as a consumer. Esquire
Reuse: Reuse is the action or practice of using an item, whether for its original purpose (conventional reuse) or to fulfill a different function (creative reuse or repurposing). Wikipedia
Recycle: Recycling is is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. Wikipedia
Active citizenship: people getting involved in their communities and democracy at all levels
Advocacy: public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy
Capacity: the ability to do something : a mental, emotional, or physical ability
Civic engagement: individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern
Civil society: society considered as a community of citizens linked by common interests and collective activity
Community-based organization : An organization driven by community residents in all aspects of its existence
Cooperative: people-centred enterprises owned, controlled and run by and for their members to realise their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations.
Entrepreneur: A person who creates enterprise(s) across all business sectors primarily with intent of generating profit
Goal: the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result
Impact: a marked effect or influence
Inference: conclusion reached based on evidence and reasoning
Leverage: use borrowed capital for (an investment), expecting the profits made to be greater than the interest payable ; use (something) to maximum advantage
Mission statement: a formal summary of the aims and values of a company, organization, or individual
Non- governmental organisation: a non-profit group that functions independently of any government
Outcome: the way a thing turns out; a consequence
Social capital: a set of shared values that allows individuals to work together in a group to effectively achieve a common purpose
Social change: alteration of the social order of a society
Social enterprise: a business that has specific social objectives as primary purpose
Social entrepreneur: a person who establishes an enterprise with the primary aim of solving social problems or effecting social change
Social entrepreneurship: the process by which individuals, startups and entrepreneurs develop and fund solutions that directly address social issues
Social firm: a specialist social enterprise that focuses on employing or increasing employment chances for job-disadvantaged people
Social inclusion: the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society
Social problem: any condition or behavior that negatively affects a large number of people
Strategy: a careful plan or method for achieving a particular goal usually over a long period of time
Sustainability: the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level, avoidance of the depletion of natural resources to maintain ecological balance
Parliamentary Democracy: The Political System in which political power is given by the People to a Representative Assembly formed by representatives who are elected by the people at regular moments in time, and in which this political power is given subsequently by this elected Representative Assembly to the Government that has to be in line with the decisions and choices of a majority of representatives inside this Assembly. Synonyms are Representative Democracy and Indirect Democracy.
Ambassador: A civil servant who represents officially and formally the government of a State or a Federation of Member States towards other States, Federations or International Organisations.
Erasmus+ Programme: The Programme of the European Commission for Education, both informal and formal and for all age categories.
European Solidarity Corps: Initiative of the European Commission that engages European Youth in Solidarity Activities while providing them with housing and food during the time of these activities.
European Values: Ideas that a majority of Europeans feels as being important, crucial and fundamental to the societies of the EU Member States and of the EU as a whole.
New European Bauhaus: Initiative of the European Commission, launched by President von der Leyen who named the New European Bauhaus (NEB) the Soul of the European Green Deal. The NEB is all about rethinking our ways of living and living together and intends to combine in an interdisciplinary way the values of Inclusion, Sustainability and Beauty.
Conference on the Future of Europe: A general and Europe-wide Initiative that collects and brings together (both online and in real-life events) ideas from all Europeans willing to participate in this Conference, about the future working, design and ambitions of the European Union, in Europe and around the World.
