EBL presented the Learning and Development Plan (2022-2027) and the state of play of the current training activities. 

The EEC recommended that:

• EBL advertises the pool of trainers towards the network, especially for international events. 

• When it comes to the Mid-Week meetings, change the approach to have more informal moments to exchange with national coordinators. 

• A similar approach could be developed for the newcomers’ training, with eLearning modules sent to newcomers followed by online sessions to ask questions/exchange. A modular approach will be implemented for the next courses, until the eLearning modules are ready. In addition, a live newcomers’ training will be organised the day before the September Network Meeting (also greener). 

• A buddy system will be implemented to involve EEC members in network support. 

• EBL is completely revamping its eAcademy. EEC welcomed the new approach.

• When it comes to Wednesday Webinars, EBL was asked to provide the list of registered participants upon request. It is however impossible for EBL to monitor attendance.

Eurodesk was invited by the European Commission to share a position paper as we approach the mid-term review of the Youth Strategy. To this end, EBL and the EEC produced a position paper that highlights the network's critical role in fostering inclusion and diversity within the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes. Additionally, the paper proposes more financing to support Eurodesk’s activities.

As this position paper directly impacts the national agencies that host Eurodesk, Lorena Baric, Eurodesk President, shared the draft paper with the NA Directors before submitting it to the European Commission. They have until March 16 to share their feedback.

The new branding is on its way. The new colours are adopted. EBL is still looking for a font that supports its brand while being compatible with various alphabets. EBL is testing the new templates on social media, as well as on the new publications such as the Social Media Guidelines. The new brandbook will be presented at the next Network Meeting. Once this process is completed, EBL will start preparing all the templates (rollers, posters, postcards, etc.) and start the revamp of its website. 

The approach taken by EBL is to develop a website for young people and an institutional website. The website for young people will be done in such a way that the template can be re-used by the national coordinators for their own eurodesk websites. This follows the same approach as the one used for social media (Canva) and the newsletter (Stripo), with ready-made templates that can easily be adapted to national realities. Those tools are in line with EBL’s mission to support national youth information services.

The transition to MyEurodesk is done, simplifying the management of the programmes in the back end. EBL will look into solutions to improve the display of the opportunities on the new website, and also simplify the content to ease the translation process. EEC recommended that a discussion is launched within the network. National Coordinators should be consulted on the involvement of their multipliers in the system, including youth exchanges and whether those should remain on the Intranet or be published on the Opportunity Finder. 

The Eurodesk Centres did not receive feedback from the Commission yet. As it’s the first time national coordinators report with the new system, it would be interesting to share the outcomes of the reporting process once released.

Eurodesk Brussels Link was severely impacted by the pandemic, as in Belgium the inflation led to a 10% automatic increase in salaries. EBL should receive an extra 100.000 EUR to tackle this problem and also run the pool of young journalists, as a legacy of the EYY2022. 

Audrey also discussed with the European Commission on a potential increase for the Eurodesk network in 2024 (national level). More to follow.