What is the EFIL Youth Advisory Committee (YAC)

EFIL promotes the active participation of citizens in the countries where it is represented and, in particular, of young people (aged 18-30). In addition, young people predominantly form the active volunteer base on which the EFIL Network supports itself to deliver on its mission. 

In order to strengthen the involvement of youth in the decision making process of the organisation, the EFIL General Assembly in June 2025 have unanimously approved the creation of a Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) of EFIL. 

The YAC is expected to be composed of volunteers acting as EFIL external representatives in the context of youth (European Youth Forum and Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe) and members nominated among EFIL Member Organisations’ (MO) representatives, ensuring a strong link with National Youth Councils, when possible.

The YAC will:

• Provide input on selected subjects for which the youth perspective is particularly relevant for the work of EFIL upon request of the GA, Board of Directors (BoD) and/or the Secretary General;

• Actively be considered by the EFIL BoD as part of their work plan for input in specific areas of work;

• Suggest topics, actions and input where considered relevant for the work of EFIL;

• Support a stronger engagement of EFIL MOs in their National Youth Councils (NYC) in order to establish a link between such engagement and EFIL’s advocacy efforts.

EFIL work in the next 3 years will be reflecting the objectives of the 2026-2028 strategy, just adopted by the General Assembly.

Composition

The YAC is composed of a maximum of five (5) elected and co-opted members

• Three (3) representatives nominated by EFIL MOs to be elected. The nominated volunteer is expected to hold a key position in one of EFIL Member Organisations. In case the EFIL MO is part of the National Youth Council (NYC), it is encouraged that the representative is a candidate for election at the EFIL YAC.

• Two (2) EFIL external representatives as co-opted members who will be the EFIL representative to the European Youth Forum and the EFIL representative to the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe in case EFIL is elected for such a position. 

• For the period January 2026- December 2027 the co-opted members are Josef Burker (AFS Austria) and Andrew Ormsby (AFS Ireland).

Duration of the mandate

Volunteers elected to the YAC will have a two (2) year mandate. To ensure future knowledge sharing within the YAC and to avoid that the YAC is replaced in full simultaneously in subsequent calls for election, the YAC elected members will have staggered mandates. 

As a transitory measure, for the first YAC mandate 2025-2026, out of the three nominated members, two hold a 1 year mandate and one a 2 year mandate. Upon agreement among the current YAC members, Jorren Almey (AFS LOL) will continue his mandate for 2026-2027, while Irina Jokanovic (AFS Serbia) and Tom Ketelhut (AFS Germany) have a only one year mandate, ending in September 2026.

In September 2026 there will be elections for 2 members, and in September 2027 for 1 member.

There is no limit of mandates for a YAC member, as long as the eligibility criteria are met.

The minimum of three members of the YAC should be appointed at all times, and in case this number is not met, a call for new nominations is sent out by the EFIL Secretariat.

The Role YAC members

●   Be invited to all the relevant online meetings convened by EFIL, where Chairs and Directors are jointly invited;

●   Be invited to an exchange of views with the EFIL BoD at least once a year;

●   Provide input to the General Assembly (GA), the BoD, and the/or Secretary General when called upon;

●   Suggest topics, actions and input where considered relevant for the work of EFIL;

●   Receive feedback from the BoD on how their input has been considered, every time they provide contributions;

●   Receive the minutes of the EFIL BoD meetings and the EFIL Bulletin;

●   Be eligible to be nominated by EFIL for taking part in the AFS Youth Assembly;

●   Be eligible to apply for attending internal or external events where EFIL is invited, depending on the opportunity/content and funding available;

●   Meet online at least four (4) times a year;

●   Report to EFIL MOs on their work, once a year.

The EFIL YAC will draft its own internal rules of procedures during its first mandate which must be in line with the EFIL Statutes and applicable policies. They will elect a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker and convene and facilitate their own meetings. They will take and record minutes of all meetings. The YAC will inform the EFIL BoD and the SG about their meetings calendar and will share with them the minutes of their meetings. 

The YAC is encouraged to organise every year at least one meeting with all representatives of EFIL Members to NYCs, and young members from the EFIL BoD and EFIL MOs Boards (aged 18-30). The Chair and the Secretary general are invited to attend such meetings, and can delegate others to attend on their behalf. An annual YAC in-person meeting could take place linked to other EFIL meetings (e.g. GA, Volunteer Summer Summit, European Pool of Trainers meetings, etc.) provided that external funding is available upon confirmation of the EFIL Secretary general. 

All the costs related to the participation of YAC members to in-person events are covered by EFIL.

Eligibility

YAC members need to:

• be key volunteers of an EFIL Member organisation, and preferably the organisation's representative to the National Youth Council (if the AFS organisation is a member). When YAC candidates are not representatives to the NYC, they can be coordinators of committees/working groups, trainers, Board members. YAC members need to be closely linked with EFIL members activities to best represent the perspective of young volunteers of the EFIL Network,

• be resident in a Council of Europe Member state (to be able to participate in external representation opportunities),

• be between 18 and 30 years of age at the time their election becomes effective,

• have good English speaking and writing skills.

More information

You can write to tonia.satou@afs.org with elisa.briga@afs.org (EFIL Secretary general) and emma.zanoli@afs.org  (EFIL Board member - liaison with YAC) in Cc. 

• Submit the application form to the Chair of the Board of your AFS organisation, with the Volunteer Manager and Director in Cc, by 31 August (please make a copy before filling it in).

• The Board of your organisation will assess the applications received and decide which nominations to put forward for the Youth Advisory Committee. There is no limit of candidates per EFIL Member organisation.

• The Board will fill in the part of the application form dedicated to the nominating organisation, for each of the candidate they put forward.

• The Chair of the Board submits the application form to the EFIL Communications and Governance officer tonia.satou@afs.org by 15 September 2026. Incomplete applications or applications sent by the candidates (not by the Chair of the Board) will not be considered.

• An email notice will be sent to all EFIL Members (Chairs and Directors) with the link to the applications of the candidates and the information on the online voting procedure.

• The online voting will take place in the second half of September.

• The YAC mandate will start on 1st October 2026.