Covenant youth advisory council signed to encourage youth participation
On Thursday, June 29, the covenant Jongeren Advies Raad Kerkrade was officially signed by five organizations. With this, the municipality wants to offer young people an opportunity to help think about policy making and also get involved themselves. The Youth Advisory Council is an initiative of the municipality of Kerkrade to which SVO|PL, VISTA college, Het Martin Buber and Impuls Kerkrade are committed.
The municipality considers it extremely important to hear the opinions of young people and include them in municipal policy. The Youth Advisory Council Kerkrade (JARK) is intended to reduce the distance between young people and the municipal government. Through the JARK, young people between the ages of 12 and 27 can raise issues with the municipality themselves. The JARK can also ensure that ideas and suggestions from young people reach the administration more quickly and that the interests of young people are well represented.
Young people are challenged to contribute ideas and advice on important issues for Kerkrade residents, such as young family caregivers, VIE, prevention and poverty and debt. The Youth Advisory Council will meet at least 8 times a year. The partners participating in this covenant will enter into a cooperation for the period from school year 2023-2024 through school year 2027-2028.
Alderman René Van Drunen (Youth): "As a municipality, we are there for all our residents, including young people. Young people know very well what they want and what they need, which is why we like to collect that from them. This allows us to properly gear our policy to the wishes of Kerkrade's young people. We do this under the motto: 'by young people, with young people, for young people'."