AU-EU Debrief Talk: Youth Perspectives on the 7th AU-EU Summit

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The 7th African Union – European Union Summit (24-25 November 2025, Luanda, Angola) marked 25 years of AU-EU partnership, focusing on peace/security/governance, prosperity, people, and multilateralism. Youth played a pivotal advisory role via the official side event – the Civil Society and Youth Forum (20-21 November) – where around 100 youth actors from Africa and Europe debated summit themes and produced the Joint Declaration of African and European Civil Societies and Youth. This declaration, transmitted to leaders, emphasised youth-led recommendations on conflict prevention through skills/empowerment, digital literacy, innovation funds, mobility schemes, social protection, and permanent consultative mechanisms.  

Youth engagement was central to the AU-EU Summit, with youth delegates/speakers/facilitators co-shaping actionable inputs (but not any formal decisions), amplifying EU and AU youth voices. This tripartite debrief leverages that momentum, uniting youth delegates, and local YSBs (ground-level insights) to unpack takeaways for youth in AU-EU relations. 

Meeting Objectives 

• Exchange experiences of youth participation in the AU-EU Summit ecosystem (Forum, declaration process, side mechanisms). 
• Reflect on Joint Declaration recommendations (e.g., youth innovation funds, civic space protections, mobility pilots). 
• Bridge AU-EU cooperation to alumni networks and vice versa, peer learning, and localised implementation. 
• Build alumni solidarity across EU-global-regional levels for ongoing AU-EU youth influence. 

Speakers:  

• EU-AU Youth Delegates: Lars Westra (The Netherlands), Alma Jokinen (Finland)  
• YSB global alumni: John Jessy (Uganda), Damien Baraka (Malawi) 
• YSBs local alumni (to be confirmed): Kohnemie M’meta (Malawi), Dorcus Chishumba (Zimbabwe) 

📝 Registration link

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