Organising the Summit

The Nordic Council of Ministers' annual cooperation meetings with representatives of organisations for young people with disabilities are based on the Nordic Programme for Cooperation on Disability Issues 2023–2027. The purpose of these meetings is to strengthen the perspective of children and young people in Nordic cooperation on disability issues. The theme and content of the meetings will be based on the needs and wishes of children and young people.

These meetings contribute to the Nordic Council of Ministers' action plan for Our Vision 2030. Particularly in relation to Goal 9 on good, equal, and safe health and welfare for all, and Goal 11, on giving Nordic civil society, especially children and young people, a stronger voice and participation in Nordic cooperation. These meetings will help to realise the cross-cutting perspectives: gender equality and sustainable development. The UN CRPD is about equality for people with disabilities in all areas of society. In turn, equality is a prerequisite for social sustainability and is embedded in the UN Sustainable Development Goals under the goal of "leave no one behind." 

The activities also contribute to Goal 12: maintain trust and cohesion in the Nordic region, its shared values and the Nordic community with a focus on culture, democracy, equality, inclusion, non-discrimination and freedom of expression.

The agenda for the summit was developed in collaboration with the Danish Association of Youth with Disabilities (SUMH) and the Norwegian Association of Youth with Disabilities. 

All three collaboration meetings for leaders of disability organisations for young people in the Nordic region were organised and led by the Danish and Norwegian Associations of Youth with Disabilities. 

The representatives of the organisations in the Disability Council played a key role in identifying youth representatives from each of the Nordic regions.

The extent to which the representatives were able to participate depended on how the meetings were conducted. A centrally located conference hotel in Copenhagen was chosen as the venue for the summit. This was an appropriate hotel as it had enough rooms that are wheelchair accessible, as well as its convenient location in relation to public transport hubs.

Copenhagen was chosen because the Secretariat of the Nordic Council of Ministers is located there. The proximity to the Secretariat enabled staff from different policy and business areas to attend some of the cooperation meetings during the summit. A total of seven policy and business areas attended the summit.

The representatives of the youth organisations arrived at the hotel the day before the start of the summit and left the day after the end of the summit. This adaptation made travel easier for people with disabilities and also allowed the representatives to participate in the meetings without feeling too tired. 

In order for the summit to take place, it was necessary to have a financial framework that enabled the representatives to bring their assistants. While some representatives brought as many as four assistants, other representatives brought no assistants.

A social programme was prepared and implemented with an emphasis on creating informal meeting places between representatives of the youth organisations, employees of the Secretariat of the Nordic Council of Ministers, members of the Disability Council, experts on inclusion in working life and experts on the participation of children and young people.

In the internal evaluation of this year's summit, we concluded that next year's summit could be based to a greater extent on various workshops in which the Nordic Council of Ministers asks the youth representatives about their experience and views on specific issues.

Nordplus and the Nordic Committee for Children and Young People, NORDBUK, are two organisations that the youth representatives want to cooperate with. 

The Danish Association of Youth with Disabilities (SUMH) and the Norwegian Association of Youth with Disabilities want to take greater responsibility for the agenda and meeting format for next year's summit.

Information about Nordic cooperation on disability must be strengthened during the preparation for next year's summit.