Youth work is value based and its core principles are that it needs…

Introduction

This core principle relates to the fact that all young people should have access to local quality youth work. All young people having access does not, however, mean that all youth work activities should be open to all young people. There will always be a need for targeted youth work in order to reach certain groups and/or to handle specific issues. Young people will always organise themselves on the basis of ideas and interests that, in practise, exclude other groups.
What this core principle states is that if some groups, e.g. girls or young migrants, are not reached there has to be outreached youth work that actively invites them and offers them the same opportunities as the majority benefits from.

It also means that youth work that directs itself to all young people, for example an open youth centre, must secure that it does not discriminate any group of young people. Besides obvious rules for admission, etc., this also means that it has to see to that there are no forms of in-direct discrimination through the way activities are initiated, organised, marketed and carried out. All young people must, in this case, feel invited and confident that they will have a fair and respectful treatment when taking part.