log in personal page contact us EGL

The organisation and practice of local youth work needs…

Previous bullet point Next bullet point

to stimulate and support young people to be active citizens and exercise influence in society, including taking part in political decision-making.

Back to chapter

Introduction

We know from research that young people are interested in societal issues and politics, even when not engaged in party politics. Their voices are also crucial in order to inform politics on their needs, experiences and ideas, as well on how structures and processes should be designed in order to open up for young people’s political engagement.
Even if youth workers sometimes are asked, or feel the need, to speak on behalf of young people, they must always bear in mind that this is a second-best solution and strive to be replaced by the young people themselves.

References

  • “The active participation of young people in decisions and actions at local and regional level is essential if we are to build more democratic, inclusive and prosperous societies. Participation in the democratic life of any community is about more than voting or standing for election, although these are important elements. Participation and active citizenship is about having the right, the means, the space and the opportunity and where necessary the support to participate in and influence decisions and engage in actions and activities so as to contribute to building a better society.”
    Revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, 2015
  • The European Youth Forum has gathered a lot of information on young people’s participation and civil engagement on their web page.

Guiding questions

To what degree does our local youth work meet this bullet point?

Are there sides/aspects of it that are not reached?
Are there differences related to different activities?
Are there differences related to different groups of young people?
Are there differences related to different youth work providers?
Are there other differences? Related to what?

Specific questions
  • How do we further enhance young people’s capacity and possibilities to advocate their own ideas and interests?
  • What is needed to establish or further strengthen structures and processes for having young people’s voices heard in, political, matters that concern them?
  • How do we balance the influence of organised young people in relation to the influence of non-organised youth?
  • Are we sometimes speaking on behalf of young people when we instead could have supported them to speak for themselves?
    • How does this affect the general views on young people?
    • How does this affect young people’s views on our relation to them?

Self-assessment

You have to be logged in to make the self-assessment.

Good practices & tools

  • engage.ch – How to improve active Youth Citizenship & Participation

Learn more 

Future steps

What different steps do we need to take in order to meet this bullet point?

Do we miss any knowledge that we need?
Do we need to take contact with stakeholders not present in our discussions?
Do we need to develop new competences, methods, work processes or organisational structures?
Can we find good practices or tools that might help us to improve this?
Do we have positive experiences from other areas of youth work that we can use also in this case?
Are there other organisations that we can contact and learn from regarding this?
Do we need to take other measures?
Do we have to revise our perspectives and/or priorities regarding youth work?

You have to be logged in to enter future steps.
Start page
Previous chapter Selection page Next chapter