During its meeting on 13 and 14 May, the EU Council of Youth Ministers approved a resolution addressing the role of youth work in supporting young people to become more autonomous within new realities. The resolution calls on member states, the Commission and relevant stakeholders to support the development and practice of quality youth work and youth work policy at EU, national and local levels, including through comprehensive youth work policies, bottom-up approaches, training of youth workers and by ensuring enabling environments and equal access to youth work for all young people.
Did you know that … this Council resolution is the outcome of the work of us all?
The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (1/1/2024 – 30/6/2024) hosted the European conference ‘Local youth work and democracy’, with the aim of contributing to the goals of the Presidency in the youth and youth work policy area. The event took place from 20 until 23 February 2024 in Brussels.
The main thematic objective of the conference was to discuss the role of local youth work in enhancing youth engagement and participation in local communities. This event built on the synergies deriving from the Strategic National Agency Cooperation projects Europe Goes Local (EGL), coordinated by JINT vzw and Democracy Reloading (DemRel), coordinated by BIJ – the National Agencies of Erasmus+ Youth for the Flemish and French communities of Belgium. You can read the final report here.
The Belgian Presidency kept a placeholder in their draft resolution, to integrate the
outcomes of the conference. Therefore, the conference, its participants and, more widely, the members of the Europe Goes Local-network have actively contributed to this important resolution. So thank you!