Prioritized areas in the new framework of youth policy

Education, employment, social inclusion, participation and health are some of the prioritized areas in the new framework for youth policy cooperation in the European Union.

The new framework for youth policy was adopted by the Council of Ministers in November 2009. Below you will find the prioritized areas and their aim.

Education and training
Equal access for young people to high quality education and training at all levels and opportunities for lifelong learning should be supported. As a complement to formal education, nonformal learning for young people should be promoted and recognised, and better links between formal education and non-formal learning developed. Young people’s transition between education and training and the labour market should be facilitated and supported, and early school leaving reduced.

Employment and entrepreneurship
Young people’s integration into the labour market, either as employees or as entrepreneurs, should be supported. The transition from education and training, or from unemployment or inactivity, to the labour market should be facilitated and supported. Opportunities to reconcile working life with family life should be improved. In the post-2010 Lisbon Strategy a youth perspective needs to be ensured, and work carried out in line with the overall objectives of the European Youth Pact needs to be continued.

Health and well-being
The health and well-being of young people should be supported, with a focus on the promotion of mental and sexual health, sport, physical activity and healthy life styles, as well as the prevention and treatment of injury, eating disorders, addictions and substance abuse.

Participation
Young people’s participation in representative democracy and civil society at all levels and in society at large should be supported.

Voluntary activities
Young people’s voluntary activities should be supported and better recognised for their value as an important form of non-formal learning. Obstacles to voluntary activities should be removed and the cross-border mobility of young people promoted.

Social inclusion
The social exclusion and poverty of young people and the transmission of such problems between generations should be prevented and mutual solidarity between society and young people strengthened. Equal opportunities for all should be promoted and all forms of discrimination combated.

Youth and the world
Young people’s participation in and contribution to global processes of policy-making, implementation and follow-up (concerning issues such as climate change, the UN Millennium Development Goals, human rights, etc.) and young people’s cooperation with regions outside of Europe should be supported.

Creativity and culture
Young people’s creativity and capacity for innovation should be supported through better quality access to and participation in culture and cultural expressions from an early age, thereby promoting personal development, enhanced learning capabilities, intercultural skills, understanding and respect for cultural diversity and the development of new and flexible skills for future job opportunities.