Youth influence develops society

Getting young people to participate in society is one of the most important objectives of European Youth Policy. It is both recognised as an important principle of said policy, and also seen as a challenging aspect that needs to be further developed and promoted on local levels.

Young people are an important resource for our society. Their knowledge, their experiences and their values are precious. Recent years have seen the emergence of, a growing number of European, national, regional and local initiatives that strengthen young people’s participation in society. Meetings between policy-makers and young people can be one step towards creating growth, survival and development in a municipality or an organisation.

The Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs has published two booklets that provide information on the influence of young people in society, and that are meant to inspire the creation of meetings between young people and policy-makers. They can be downloaded from the links on the right.

Youth Influence – The Real Deal is a booklet that contains a list of different methods used to get young people to participate in local society, information about the European structures linked to national conditions in youth work, and outlines the factors that guarantee satisfaction and give young people a chance to gain power. The booklet is published by the Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs in cooperation with the SALTO – YOUTH Participation Resource Centre.

Creating meetings – Inspiring resources for meetings between young people and decision makers is a compendium that suggests different methods for creating meetings where the participants (who normally move in such different sectors of society) really do meet. The methods can be used by young people, youth leaders, policy-makers, and anyone else who works with youth issues.