Engage, Connect and Empower Local Youth Councils in Europe

ongoing

Nowadays, dominant discourse has shifted from why youth participation is essential to how it can be implemented meaningfully and impactfully. We believe local youth councils (LYCs) are important mechanisms for enabling young people to influence public policies at the local level. Although LYCs may be perceived as “traditional” forms of participation that sometimes lack the capacity to attract less-engaged young people, there are many existing examples of LYCs in Europe based on different models, approaches and membership criteria, showing a different trend. We believe, however, that their impact on public policies, specifically on governance and decision-making processes, remains limited which highlights the need to enhance their quality ensuring that they do not fall into tokenism. The key objectives of the project are: 1. Support the quality development of LYCs by providing capacity building, resources, tools and strategies to strengthen their capacity to influence policy-making and effectiveness in engaging young people into their structures, making them more inclusive and representative 2. Increase the influence of LYCs by advocating for their recognition, as a fundamental space for young people's democratic engagement and their empowerment, and by empowering them to play a more active role in relevant policy processes at the local and European levels 3. Establish a European Network of Local Youth Councils as a permanent platform for international cooperation, European-level advocacy and quality development of LYCs. Over two years, we will implement three international training courses, three macro-regional capacity-building activities, EU-projects boot camps in each country (7 total), local youth policy dialogues and (youth) policy labs engaging hundreds of young people and decision-makers. We will also organise two annual European network conferences dedicated to LYCs and promote LYCs twinning activities, involving a total of more than 900 participants.