Local youth policy and democracy

The aim of the activity is to support local and regional authorities in designing and implementing participative youth strategies and structures for youth participation at local level. The activity is organised in the context of the revision of the European Charter on the participation of young people in local and regional life, the key European standards on youth participation developed by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the work of the Council of Europe Youth Department in strengthening local youth councils as key structures for youth participation in decision making. The activity is also based on the Democracy Reloading Reference Framework.

The study visit will:

• Familiarise participating municipalities with the Council of Europe institutions, standards and approaches to local youth participation, and the Democracy Reloading tools and resources.
• Offer the space for the municipalities to take part in the consultations regarding the revision of the European Charter on participation of young people in local and regional life;
• Visit and learn from the Strasbourg municipality on the ways citizen and youth participation are organised;
• Learn and share from each other on development of local youth policy in support of youth participation.

Expected profile of participants of the study visit: Municipal youth policy officers of local / regional authorities , motivated and engaged in youth participation and youth policy development and implementation. Priority will be given to participants from the partners of the Democracy Reloading Partnership.

The content of the program:

• The programme is prepared by the partners in such way to allow space for learning from various institutions in Strasbourg, as well from each other, ensuring time for reflection and planning of follow-up actions by the relevant municipalities.
• The programme will include visits and meetings with the city of Strasbourg authorities, as well as with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. Participants will have the chance to learn about standards for youth participation, as well as resources and support offered by the two projects.

The study visit will take place in the European Youth Center Strasbourg (France).