Sustainable local youth work in Slovakia: Powered by Europe Goes Local and Democracy Reloading

The study visit will provide insights to the reality of local youth work and youth participation, through visiting three municipalities of the region. You will meet a diversity of local stakeholders, experts and practitioners and reflect on quality aspects of youth work and youth participation from the perspective of Europe Goes Local and Democracy Reloading tools.

Europe Goes Local (EGL) is a European Strategic Partnership within the Erasmus+ Youth program to develop and strengthen local youth work. Europe Goes Local’s mission is to strengthen the youth work community of practice at the local level, in line with the European Youth Work Agenda and from the perspective of municipalities and of local youth work actors.

Democracy Reloading (DR) is another Strategic Partnership within the Erasmus+ Youth program to support local and regional public authorities in planning, developing, maintaining and reforming democratic youth participation structures for dialogue, co-decision and co-management. As a result of a complex research a Reference Framework of 24 competencies were developed for municipal authorities. Based on this framework an online Toolkit was produced to support the development of these competences. It is designed to help youth policy related municipality staff  to become empowered, competent and ready to engage young people into municipal decision-making and thus improving active citizenship and democracy in local communities.

While EGL is focusing on developing all dimensions of local youth work, DR is focusing on the staff of municipal authorities to support them specifically in engaging youth in municipal decisions and democratic dialogue with young people. The Study Visit will make use of the tools of both partnerships (EGL and DR) in order to provide a high quality reflection for both the participants and the local practitioners.

What are the objectives of the study visit?

• To provide an overview of the reality of municipal youth work and youth participation in Slovakia
• To look at the different challenges and approaches of local and regional municipalities regarding youth policy and youth participation (through some examples)
• To understand and basic principles of Europe Goes Local Charter and the Reference Framework of Democracy Reloading, and see how these can contribute to the development of local youth policy
• To see how Erasmus+ (Youth Participation Projects) can support the development of local youth participation
• To provide space for participants for networking and cooperation

Who is this study visit for?

Expected profile of the participants: 

• Youth policy desk officers of municipalities
• Elected political representatives (youth policy makers) of municipal councils
• Youth workers working with youth local participation
• Young representatives of youth participation structures (youth councils, parliaments, committees etc)

The methodology of the training course is based on non-formal experiential learning. There will be presentations by local practitioners, participants will share their experience and practices, and most of the sessions will be interactive and participatory. For reflecting on quality of practices we will refer to the Europe Goes Local - European Charter of Local Youth Work and the Democracy Reloading Reference Framework.