A Guidance on Meaningful Adolescent and Youth Engagement (MAYE)

Aims of the tool

This guidance aims to answer many underlying questions and provide organisations with specific and practical information and concrete steps on how young people expect them to work with decision-makers. To this end, it must first separate reality from assumptions and then include desired practices as well as processes that must be in place to ensure all engagement is ethical and meaningful.

The practical approach and methodology contribute to the resolution of key issues such as: how can organisations and processes become more inclusive for young people; how do young people expect to be involved; what are the concrete measures that can be taken by decision-makers to empower and involve young people in those contexts that directly affect them; how can it be ensured that adolescents and youth feel that they are partners in the development and implementation of relevant programs and policies; how can tokenism and exploitation of young people be avoided in favour of ethical and meaningful engagement; how can young people be effectively supported in becoming active citizens and participants in democratic life; how can youth activism be promoted as a whole

Description of the tool

The process was led by migration_miteinander, and it represents the second expected project result. The development of this guidance relied on the following methods:
-Research on the topic of meaningful engagement of adolescents and youth, which involved consultations with local youth and organizations in each participating country, literature reviews, and focus groups with young people, especially those at risk of social exclusion.
-Conducting around 100 interviews in person and online with young people from disadvantaged groups, youth workers involved in working with disadvantaged youth, decision-makers, and representatives of organizations and institutions working for youth. The objective of these interviews was to collect real-life case studies of youth participation and civic engagement from all stakeholders involved in these processes.
We express our gratitude to the youth from various regions around the globe for their valuable contributions to the creation of this collection of resources. We wish to acknowledge and thank those who dedicated their precious time to participate in interviews, focus group discussions, and the online questionnaire.

Our deepest gratitude to all the professionals, partners, and colleagues who contributed their expertise and knowledge to the development of this guidance. It underwent numerous consultations, drafts, tests, and modifications before its release to the public, with a focus on reaching youth workers and young people.

Special thanks go to the individuals who played significant roles in developing this guidance, including Carlo Alberto Italia, Solène Barbier, and Lara Villieras-Guepey from migration_miteinander e.V.; Anmar Al-rikabi and Sukaina El outa from the International Foundation for Y-PEER Development; Gizem Özöztürk Barutçu and Rolands Busers from FuturEurope; Pane Stefanov and Angela Vitanovska from Youth On Board; Magdalena Koniecko and Katarzyna Dębiec from Youth Human Impact; Amaia Garzon and Allende Solaun from CONEXX-EU; and Eman Albohtori and Bilal Almobarak and Mahmoud Younes from Support Group Network.