Youth workers need …

to see the need for, and seek ways to support young people to self-organise.

An important part of the learning that takes place within youth work is related to organisational skills such as the ability to cooperate, take responsibility and solve conflicts. This is why youth work is not about organizing young people, but about supporting them to self-organise. The ability to self-organise is also important in order to gain autonomy and promoting it is also vital in order to develop and maintain a strong civil society.

Discuss & assess
Here you find the questions you need to ask yourself to know if you need to develop and the assessment function
Set objectives
Here you describe what you want to achieve.
Needs
Here you describe what you need to acquire, develop or change.
Actions to take
Here you describe the actions you plan to take.

Remember! Development is far from always a linear process! It needs to start with discussions, but the first ‘Action to take’ might be to gather more knowledge before setting aims for development and deciding on further actions to take. Dare to be both flexible and to take one step back before taking two steps forward!

References & tips

Youth workers should be able to “Support young people to identify goals, develop strategies and organise individual and collective action for social change.”
Council of Europe Youth Work portfolio
KEKS competencies framework describes how various competences are linked to the participatory process and young people’s ability to self-organise.