The organisation and practice of local youth work needs …

to be set up in dialogue between all relevant stakeholders.

Besides young people, youth workers and persons responsible for youth work provision, fruitful discussions might also ask for input also from stakeholders that youth work is supposed to cooperate with (e.g. school and social services) and from, for example, civil society organisations, local business, etc. This will at the same time help to make youth work organisation and practice known and well-founded in the local community where it is supposed to act.

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

“Taking into account the diversity of youth work across and within member States, special attention should be paid to the need for strategies, frameworks, legislation, sustainable structures and resources, effective co-ordination with other sectors, as well as to related policies that promote equal access to youth work for all young people. Youth workers and young people should be actively engaged in any planned measures for implementation;”
Council of Europe, Recommendation CM/Rec(2017)4 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on youth work, 2017