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.

Do you agree on what this means in practice?
Do you agree on to what degree youth work meets this bullet point?
Here you find the questions you need to discuss to find out!

If you think that this is something you need to work on, click the “Add to development agenda” button below. You will then find your agenda on your personal page and be able to start a development process.

Please note!
If you start a development process related to this bullet point you will find the below questions also under the page “Discuss and assess”. There you will also be able to take notes.

Questions to discuss

Is local youth work stimulating and supporting young people to self-organise?
Is local youth work supporting young people to reflect on different ways to organise and how this reflects different values and attitudes?
What are the risks of just offering young people fixed formats to organise within?

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.