Sustainability and climate crisis are one of the key priorities for young people, which also feature highly on the policy agenda. The Youth Partnership has been exploring his topic through research on youth climate activism, sustainability in the context of learning mobility and the work on the upcoming Youth Knowledge Book #31 on young people and democracy in the climate crisis (2024), development of the practical tools, such as the  T-kit on sustainability and youth work and Sustainability checklist, videos and podcasts, and the Coyote magazine issue #35 on sustainability (2023). 

Building up on the existing research and resources, the Youth Partnership will organise a symposium on young people, democracy and climate action on 24-26 September 2024, in Strasbourg, France.

The Symposium will bring together 100-120 participants from the European youth field, including young people, policy makers, youth workers and youth researchers. The participants will discuss how young people are engaging with climate crisis, what are the main emerging priorities, challenges, and how youth research, youth policy and youth work are responding to this issue.

The event aims to:

• Explore and contextualise the consequences of climate crisis on young people and youth sector in Europe;
• Examine and reflect on how youth policy and youth work can adapt to and respond to the changing context;
• Share good practices of effective and successful youth policy and youth work in relation to sustainability;
• Connect actors working on these themes, from within and beyond the youth sector, to continue, develop or innovate in relation to that work;
• Promote the existing Youth Partnership’s research and resources on this topic as well as the work done by the partner institutions and other youth sector stakeholders;
• Provide guidance for further developing policy and youth work practice in this field.