Online reflection on the new draft youth policy manual

 

We know a lot about policy-making in the youth field in Europe today so the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership has decided to develop a new reference manual for youth policy. 

In 2009 the first Manual for youth strategy development was published as part of the youth knowledge books series. This manual has been used as a guiding book for how to develop a national youth strategy, what principles are important in that process and how to ensure young people are consulted in the drafting process. The manual was translated and adapted into Russian and Arabic for the respective regions and also translated into Turkish. 

Since the publication of the Manual, youth policy has evolved a lot in Europe, moving from linear to cyclical approaches gathering and analysing knowledge about the diversity of national, regional and local realities from policy framework to funding programmes, to implementation and the roles of stakeholders at different levels. At European level, both the Council of Europe and the European Union have updated their youth strategies which support cooperation around 10 themes. Research and support material are available for youth policy-making initiatives related to self-assessment, how youth policy monitoring and evaluation happens, what governance systems exist and how young people, youth organisations, youth work practitioners and researchers are engaging with youth policy development and implementation. European Knowledge Centre for Youth Policy and the EU Youth Wiki platforms host a lot of knowledge on these topics. With this in mind, the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership has tasked three researchers to analyse, consolidate, synthetise and put together this knowledge in a new reference manual that includes three parts:

 Part 1 – theoretical and conceptual frameworks

 Part 2 – Overview of the youth policy landscape across Europe, and European and international support systems

 Part 3 – Principles and how to translate youth policy theory into practice.

Policy-makers, practitioners, youth organisation representatives and researchers will reflect on the draft manual and contribute to improving its contents and structure during the virtual reflection meeting on 2 April.