and speakers, focusing on topics that represent promising avenues for further strengthening youth work for democracy.
Miriam Teuma , Chair of the European Council’s Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) reminded the participants of what should be at the centre of youth work: the young people. Similarly, the participants themselves, approximately half of them under thirty years old, highlighted that youth must be in the focus. On several occasions, the importance to create physical spaces and encounters was underlined. The observation emerged that younger individuals from very challenging contexts tended to have ambitious plans, regardless of their circumstances. We humans are always shaped by the time we grow up. While older generations may respond to regression with resignation, younger generations meet the same challenges with energy and optimism. This is one way how the following statement on a flipchart can be interpreted:
“We the youth are not only the future. We are the present.”
This resonates with the keynote by Matjaž Gruden , Council of Europe’s Director for Democracy. Gruden underlined that youth work and youth participation lie at the heart of current political projects at the Council of Europe. At the Conference of Ministers held in Malta in October 2025, the Reference Framework on the Integration of a Youth perspective in the work of the Council of Europe was adopted . Gruden raised the expectation that this framework has the potential to transform policies, provided it is taken seriously. Youth also feature prominently in the New Democratic Pact for Europe, an endeavour launched by the Council of Europe’s Secretary General in 2025. This pact is being co-created with different actors including youth and civil society. Gruden sent the message to the participants that democracy cannot be protected and saved in European capitals like Strasbourg or Brussels, and not by policy makers alone. This statement underlined the words by the representative of the German government at the opening of the conference. The Changing Places of Youth Work While politics makes headlines at national level, the local level was put into the spotlight in several projects, illustrating what Miriam Teuma had said in her keynote: “Youth work stands where democracy begins: at the local, relational level, where young people meet face to face.” The focus on the local level was illustrated in different ways. GoFor from Türkiye shared that against the background of repression at the national level, they started their local youth policy program which focuses on municipalities. The core idea is to collect information about local youth policies and eventually develop an agreement with the local administration about the improvement of these policies based on youth rights and human rights. A focus on the local level can include an international dimension, as the presentation of the project Generation Europe – The Academy shows. This project lasts three years, positively described as ‘long- term’ in the conference. During this period, monthly local meetings are combined with tri-national meetings with project partners. Young people take responsibility at the local level and are strengthened through international exchange.
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