We at ACTIon aim to improve social inclusion through the strengthening of the digital citizenship of youth as well as youth participation in policy-making. In Germany, the inclusion of youth participation in legislation dates back to 1989, when Germany ratified and signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 2005, Germany incorporated the rights of youth and youth participation at the national level through the “National Action Plan for a Child-Friendly Germany 2005-2010”.
Since 2019, the current “National Youth Strategy” has been adopted by the federal government, and represents a joint youth strategy that includes 163 measures across all federal ministries in nine youth-related action areas. Additionally, the National Youth Strategy includes a demand for strong children’s and youth parliaments, as well as for a federal youth conference. Currently, the National Strategy is in the implementation phase, and, since 2022, the National Youth Strategy has been further developed with the National Action Plan for Child and Youth Participation (NAP).
Through the implementation of the National Youth Strategy, one of its outcomes has been the development of “Quality standards for child and youth participation”, which were published in 2022 and can be used by youth practitioners as a solid foundation for conducting youth participation projects. We at ACTIon would recommend using these standards as a tool for any beginner or seasoned youth practitioner who wants to ensure their participation project is a success!
Do you want to learn more about our youth participation training programmes? Please check out our two programmes, DigiPAC and MOLA, here: https://www.erasmus-action.eu/our-training-programmes/. We are happy to hear your feedback and field reports!
Picture: European Parliament Youth Event 2016. European Parliament / (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) license