News

What happens when schools, municipalities or security services turn to youth work to help achieve their goals? When does this open doors for young people, and when does it start to change the purpose of youth work itself? These questions were tackled at the third Youth Work Talks webinar of 2026, exploring the boundaries between cooperation and instrumentalisation.

Growing Youth Work interviewed Kristiina Pernits on the topic of validation. Kristiina has been part of a team working on a four country Study on validation. She explained about how the Study came about, the research that took place and the findings that have come out from the Study. She also shared about the connections between validation and the outcomes of the 4th European Youth Work Convention, and pointed to the future developments, including a symposium and a conference that will take place before the end of the year.

Armenia is undergoing a remarkable period of youth work development. With a new Youth Policy Law, growing investment in youth centres and youth worker training, and a stronger connection to the European Youth Work Agenda, the country is laying important foundations for the future. Growing Youth Work spoke with Anna Yeghoyan, youth worker, trainer, policy consultant and Armenia’s National Contact Point for the European Youth Work Agenda, about recent progress, ongoing challenges and her personal dreams for the future of youth work in Armenia.

Growing Youth Work met with Marcos Andrade, the Deputy Director of the European Youth Centre in Budapest. He shared with us about the concept of the Quality Label run by the Council of Europe and how it is connected with and supports the European Youth Work Agenda and Roadmap.

The Europe Goes Local SNAC is ten years of age this year. This article is written to offer congratulations on ten years of solid hard work with municipal authorities around Europe and paint a picture of what some of that work has been about.

The Erasmus+ accredited activity "The Trainers Community Lab” took place in Italy. It's aim was to let the participating trainers explore and reflect the concept of "community" and it's meaning for european youth work.

Looking back on the webinar “Youth Work Talks: Funding”

From January to June of 2026, Cyprus held the Presidency of the Council of the EU. We met with Eleftheria Christoforou and Anna Lytra, who work at the Policy Department of the Youth Board of Cyprus, to talk about what youth work looks like in Cyprus. We explored how they are linking with the European Youth Work Agenda, and how they used the Presidency to support the development and recognition of youth work in Cyprus.

How can learning in youth work be meaningfully recognised and validated? Why does validation of non-formal learning remain difficult, even when many actors support it in principle? And what happens when youth work outcomes are translated into formal education systems? These questions were main points of discussion of the first Youth Work Talks webinar in 2026!

Key stakeholders responsible for implementing the European Youth Work Agenda in their countries are invited to the 5th "Exchange Forum on the European Youth Work Agenda: Boosting national processes for youth work development". It will happen from 23 to 26 November 2026 in Ljublana, Slovenia.

Why is it so important for youth workers to lobby for youth work? How do European and national long-term training courses support them in building up the awareness and competences to engage in lobbying? Find answers to these questions by reading this interview with Claudius Siebel from the German National Agency for the EU youth programmes.

We had the pleasure to meet with Carola Meier and Aleksandra Vedernjak to talk about the national process taking place in Austria in connection with the European Youth Work Agenda. We talked about the current situation of youth work in Austria, the influence of the Agenda, and where they would like to see youth work in the future in Austria.