Illustration by Coline Robin

Growing youth work ecosystems

 by Frederike Hofmann-van de Poll 

The European Youth Work Conventions (EYWC) celebrate the continuous development of European youth work and joint strengthening of youth work in Europe.

Looking back, we can distinguish two phases of development: establishing a political narrative and implementation. During the first 10 years, between the 1st (2010) and 3rd (2020) EYWC, the conventions pushed for the establishment of a European political narrative on youth work, as symbolised in the 2010 EU Council Resolution on youth work and the 2017 Council of Europe Recommendation on youth work. Whereas the EU Council resolution laid the political cornerstone, with an overview of EU youth work consensus and measures up to 2010, the Council of Europe recommendation provided a robust concept of youth work in Europe and served as a Europe-wide framework and guideline for youth work development. As such, both documents contributed to the political narrative of youth work as a stand-alone field of action, rather than a means or method to achieve wider individual and societal goals such as access to the labour market, societal integration or even strengthening democracy.

With the 3rd EYWC in 2020, a second phase started in which a European Youth Work Agenda (EYWA) was called into being. The EU Council Resolution on the framework for establishing a European Youth Work Agenda defined the EYWA as “a strategic framework for strengthening and developing quality and innovation in, and recognition of youth work”. As such, it is based on the established European political narrative on youth work, on co-operation between all youth work stakeholders, a subsequent implementation process and the use of EU funding programmes in the field of youth. The Final Declaration of the 3rd EYWC identified eight thematic priority areas, thus providing the implementation process with concrete suggestions on where to take action. These thematic priority areas consist of “youth work provision”, “quality development”, “a common direction”, “beyond the youth work community of practice”, “recognition”, “innovation and emerging challenges”, “policy frameworks”, and “a strategic framework for youth work development”. The result is an ongoing implementation phase with many European and national developments strengthening youth work, and which are underlined politically with the EU Council Resolution on youth work policy in an empowering Europe and the Council of Europe review of its Recommendation on youth work. The development of national processes within the EYWA implementation process is monitored by an annual survey organised by the Strategic National Agencies Co-operation project of “Growing youth work” (Hofmann-van de Poll 2023, 2024b, 2025). The 4th EYWC in 2025 and the announced development of a roadmap of implementation follows on these developments.

Since the 1st EYWC in 2010, we can observe the gradual emergence of a European youth work ecosystem bringing together those working on strengthening youth work at all levels. With youth work ecosystems, we understand the complex network of actors, like institutions, organisations, agencies and individuals, who contribute to strengthening and developing youth work (Atanasov and Hofmann-van de Poll 2024: 20). This article outlines the development and challenges of these youth work ecosystems and makes some reflections on the 4th EYWC.

 The European youth work ecosystem

Many European institutions and organisations are dedicated to developing and strengthening youth work. Together, they form an ecosystem in which they not only interact, but also mutually enforce their vision, ideas, projects and outcomes (Atanasov and Hofmann-van de Poll 2024). Many European institutions and organisations, such as the Youth Partnership and the Erasmus+ National Agencies, are dedicated to strengthening youth work. For example, the Youth Partnership’s co-ordinated efforts in training and resource development have significantly advanced the implementation of the European Youth Work Agenda (EYWA). These institutions, together with many others, form an ecosystem in which they not only interact but also reinforce each other’s projects and outcomes. As Figure 1 shows, the four main pillars of the European youth work ecosystem are the European Union, the Council of Europe, governments and civil society. Each of these pillars has a large range of organisational entities and activities contributing to the implementation of the European Youth Work Agenda. Some of these entities and activities, such as the Youth Partnership, the Youth Unit of the European Commission and the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, are visibly related to the EYWA. Others, like local youth organisations or local governments may also contribute to the EYWA, but this is less obvious. Figure 1 visualises these dynamics. The closer an entity or activity is to the EYWA in the centre, the more visible its contribution is.

Figure 1: The European youth work ecosystem (illustration by Coline Robin, see Atanasov and Hofmann-van de Poll 2024: 28)

With regard to the 4th EYWC and the development of a roadmap, it is not so much the description of the ecosystem as such, as the expectations of the ecosystem that are of interest. Figure 2 visualises these expected roles at the European, national and sub-national level. The European level consists of the EU and the Council of Europe and their institutions and programmes. This includes the Youth Partnership in its role of co-ordinating efforts to implement the EYWA. The two European institutions should provide funding and political support to the national, regional and local level. In particular, civil society organisations also expect a certain degree of political pressure from the European level towards the national level, especially towards governments, to implement the EYWA and strengthen youth work.

National governments are expected to report on youth work developments to the European level, while at the same time setting the agenda for European developments. In both the EU and the Council of Europe, the member states decide which action is taken. Towards the sub-national level, national governments are expected to provide implementation support, funding and information. Other actors at the national level, such as national associations of youth workers or national co-ordinating groups on the EYWA, have a similar role of reporting to the European level. Their role of agenda setting is, however, more informal, as they advocate for pressing topics. Towards the sub-national level, these organisations play an important role in informing others about the EYWA, and translating the objectives and priorities of the EYWA into national languages and practice.

Finally, it is the sub-national level, and in particular the local level, where the EYWA roots meet the ground as activities are carried out in line with the EYWA. Funding and support from the national and European level are a necessity for the EYWA to have a positive effect on local youth work. Local youth organisations, as well as youth workers, play an active role in advocacy and lobbying towards the national level. As such, they function as agenda setters to the national level by informing about pressing needs and topics.

Figure 2: Expectations of the European youth work ecosystem (illustration by Coline Robin, see Atanasov and Hofmann-van de Poll 2024: 43)

 National developments within the European context

The establishment of a European youth work ecosystem, which links together under the roof of the EYWA, European, national and sub-national developments on youth work, is a huge step forward in strengthening youth work policy, research and practice. This is particularly visible looking at the national developments that followed the EYWA. Embedded in this European context is the establishment of a range of national processes aiming at strengthening youth work by implementing the EYWA. Over the years, these national processes have spread all over Europe. In 2022, 18 national processes were recorded, whereas by 2025, there are now 36 national processes (Hofmann-van de Poll 2025). These can be ministries, national agencies, and also youth (work) organisations (Hofmann-van de Poll 2023, 2024b, 2025). The Strategic National Agencies Co-operation (SNAC) project “Growing youth work” (formerly SNAC EYWA) regularly holds online meetings and offline seminars to bring these national contact points together. Thus, a continuous network of exchanges, co-operation and discussions between European countries is created.

 Some insights: challenges, visions and ideas

The five years between the 3rd EYWC in 2020 and the 4th EYWC in Malta, May 2025, were framed by the EYWA and a European spirit to strengthen youth work at local, regional, national and European level. This development anchored youth work very clearly on the European and national political, practice and research agendas. However, these five years have also seen young people facing multiple crises, such as climate change, war and the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, which are heavily influencing the design of youth work. The emergence of critical youth work as a movement questioning the suitability of youth work structures and design to deal with young people’s life situations is therefore of great value for the further development and strengthening of youth work (see for example Pisani 2023).

With the announced development of a roadmap in mind, I would like to share some reflections on the development of youth work policy. They are based on insights from the above-mentioned research on the European youth work ecosystem and the national implementation of the EYWA (for a detailed synthesis, see Hofmann-van de Poll 2024a).

The first insight is that youth work, in non-English languages, is often a synonym for a European discourse driven and framed by European institutions and documents. The work and documents of the EU and Council of Europe in the Youth Partnership have created a European narrative of youth work in its own right, rather than a method to reach certain desirable societal goals. This narrative does not always align with national narratives of youth work, leading to three conceptualisations of youth work: European youth work, transnational youth work and youth work in Europe. The first conceptualisation, “European youth work” refers to the above-cited European narrative of youth work backed by EU and Council of Europe documents. Second, when countries or regions co-operate to develop cross-border youth work, youth work is conceptualised as “transnational youth work”. Firmly rooted in transnational youth organisations, it goes hand in hand with collaborative peer-learning activities. Third, “youth work in Europe” expresses the diversity of youth work policy and practice within Europe. These three conceptualisations together build the larger ecosystem in which both the European youth work ecosystem, the national developments as well as national realities find their place.

A second insight is the continuing discussion on the relevance of so-called European developments for national, up to local, processes. It is built on the stubborn belief that documents of the EU and Council of Europe are institution-made, rather than decisions made following the consensus of its member states. As such, their implementation, or more generally, the impetus they may give, is questioned both positively as well as negatively as a “European add-on” to national discourse and practice. We see processes of harmonisation, where the European framework is used for advocacy and lobbying to establish national frameworks of youth work. But there are also processes of demarcation, where European developments are followed by discussions on the specific identity of national youth work.

A third insight is the continuous importance of a youth work recognition discourse. This is accompanied by a series of conceptualisations and issues. First, the recognition discourse discusses both recognition of youth work as such, as well as recognition of youth work as a profession. It is discussed on its own (“how to reach social, political, formal and self-recognition”), and also as a precondition (“if youth work is not recognised as a field of work, there is no funding”) or an outcome (“if there is a policy framework on youth work, there will be recognition”). This makes the youth work recognition discourse complex and multilayered, and sometimes difficult to follow. The SNAC Growing Youth Work project provides some guidance in this discussion with its Youth Work Talks, which are dedicated to the recognition discourse.

Finally, in the light of critical youth work, there is a range of multidimensional challenges of shrinking spaces influencing the design and realisation of youth work offers, interventions and activities. These challenges of shrinking spaces concern both the spaces of youth work offering activities and programmes, and the shrinking spaces of young people to take up these offers. They arise from, among others, a shortage of skilled labour, the recognition of youth work as an independent field of action rather than as part of social work or education, austerity measures, difficulties of youth work in rural areas, and the rise of extremism.

 Conclusions: looking forward to the 4th EYWC

Since the 1st EYWC in 2010, the youth work landscape in Europe has changed immensely. On the eve of the 4th EYWC, a European youth work ecosystem exists with a European youth work narrative, interlinking authorities, organisations and individuals in their efforts to strengthen youth work throughout Europe. This European roof frames national developments, discourses and realities, resulting in processes of harmonisation and demarcation.

The 4th EYWC is the next milestone in this landscape. Bringing together delegations from all over Europe, it provides a platform to discuss the development of European youth work, transnational youth work, and youth work in Europe and thus strengthens youth work as such. As an important moment of reflection, the EYWC discusses not only the challenges youth work and young people are facing, but also how the different levels and different actors can combine their efforts, streamline existing measures and plan new activities. The announced roadmap following the 4th EYWC may help to bridge the transfer between the European narrative and youth work in Europe to a more practical level. It should however not only identify visions and challenges, but more importantly name concrete and specific measures to be taken. Although it cannot be expected that the outcomes of the 4th EYWC will solve – or even discuss – all the challenges youth work is facing, they should be kept in mind when drafting new paths and directions for youth work. In the light of current challenges, a critical reflection of the design of youth work itself, as well as how different issues, levels and actors can reinforce each other in strengthening youth work, may be a substantial contribution to youth work in the 21st century.