Considering the overall aims of the Europe Goes Local strategic partnership (A)Support the recognition, practice and quality development of youth work as part of municipal youth policy; B) Strengthen the European and international dimension of youth work at the municipal level; C) Develop strategies and measures for National Agencies of the Erasmus+ youth programme to support youth work; D) Contribute to the development of youth work as part of European cooperation in the youth field.), in line with the recommendations of the 2nd Youth Work Convention and the newly adopted Council of Europe recommendation on youth work, the Steering Group of the project set the target of creating a European Charter on Local Youth Work (thereinafter “the Charter”) through a series of actions and activities at the European, national and local levels.
To achieve a broad consensus and create ownership of the Charter, a Europe-wide consultation process is being implemented with the support of the National Agencies and with the participation of the National Working Groups.
All National Working Groups take an active role in shaping the text of the Charter, to build a common tool that will be based on a broad consensus of the youth sector all over Europe. It is also an aim that the development process of the Charter would stimulate discussions and exchanges of experiences as well as knowledge-building and networking among stakeholders.
The first round of the consultation was guided by a questionnaire focusing mainly on the text of the Charter. Stakeholders made recommendations on modifications and to add new elements. The outcomes of the consultation were collected and analysed by an expert group, and they are channelled into the further Charter development process. This consultation round ended at the 2nd European event of the project.
A second round of consultation takes place in autumn 2018 and spring 2019 about the new version of the text. The Charter is to be launched in 2019.