The European Youth Work Convention confirms a clear strategic alignment with ERYICA’s priorities
2026
The European Youth Work Convention confirms a clear strategic alignment with ERYICA’s priorities
The 4th European Youth Work Convention has reaffirmed core priorities that strongly resonate with ERYICA’s mission, including democratic participation, empowerment, inclusion and the need to respond to digital challenges such as disinformation and AI.
The Government of Malta, Aġenzija Żgħażagħ (Malta's ERYICA-member national youth agency) and the European Union Program Agency (EUPA) for Malta, together with the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership, hosted the 4th European Youth Work Convention (EYWC) in Valletta, Malta, from 27 to 30 May 2025, under the Maltese Chairpersonship of the Council of Europe. European Youth Work Conventions have been a regular and significant forum for strengthening youth work development and identifying directions to further support youth work in rejuvenating and acting on democracy.
Under the title Youth Work Xcelerate, this edition highlighted youth work as a powerful tool to empower young people, foster inclusion, and encourage active participation. It also established a European Roadmap to enhance the effectiveness of youth work and ensure its sustainability through national and European policies.
While youth information does not appear as a standalone strategic pillar in the Final Report, it is clearly embedded across key themes related to informed participation, media literacy, access to rights and ethical digital engagement. This creates a positive and enabling context in which youth information can be further articulated and strengthened as an essential component of quality youth work.
Looking ahead, the follow‑up to the Convention offers a valuable opportunity for ERYICA to contribute proactively in the field of youth work and of youth policies in general. There is strong potential to reinforce the role of youth information as a foundational enabler of young people’s agency and democratic engagement.
There is also a strategic change to promote existing quality tools, such as the European Youth Information Quality Label, and to support policy implementation at European and national levels. By engaging constructively with institutions and partners, ERYICA can help ensure that youth information is increasingly recognised not only as supportive practice, but as a core democratic infrastructure for young people across Europe.
