This publication contains a collection of papers drawn from a seminar under the Partnership Programme on Youth Research, held in Budapest in July 2004. The papers explore a range of issues relating to the participation of young people in voluntary work throughout Europe, including the barriers to participation, evaluation and research aspects, whether social inclusion objectives are achieved through volunteering, and policy directions for the future.

A reference tool for initiating youth policy and learning about the diversity of national and international governance and about the infrastructure available for youth policy, its implementation, review and evaluation Today, we know much more about national and European youth policy, the role of research, participation of young people and monitoring and evaluation of youth policy than we did when the first Youth policy manual was published in 2009 by the EU–Council of Europe youth partnership. The concept of youth policy can be very narrowly or very broadly constructed. This volume positions youth policy in the context of public policy and reflects on the complex, cyclical nature of policy making, bringing together the results of knowledge gathering and debates central to the European agenda in the field over the last 15 years. Thematically, the manual focuses very specifically on those areas of youth policy that have been formulated and developed through European consensus-building – participation, information, volunteering, social inclusion, access to rights, youth work, mobility and digitalisation. We hope that the five parts of the manual, from the conceptual to the practical, and through a range of examples and questions for reflection, will help you to explore, understand and engage with the youth policy framework in your context, from your own perspective, and will provide you with a sense of all the stages of youth policy making. Most importantly, the manual includes a wide range of standards, tools and resources developed by and for the benefit of youth policy makers, youth work practitioners, youth researchers and young people across Europe. It is About Time! we strengthen the youth sector further to develop a new generation of positive and purposeful youth policies in Europe!

If we consider the 50 states having ratified the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe or the member states of the European Union, the multiple and divergent nature of the realities, theories, concepts and strategies underlying the expression “youth work” becomes evident. Across Europe, youth work takes place in circumstances presenting enormous differences with regard to opportunities, support, structures, recognition and realities, and how it performs reflects the social, cultural, political and economic context, and the value systems in which it is undertaken. By analysing theories and concepts of youth work and by providing insight from various perspectives and geographical and professional backgrounds, the authors hope to further contribute to finding common ground for – and thus assure the quality of – youth work in general. Presenting its purified and essential concept is not the objective here. The focus rather is on describing how to “provide opportunities for all young people to shape their own futures”, as Peter Lauritzen described the fundamental mission of youth work. The best way to do this remains an open question. This Youth Knowledge book tries to find some answers and strives to communicate the strengths, capacities and impact of youth work to those within the youth sector and those beyond, to those familiar with its concepts and those new to this field, all the while sharing practices and insights and encouraging further reflection.

Substantive issues, methodological lessons, support measures and youth policy standards: a reflection on the “third seven” Council of Europe international reviews of national youth policy The Council of Europe’s 21 international reviews of national youth policy have, over 20 years, produced a significant body of knowledge and a respected, innovative methodology. They have considerably enhanced the understanding and the development of “youth policy” throughout Europe. Following the first seven international reviews, a synthesis report was produced that endeavoured to construct a framework for understanding youth policy. A similar synthesis exercise took place after a further seven international reviews, reflecting both on the evolving process of carrying out the reviews and on new themes and issues for youth policy that had not emerged within the initial framework. This book, the third concerned with supporting young people in Europe, is a synthesis of the last seven international reviews, coupled with an overview of the learning that has accrued from all 21 international reviews. It draws together some of the conclusions and challenges that have emerged over two decades and considers some lessons for the future, not least alternative models of engagement in the youth field between the Council of Europe and its member states.

Mobility is considered to be important for the personal development and employability of young people, as well as for intercultural dialogue, participation and active citizenship. Learning mobility in the youth field focuses on non-formal learning as a relevant part of youth work, with links to informal learning as well as to formal education. Different stakeholders at European level, particularly the Council of Europe and the European Commission, but also individual member states, foster programmes and strategies to enhance the mobility of young people, and particularly the learning dimension in mobility schemes. This book on learning mobility is a joint Council of Europe and European Commission publication, and provides texts of an academic, scientific, political and practical nature for all stakeholders in the youth field - youth leaders and youth workers, policy makers, researchers and so on. It should contribute to dialogue and co-operation between relevant players and to discussion on the further development and purpose of youth mobility schemes and their outcomes for young people.

Social exclusion, the polarisation of the types of chances life offers to different groups of young people, is increasing and is concentrated in some regions and neighbourhoods. Social class, race and gender can contribute to this phenomenon, as can other inequalities such as disability. Social inclusion is therefore one of the central goals of European policies towards young people, especially in relation to employment, lifelong learning and vocational guidance. This publication contains an edited collection of articles from a research seminar held in Budapest in October/November 2005 and organised within the framework of the Partnership on Youth between the Council of Europe and the European Commission.

Diversity has become a key term in contemporary social politics, and is often used as both a description of complex social realities and a normative prescription for how those realities should be valued, influenced by the politics of multiculturalism and by social movements asserting "the right to be different" diversity has emerged as an open, fluid discourse that challenges reductive visions of legitimate identities and human possibilities.It is this apparent acceptance of diversity as a fact and value that this book looks at in several ways, it offers a countervailing assessment of diversity, seeing it less as a unifying social imaginary and more as a cost-free form of politics attuned to the needs of late capitalist, consumer societies.The essays collected here are developed from a research seminar entitled "Diversity, Human Rights and Participation" organised by the Partnership on Youth between the Council of Europe and the European Commission. The studies gathered here are embedded in 10 different national contexts. They track dimensions of 'diversity' in education, social services, jurisprudence, parliamentary proceedings and employment initiatives, and assess their significances for the social actors who must negotiate these frameworks in their daily experience.

Albania is the seventeenth country to have undergone an international review of its national youth policy, a series which was started by the Council of Europe in 1997. The review was performed in 2009 during two one-week visits by a team of international experts working on the basis of the Albanian National Youth Strategy, published in 2007. The report focuses on three issues identified by the Albanian government: the law, delivery mechanisms and youth participation, and three issues identified as important by the review team itself: youth information, leisure-time activities and youth crime and justice. While reviewing the youth policy in Albania with special attention to theses issues, the international team came across a number of specific or cross-sectoral subjects (education, health, minorities, etc.) which helped depict a broad picture of the situation of young people in the country. Recommendations made by the international team cover not only government action, but address steps to be taken by those who take part, at all levels, in the shaping of youth policy in Albania.

This monograph has two purposes. The first is to develop the framework that was initially established through a grounded reading of the material from the first seven international reviews of national youth policy conducted by the Council of Europe Youth Directorate between 1997 and 2001. This has involved a careful reading of the subsequent national and international reports produced between 2002 and 2006 to identify either issues that merit greater prominence or new issues to be addressed in the future. The outcome of this exercise is the proposal of a new framework for European-level debates on the subject of youth policy. The second purpose is, through consultation with those who took part in the second cycle of reviews, to refine further the process by which international reviews are carried out. A number of observations suggest that immediate action can be taken to improve the experience of participating in review teams and, ultimately, the quality of the international reports.

Intercultural learning has long held a central role in European youth work and policy, especially in international youth exchanges. The expectations placed on intercultural learning as a process, as an educational and social objective and, lastly, as a political attitude in relation to diversity remain fully relevant in Europe today.Several factors are necessary for the development of quality youth work, including the capacity to put knowledge and research to good use and, similarly, to present youth work in ways that actors in other social and policy fields can understand. The work of the partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of youth in the areas of youth-worker training and of intercul¬tural dialogue - in particular the Euro-Mediterranean co-operation activities - has provided many examples of successful experiences in intercultural learning in youth work and of difficulties in communicating about such work.This essay by Susana Lafraya is a contribution to enlarging the circle of communication on intercultural learning experience through youth work. The connections that she makes between non-formal learning, youth work and intercultural theory sum up much of what has been said in the youth work field in the past years. It is translated and published here with the intention of adding one more stone to the edifice of intercultural learning and non-formal education.