Learning, sharing and moving forward: an insight into the Exchange Forum on the EYWA 2025

Written by Domagoj Moric

National processes on the EYWA? Yes, they exist, alive and kicking!

The entire event was inspired by the latest research on national processes for youth work development. Since 2022, the research is implemented on a yearly basis by the researcher Frederike Hofmann-van de Poll on behalf of the Growing Youth Work partnership. The survey report 2025 showed that there are now 34 countries benefitting from and using the EYWA by having established national processes.

These national processes are managed by National Contact Points, the majority of which are either the Ministry representing youth or the National Agency for Erasmus+ Youth and the European Solidarity Corps programmes. In many countries, a national working group brings together key actors to support the continuous process with their expertise and support networking within the national youth work landscape.

The EYWA is turned into action by a big variety of activities ranging from the development of national youth work strategies and legislation to the introduction of occupational standards, competence models and educational programmes for youth workers to the implementation of research, campaigns, national or regional events and conferences as well as to the opening of youth centres.

With their activities, the different countries push for a strengthened “quality development”, “promotion and recognition” as well as “policy frameworks” – these three areas are the most relevant ones among the eight priority areas of the EYWA from the perspective of the national processes. This little insight into the state of research shows how many topics and realities the participants were able to discuss.

What were the key takeaways from Skopje?

During discussions, participants agreed that youth work across countries is facing broader societal challenges and is uniquely positioned in relation to other sectors. For them, youth work is framed as an essential response to rising societal pressures, such as security concerns or social challenges.

We heard sentences like, “youth work is actually a solution to crisis,” and even more encouraging ones that show how prevention arguments are resonating in public systems: “…the police and social services say: ‘No, give the money… to youth work!’”

At the same time, participants raised challenges in finding suitable people to be active in youth work, as well as sustaining their positions due to funding issues. Some countries reported declining numbers of people entering youth work education pathways.

Furthermore, the topic of recognition was raised as crucial for the further development of youth work, including social, formal, political, and self-recognition. While some countries have a good level of recognition, others still need to invest more in this area.

On recognition, some participants shared that “youth workers themselves don’t feel the need and the urgency to be recognized.” On the other hand, others expressed concern that new recognition frameworks could exclude people who already have years of experience but may not fit future qualification routes: “A lot of them feel the fear of being excluded by a new scenario of recognition...” All of this shows that we, as the community of practice, should think further about how to build a shared framework that values different paths, while overall strengthening recognition.

There was wide agreement that evidence-basis, impact and outcomes matter more than ever, especially as many countries have tighter budgets and are having competing priorities. Participants spoke about the need for better ways to communicate youth work’s value, using more stories backed by data. One practical suggestion to strengthen advocacy in challenging financial situations was to better articulate youth work’s value proposition as “…a social return on investment.”

During the Exchange Forum, an institutional panel was organised with representatives of the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the Network of National Agencies in Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps, and the EU–Council of Europe Youth Partnership.

Panel representatives emphasized that youth work is currently at a strategic moment, with significant potential to advance recognition and development. References were made to the Youth Work Convention outcomes, the upcoming Roadmap, and how these will influence future frameworks (including the next cycles of EU youth programmes and youth strategy). A recurring institutional message was that European-level policy creates a shared reference point, but national follow-up and continuity determine whether “seeds” grow.

From participants’ perspective, existing support mechanisms at the European level have been reinforced as important for the development of European youth work and as a crucial force contributing to the development of local and national youth work.

In particular, the Erasmus+ programme was highlighted as key to developing quality youth work, while support from various institutions and strategic projects were also praised. These include the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership, the European Academy on Youth Work, the Strategic Cooperation on Education and Training and Growing Youth Work. Also, the Alliance of Youth Workers Associations (AYWA) was recognised by participants as important actor, that provides advocacy and training opportunities for national umbrella organisations.

But… what now with all this?

Over three days, participants shared the current reality of youth work in their countries and were also encouraged to develop national plans and international collaboration through targeted action plans. Common national next steps could be clustered into a few topics:

• political recognition of youth work (definitions, laws, strategies);
• qualifications and professional pathways;
• research, mapping and impact assessment;
• stronger coordination and alliances;
• visibility and communication;

For example, Greece is currently pushing for a national youth strategy and for formal recognition and definition of youth work (including legal recognition). They want to focus more on creating new alliances and addressing advocacy and impact.

Türkiye, on the other hand, wants to conduct national research on youth work that will feed into policy frameworks and educational curricula. They also plan broad dissemination with different stakeholders.

North Macedonia will focus on strengthening education pathways (including higher education), aligning strategy with the EYWA, and advocating for professional recognition and a youth work law, as well as increasing support for youth centres.

Poland is planning study visits for youth organisations and decision-makers to strengthen capacities and improve alignment between sectors. They also aim to link the EYWA with national plans and budgets, develop a long-term strategy, and strengthen communication and quality and training measures.

Ireland wants to turn the Roadmap into a practical work plan and strengthen relationships nationally and locally to deliver it. They also want to clarify financing and build momentum for youth work development and policy engagement.

Next steps within the partnership

The Exchange Forum on the EYWA 2025 showed that recognition, funding and structural support still remain important issues for the youth work sector on national levels. Therefore, within Growing Youth Work, we are continuing to support the community of practice in creating spaces to meet and share.

Besides regular online “Coffee talks on the European Youth Work Agenda (EYWA)”, where we informally discuss the implementation of the national processes within the EYWA, the series "Youth Work Talks”, will focus more on the topics of funding and recognition. Also, the publishing of different materials is planned to see how work done on local and national level can be connected with policy processes and the EYWA.

The SNAC Growing Youth Work has a regular newsletter, where new and fresh information about the development of the EYWA is published. Also, we have quite vivid and active Facebook and Instagram channels, so be sure to follow us.

Curious about the "Exchange Forum on the European Youth Work Agenda"?

The Exchange Forum on the European Youth Work Agenda is the annual residential event for key stakeholders shaping the national processes within the context of the European Youth Work Agenda in their respective European countries. It is an activity of the Growing Youth Work partnership, a Strategic Cooperation Project of the Network of National Agencies for Youth.

More articles are available in our news section. A summary and all resources about the Survey Report 2025 is available here.