European level

The Youth Work Development (YWD) aspect of YFJ work stands for active support of the establishment, consolidation and strengthening of youth structures in Europe. It is a set of actions and activities the YFJ implements in order to promote and develop youth structures and youth work on local, national and European levels. YWD aims at supporting, establishing, developing and consolidating sustainable youth organisations, which is based on foundations and values of European youth work, and be independent actors positioned in a co-managed partnership with state and other stakeholders.

Specifically, the YFJ's focus on Youth Work Development ranges from support at the organisational level to ensuring the existence of supportive legislative frameworks in the field of youth policy and youth work. In this respect, the European Youth Forum promotes continuous partnership between the youth NGO sector, state authorities responsible for youth and youth policy, and other national and international actors in the field of youth.

Global level

The European Youth Forum promotes greater democracy, human rights, solidarity and global co-operation, and the participation in partnerships for the full realisation of the MDGs and the implementation of the WPAY, through its work with other regions of the world.

The YFJ Work Plan for 2009-2010 puts a focus on contributing to the establishment and/or development of National Youth Councils in all EU countries, South East Europe and strong cooperation with other regions in the world.

The YFJ works to provide tailored organisational support to current Member Organisations, support and advocate for greater and more reliable resources to ensure the full independence of Youth NGOs, and support their continuous partnership with governments in Council of Europe member states, institutions, and other stakeholders in the youth field. Through this, the YFJ aims to better serve the needs of its MOs and taking steps to further the sustainability of youth organisations and youth councils; their sustainability is a crucial factor for their contribution to the development of society, providing non-formal education, training and services to young people, and contributing to conflict prevention and post-conflict resolution. Moreover,, the YFJ’s goals is to support potential new members. In 2009-2010, the YFJ clearly assumes this objective through contributing to the establishment and/or development of National Youth Councils in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Turkey and Serbia.

One of the main goals at the global level of youth work development is sustaining and facilitating the political cooperation processes at the regional levels, by involving relevant actors and stakeholders from both the civil society and the institutional levels, together with our partners in the Global Cooperation Coordination Committee. Moreover, in the coming two years we will continue to have a special focus on the Euro-Med and Arab Regions and Africa

Tailored support and Training

In the area of Youth Work Development (YWD) the YFJ is focusing on two major target groups – the current Member Organisations and the potential new ones.

The provision of tailored organisational support to current Member Organisations, supporting and advocating for greater and more reliable resources to ensure the full independence of Youth NGOs, and supporting their continuous partnership with governments in the Council of Europe member states, institutions, and other stakeholders in the youth field are the main objectives as outlined in the YFJ Work Plan and the YFJ strategy for youth work development.

The tailored support provision to Member Organisations is based on needs arising from the membership survey, which is regularly being conducted and allows us to assess the current situations and foresee the following developments, and the needs expressed by Member Organisations directly. The tailored support is provided through the YFJ work in the training, which is laid down in the Policy Paper on Training (0833-07), support visits, consultations, different other actions undertaken by the Bureau and Secretariat of the YFJ, as well as by the Pool of Trainers.

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