4. Youth and civic engagement

Family policies affect young people directly, especially when childcare is costly, waiting lists are long, rules are confusing, or parental leave is hard to use in insecure jobs. For young adults planning a family, these issues show up as everyday stress: budgeting, planning a return to work, and navigating services.

Youth civic engagement helps turn these experiences into clear priorities and proposals for change at local, national, and EU levels. One key pathway is the EU Youth Dialogue: an EU process that collects young people’s priorities through youth organisations and connects them to EU policy discussions.

4.1 How young people can advocate for improved family policies

Advocacy is most effective when it is specific and strategic. Instead of “improve childcare”, aim for a concrete target like “reduce waiting times” or “make eligibility rules easier to understand.” A simple approach is:

• Define a clear problem: What exactly is not working (cost, access, procedures, leave usability)?
• Identify who controls it: Is it decided locally, nationally, or at EU level?
• Choose the right channel: Match your action to the decision-maker.

Local action can be fastest because municipalities shape service delivery (e.g., how childcare places are allocated, local information, and how user-friendly procedures are). Strong advocacy combines lived experience with evidence (for example, Eurostat indicators) and realistic solutions such as pilots, simpler procedures, or integrated services.

For EU-level issues, young people can use tools like the European Citizens’ Initiative and European Parliament petitions. Working through youth organisations and youth councils often increases legitimacy, coordination, and access to decision-makers. A key reference for participation standards is the Council of Europe’s Revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life.*T

Fig. 8 – Signing petition – Source: https://www.aauw.org/resources/policy/advocacy-toolkit/organize-petition-campaign/

4.2 Understanding participation in policymaking and youth work initiatives

Participation becomes more effective when young people understand the “decision map” across levels:

• Local authorities influence service delivery (how services are organised and experienced in practice).
• National institutions set most benefit levels, leave rules, and eligibility criteria.
• EU institutions shape minimum rights and cross-border coordination and provide channels to raise issues at the EU level.

With this map, young people can choose between formal routes (consultations, youth councils, advisory boards, EU Youth Dialogue, petitions, ECI) and informal routes (campaigns, partnerships, community organising, and pilots that demonstrate solutions).

Youth work strengthens participation by building policy literacy, participation skills, inclusion of underrepresented groups, and follow-up so that commitments don’t stop at discussion but move toward implementation.