The World Forum for Democracy (WFD) brought together this year policy-makers, academics, activists, youth representatives and democracy innovators from 6 to 8 November in Strasbourg. A global youth delegation of participants in the WFD gathered at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg two days before the start of the Forum to learn about the Council of Europe and its work with youth, to get to know each other, to develop their ideas, work together and prepare for the Forum. Selected from diverse backgrounds, the youth delegates contributed with their perspectives and shaped Forum discussions through organised labs, side-events, and parallel activities where they presented their visions for a stronger democracy.

The Forum Talk “Youth Engagement in Democracy – on What Terms?” a part of the WFD, emphasised the importance of creating spaces for youth engagement and highlighted the Council of Europe’s commitment to bolstering democracy through youth participation. The forum underscored that youth engagement is not merely symbolic but a necessary step in building resilient democratic societies.

From 13 to 15 November, young people from 21 countries across Europe gathered for the 2024 Youth Space Conference (Y-Space) in the German Bundestag. This event, now for the third time, was organised by the German Federal Youth Council (DBJR), the German Bundestag, the German delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the Council of Europe Youth Department.

This year's Y-Space conference theme was “Celebrating 75 Years of the Council of Europe – Challenges and Opportunities in Shaping Europe’s Future.” Participants dove into workshops with stakeholders from the Council of Europe's network, discussing key topics affecting Europe’s future and the future of its youth. The discussions culminated in a panel presentation, with the results forming the basis of a final declaration. This declaration, to be handed over to the parliamentarians of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, calls for action on issues like Democratic Backsliding, Inclusive Governance, and Youthful Institutions in Europe.

On 8 November, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset visited the European Youth Centre Budapest (EYCB), following the meeting of the European Political Community in Budapest on 7 November.

The Secretary General was greeted by the Executive Director of EYCB, Balint Molnar and the Deputy Director, Marcos Andrade, before being given a tour of the European Youth Centre’s premises.

Mr Berset also met with participants of two ongoing study sessions of the Youth Department. He had an interactive discussion with participants of the study session “Achieving Justice Through Youth Minorities”, organised by the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation, as well as youth activists from the Cooperation and Development Network of Eastern Europe, who are exploring “Green Economics and Youth Political Participation in Eastern Europe”.

Following the exchange, the Secretary General also met with the staff of the EYCB.

Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg were welcomed by Matjaž Gruden, Director of the Council of Europe’s Directorate for Democracy. The Head of the Youth Department, Tobias Flessenkemper gave a tour of the European Youth Centre to Their Royal Highnesses and presented the Centre’s main areas of activity.

The visit also included an exchange on the Council of Europe’s youth priorities; it touched upon the upcoming conference on Quality Label centres, scheduled for May 2025, which will take place under the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers. Additionally, the forthcoming 10th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth was a key topic of conversation.

Their Royal Highnesses' visit to the European Youth Centre reflects Luxembourg’s commitment to supporting youth empowerment and fostering mutual respect and understanding in our diverse societies, which is among Luxembourg’s Presidency’s priorities.

The first Educational Forum for youth centres in the network of the Council of Europe Quality Label for Youth Centres  took place from 18 to 22 November 2024 at the European Youth Centre Budapest. More than 20 participants from youth centres across Europe gathered to take part in the Forum, which is an evolution of previous Council of Europe training offers for pedagogical staff in labelled youth centres.

This year’s event aimed at stimulating exchange of experiences and practices of pedagogical staff of youth centres, to inspire new ways of working together and to encourage co-operation in the network. The format of the Forum allowed participants to exchange approaches, tools and methods related to the educational work of the centres. The sessions covered topics relevant to youth work, including youth policy, human rights education and education for democratic citizenship, youth participation, inclusivity and accessibility.

This project raised awareness on media literacy and fake news, starting with 23 young peer educators, then including 500 young people aged 15 to 19 from the Arges County in Romania, through an educational caravan that addressed the topic in 5 different towns and villages. The 23 peer educators were trained through non-formal and informal methods, gaining skills in the news creation process - from research to fact-checking and publication - as well as in identifying fake news, recognising reliable information sources, and understanding deepfakes. In addition, they participated in public speaking sessions to prepare them for leading an educational caravan. They then ran awareness raising activities in the educational caravan for their peers in rural areas. As a result, young people learnt how to check news and their sources, engage in online debate, identify online manipulation techniques, to avoid the trap of sharing false content on social networks.

The project was supported through a pilot activity grant of the European Youth Foundation.

Youth organisations can now apply for pilot activity grants to the European Youth Foundation (EYF) for initiatives to be carried out in 2025. The next deadlines are 1 February 2025, 15 May 2025, and 1 September 2025. Local and national youth organisations are eligible to apply and they must register with the EYF (registration process). Pilot activity grants support initiatives that address young people’s needs or challenges at the local level, contribute to the priorities of the youth sector of the Council of Europe and to the 2025 focus themes, are innovative, have a strong youth dimension, and lead to local impact.

The following topics are focus themes for pilot activity grants for 2025: human rights education with and by young people, young people’s democratic engagement in the revitalisation of democracy, climate action and awareness on the right to a healthy environment, peacebuilding, conflict transformation and intercultural dialogue.

Youth organisations are invited to an online information session about the pilot activity grants 2025 on 18 December, from 10.30. Register for joining the session here.

A public presentation of the results of open youth work projects of Civil sociey organisations (CSOs) supported by the Council of Europe took place on 26 November.

The long-term capacity building programme of the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine for ten newly established CSOs working with young people “Access to Youth Work” has been implemented in 2023 -2024. The teams of ten CSOs from nine regions and Kyiv improved their skills to ensure high-quality financial and project management, as well as to ensure the participation of young people both in the decision-making process and in the implementation of activities with expert and grant support of the Council of Europe.