The CoE/EU Youth Partnership will organise a seminar on youth mental health and well-being on 18-19 March 2025 at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg.

Indeed, young people’s health, mental health and psychological well-being have been the focus of the Youth Partnership’s work since 2020, with papers published on the effects of Covid-19 on young people’s mental health and wellbeing in 2021 and 2022, and a volume of the Coyote Magazine #32: Well-being?! In 2022, the topic of mental health and well-being was addressed within the context of a Symposium Navigating Transitions: adapting policy to young people’s changing realities.

In 2024-2025, the Youth Partnership is conducting research on young people’s mental health and well-being; a new T-kit on the well-being and mental health of young people is also being developed. 

On 5-8 April 2025, the Council of Europe Youth department will organise the Seminar Roma Youth Together 2025. In their Youth Statement on the occasion of 8 April 2021, the participants in the first conference Roma Youth Together called on the Council of Europe member states to seek active dialogue with Roma youth organisations and to ensure lasting mechanisms of empowerment and participation of young Roma.

The Roma Youth Together 2025 seminar should highlight the contemporary contributions of Roma youth in Europe, emphasising Roma pride, action, and resistance. It aims at strengthening the confidence of Roma youth leaders from across Europe by celebrating the sense of Roma identity and belonging and developing their skills as agents of change on the International Roma Day.

40 representatives of international youth organisations attended the meeting organised by the European Youth Foundation (EYF) with the contribution of the European Youth Forum, also host of the activity. The participants learned about the EYF grant criteria before the upcoming deadline of 1 April 2025, and about study sessions organised in the European Youth Centres, deadline on 15 April 2025.

The event focused on reinforcing the partnership with the youth sector of the Council of Europe and on providing opportunities for learning for youth organisations; it also aimed at reinforcing co-operation with civil society organisations, in line with the Reykjavik declaration. Participants also got updates on the Council of Europe’s youth sector strategic processes, they reinforced their skills in working with their member organisations and in fundraising, and exchanged good practices from international youth co-operation.

Young people's role in renewing democracy at the local and regional levels is crucial and youth perspectives need to be at the heart of decision-making in cities, municipalities, and regions

These were the main messages of the European Youth Conference “Young people in local and regional life: Democracy in action!” held in Braga from 5 to 7 February 2025. It brought together 150 youth leaders and representatives of local and regional authorities from 42 countries of Europe, who shared ideas on how to best revise the European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life so that the needs of younger generations are addressed.

The conference was co-organised by the Council of Europe Youth Department and the Braga Youth Centre, and in partnership with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the Municipality of Braga, the Portuguese Institute for Sports and Youth and the European Youth Forum.

In its plenary meeting on 12 March 2025 in Paris, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media will discuss an information memorandum and hold an exchange of views in preparation of the report on the role of youth in revitalising democracy; rapporteur Sona Ghazaryan (Armenia, ALDE).

The report will address questions regarding civil and political rights of young people, social and economic equality, as well as cultural rights and their importance in strengthening young people’s commitment and role in revitalising democracy. The Youth sector of the Council of Europe will be represented by Dr Xesc Mainzer, member of the Advisory Council on Youth and Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of the Youth Department. In the same session, the Committee will discuss an upcoming report “Preserving rural culture and heritage”, exchanging also with Matias Rubio, member of the Advisory Council on Youth.

On 27 February 2025, Andrii Chesnokov, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the Project’s team presented the key achievements of the Council of Europe work in Ukraine as part of the Open Doors Day at the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine. Participants had the opportunity to learn about the project’s results, the current state of youth policy and youth work in Ukraine, as well as on the youth sector of the Council of Europe.

Participants discussed key outcomes of the training programme “Participatory Youth Policy” and the long-term capacity building programme “Access to Youth Work” for 10 newly established civil society organisations working with youth; educational resources developed within the project were presented, including the manuals “Trauma-Informed Youth Work”, “Participatory Youth Policy”, “Social Cohesion and Barrier-Free Environment in the Youth Sector” and a visual tool “Зірки. Stars. Les etoiles”, videos of young people's participation practices.

The Training course on “Essentials of International Youth activities” was held from 17 to 22 February at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg. This training course invited volunteers, members and staff from various international youth organisations to learn and exchange about quality youth activities supported by the European Youth Foundation or held at the European Youth Centre (study sessions).

The training course provided the space to equip participants with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to effectively organise international youth activities, while fostering intercultural learning and co-operation and in line with the Council of Europe’s values and standards.

Youth leaders gathered for the study session “Digital citizenship for health: Empowering young people to co-create tools and innovate solutions” organised by Digital Transformations for Health Lab (DTH-Lab) and Youth Health Organisation (YHO). It took place during the European year of digital citizenship and education  and is part of DTH-Lab’s response to the Lancet and Financial Times Commission. The last one concluded that policymakers, technology companies and other stakeholders can no longer ignore the ways that digital transformations - or exclusion from them - are impacting our health and well-being.

30 health advocates, youth activists and digital health enthusiasts discussed digital technologies, and the digital age affects to young people’s health and well-being. They explored ways to influence public policies using a human rights-based approach, as informed and engaged active digital citizens.