Social cohesion is important for the sustainability of democracy and human rights (as codified in the European Convention on Human Rights and the Revised European Social Charter); it implies an acceptance of shared responsibility for the welfare of all members of society, especially those who are at risk of poverty or exclusion. In line with this, the youth policy of the Council of Europe aims at providing young people with “equal opportunities and experience which enable them to develop knowledge, skills and competencies to play a full part in all aspects of society”. The Council of Europe’s youth sector is running the Enter! project aiming at the development of youth policy and youth work responses to exclusion, discrimination and violence affecting young people, particularly in multicultural disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

The project was set in response to the growing concern and attention of the European Steering Committee for Youth and the Advisory Council on Youth, the governmental and non-governmental partners of the youth sector of the Council of Europe, to matters of social cohesion and inclusion of young people. The experiences of the Enter! project are at the origin of the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to the member States of the Council of Europe on the access of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to social rights adopted in January 2015.

​In this recommendation, the Committee of Ministers recognises that young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods, especially those living in poverty, are more vulnerable to all kinds of risks, including poor physical and mental health, substance abuse, self-harm, violence, discrimination and exclusion. The Recommendation proposes measures in various fields of youth, education and social policy. Furthermore, the text is accompanied by guidelines for its implementation by public authorities, including local or regional providers of youth work and social policies, which should help making it a truly useful instrument for the social inclusion of all young people.

The Roma Youth Action Plan is a response of the Council of Europe to challenges faced by Roma young people in Europe, particularly in relation to their empowerment, participation in policy decision-making processes and structures at European level, and multiple realities of discrimination. The Action Plan is based on the outcomes of the first Roma Youth Conference organised in 2011, and complements the Council of Europe Strasbourg Declaration on Roma by associating Roma youth to its implementation.
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The Action Plan includes activities of the Youth Department and of other sectors of the Council of Europe, particularly some of the activities of the Team of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Roma issues (for example, the RoMed programme, the work of the Ad-Hoc Committee of Experts on Roma Issues), the Directorate of Human Rights and Anti-discrimination, along with activities proposed by other partners.
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The partners of the Roma Youth Action Plan include, first and foremost, youth organisations: the Forum of European Roma Young People (FERYP), ternYpe – International Roma Youth Network. Phiren Amenca – a network of Roma and non-Roma volunteers and voluntary service organisations and the European Youth Forum; the Open Society Foundations, the European Roma Rights Centre, the Roma Education Fund, Salto Youth Network and OSCE – ODIHR also take part in the plan. The project is also open to other interested stakeholders.

An Informal Contact Group co-ordinates the partners in the implementation and evaluation of the programme of activities.

Resources for the implementation of the Action Plan are being mobilised by the various partners, the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, and the Roma youth networks.

The Roma Youth Action Plan gives priority to human rights and intercultural dialogue as responses to discrimination and antigypsyism, together with the development and capacity building of Roma youth organisations and movements. Training and capacity building has, thus, an important role in the Roma Youth Action Plan, not only because of what individual Roma youth leaders may learn and develop individually, but also and especially by what they will experience and do together.
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• Read the Roma Youth Action Plan
• Read the Roma Youth Action Plan Brochure
• Read “The Strasbourg Declaration on Roma”

The Joint Council on Youth, the co-managed political body of the Council of Europe’s Youth Sector, has defined three strategic priorities for 2018-2019:

• Access to rights
• Youth participation and youth work
• Inclusive and peaceful societies

​When submitting a grant application, you are asked to indicate how your project is linked to the Youth Sector’s priorities. Before preparing your international activity or work plan application for 2018 (deadline for applications: 1 April 2017), please consult the guidelines containing the priorities (expected results) and programme orientations for 2018-2019.
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Note: The 2016-2017 priorities are still valid for pilot activity applications in 2017.

​Young people have been hit particularly hard by the economic crisis of 2008 and its aftermath and increasing numbers face long-term unemployment, discrimination and poverty. This new strategy aims to make sure that Erasmus+ tackles the challenges facing young people effectively

The European Union is taking active measures to help some of the most vulnerable people in society: young people who lack the opportunities of their peers. 

Targeting young people with fewer opportunities has long been a pillar of the European Union's work in the field of youth, notably through project funding for organisations working in this area.

​Don Bosco Youth-Net is a part of the worldwide Don Bosco Movement.  This movement is based on the legacy of its founder: Don Bosco.  Don Bosco developed an educational system based on a dialogue between the Christian tradition and the needs of the society he was living in.  It is this educational system which still connects all people active in the Don Bosco Movement today; Don Bosco’s working style is our common denominator.

But the present-day society is different than that of Don Bosco’s time.  A new sociological perspective of mankind and the differences between cultures within the Don Bosco Movement demand for a contemporary translation of the system.  In order to do so we need to position Don Bosco Youth-Net within the current society and also within the current Don Bosco Movement.  Afterwards we can present Don Bosco Youth-Net’s working style by focussing on 4 key elements: the educational themes of youth work Don Bosco Youth-Net is focussing on, the way we use the model of the “Oratory” as a method to build a strong learning environment, the way we create an educational flow through our educational programmes and the style of work of the educators involved in our network.
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This document aims at defining the work we do, and how we do it.  This is a challenging job for several reasons. On the one hand people involved in the Don Bosco Movement are more used to working through the system rather than defining it - Don Bosco’s statement that in assisting, educators should use “few words and a lot of action ...” only strengthens this tradition.  On the other hand people from outside the Don Bosco Movement are asking what we are doing and in which manner it is different than that of others.  Therefore we wrote this document in a style which we hope will be understandable for both.

Within the heritage of Don Bosco, the partners of Don Bosco Youth-Net strive together to realize the following aims:

1. At first it is important for us to bring young people across Europe and the world together, to take part in youth activities that are linked with the style of working through the spirit of Don Bosco.  We want to organize international initiatives that contribute to the full development of young people.  It is necessary thereby to broaden the opportunities for young people who are, by reasons of various kinds, excluded from these kinds of activities. 
2. Furthermore we strive for a profound exchange of information, ideas and experiences between the different partners. We want to facilitate contact, and deepen the understanding between the member organisations so more joint activities can take place. This is realised through weekends, the development of a website and coordination from the international office.
3. And last, but not least, we want to represent the voice of the Don Bosco young people and defend their interests at an international level. 

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To put these aims into practice, we develop Master Plan for the period of 3 years.  The current master plan determines our strategy for the period 2015 – 2017 .  Under the 4 strategic actions we are focussing on 4 fields of work: Education, Inclusion, Growth and Synergy.