Youth Policy

The EU Youth Strategy (2010-2018) highlights the importance of knowledge. According to the strategy, "Better knowledge and understanding of the living conditions of young women and men needs to be gathered and shared with other policy fields so as to enable appropriate and timely measures to be taken."

There are several ways in which the European Commission ensures an evidence-based youth policy:

Collecting and analysing data

Eurostat

DG Education and Culture collects latest data and statistics on young people on a continuous basis from the Commission's own statistical office, Eurostat. In cooperation with national statistical offices in all Member States and partner countries, Eurostat collects data on young people's living conditions. Much of this data is accessible to the public through Eurostat's online database. In the youth field, particular attention is given to the EU Labour Force Survey (EU LFS, data gathered quarterly) and the EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU SILC, data gathered every three years).

On the occasion of the adoption of the new EU Youth Strategy (2010-2018) by the EU Council of Youth Ministers in November 2009, Eurostat released "Youth in Europe – A statistical portrait". This publication presents a wide range of statistics and comparable data on youth across Europe

Eurobarometer

Eurobarometers are comprehensive public opinion surveys carried out by the European Commission on a regular basis. The Commission also conducts so-called Flash Eurobarometers, which target specific segments of the population in all EU Member States. The latest Flash Eurobarometer was conducted in early 2011, covering the field of youth participation and volunteering as well as learning mobility and entrepreneurship . This followed an earlier survey from 2007 . Such surveys provide valuable information in areas where objective data is difficult (or impossible) to obtain, such as values and attitudes, or self-reporting on how often a person has participated in organised youth activities, for example.

EU Youth Report

The first EU Youth Report was released in April 2009, together with the Commission Communication on the new EU Youth Strategy. It was the first comprehensive EU report in a decade to present updated statistics, data and analyses on the situation of young people. Subsequent EU Youth Reports will be produced every three years (next in 2012). In addition to presenting updated statistics and data, these reports will identify trends and share examples of good practices across EU Member States. EU Youth Reports will also evaluate how the EU Youth Strategy has been implemented in all Member States over the previous three years, as they summarise National Reports received from Member States under the Open Method of Coordination in the youth field.

Development of indicators

In the EU Youth Strategy (2010-2018), the Ministers responsible for youth in EU Member States invited the European Commission to set up a working group to propose a dashboard of EU indicators on youth. Consequently, the Expert Group on EU Youth Indicators was established, with a dual mandate: (1) to collect EU indicators on youth in different policy fields where they already exist, and (2) propose sets of indicators in areas where they do not yet exist.

The results of this work were released on March 25, 2011 in the Commission staff working document On EU Indicators in the Field of Youth . Here, a dashboard of 40 indicators was proposed, covering all eight fields of action of the EU Youth Strategy. In parallel, the Commission released a study showing that a number of EU Member States had already advanced in working with youth indicators at the national level.

As a follow-up, Eurostat set up a sub-section on youth on its website and open data-base, where visitors can find the latest available data for all youth indicators which rely on Eurostat data.

For all sets of indicators in the dashboard, data will be collected and disseminated on a regular basis by the Commission. This will allow for identifying trends and give a more complete picture of the living standards and conditions for young people in the EU.

The Commission recognises that the objective of the dashboard is to reflect the changing realities of young people. Therefore, the Commission has decided to maintain the Expert Group on EU Youth Indicators and organise one meeting per year. Its mandate is to review the dashboard and propose possible revisions and improvements to the Commission, as well as be an arena for sharing knowledge and exchanging examples of good practice.

Supporting youth research

Commission Framework Programmes

DG Education and Culture is in close contact with DG Research, and is thus  informed of developments and results of youth research projects supported under consecutive research framework programmes. Five youth research projects have been funded under the current programme, the Seventh Research Framework Programme. DG EAC is also supporting youth research  by organising and taking part in visibility events and research seminars, and by promoting networking among youth researchers through the partnership with the Council of Europe in the field of youth (see below).

DG Research published in spring 2009 a review of results of the youth research projects funded under the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Research Framework Programmes of the European Commission, called European Research on Youth . A more thorough policy review of the projects funded under the Seventh Framework Programme, which are all addressing issues relating to social inclusion/exclusion and young people with fewer opportunities, will be released in November 2011.

Conducting studies

In order to expand the knowledge-base of a particular policy area, which again may lead to increased visibility as well as political recognition and follow-up, DG Education & Culture commissions studies in the field of youth. The latest such studies are on Young people's access to culture (2010), and Assessing Member States' practices for using indicators in fields related to youth (2011). Results of a study on Youth Participation in Democratic Life are expected in spring 2012, while a study on The Value of Youth Work in the EU will present its results to the Commission in spring of 2013.

Building knowledge through sharing of experiences

A knowledge-based policy is also developed and improved through continuous learning from experience and sharing of examples of good (and not so good) practice among Member States. The Commission therefore organises and facilitates a number of expert meetings and working groups on various topics relating to young people, as well as peer-learning activities specifically designed for exchanging good practices. Participants at such activities are recruited through national authorities responsible for youth, as well as through stakeholders' groups and organisations

Partnership with the Council of Europe

The European Commission enjoys a partnership with the Council of Europe in the field of youth. This partnership has a separate budget and its own secretariat. One of the central components of the youth partnership is the promotion of better knowledge in the youth field. There are several important components to this partnership that are linked to an evidence-based youth policy:

The European Knowledge Centre on Youth Policy (EKCYP)

EKCYP facilitates the accumulation of knowledge on youth through a network of national correspondents. One designated correspondent in each Member State collects data on the situation of young people according to predefined criteria and questionnaires to ensure that data is comparable across countries. All information and data is then collected by the EU-CoE youth partnership and made available to the general public through the open EKCYP database. Here, you can find documents with country-specific data, as well as comparable data across Member States on a number of transversal topics, such as youth participation and volunteering. The EKCYP database also contains data on past and current research on youth. One can also register for a free regular e-newsletter.

Pool of European Youth Researchers (PEYR)

In order to strengthen the link between European youth policy and youth research, the two institutions behind the EU-CoE youth partnership has established PEYR. PEYR is a group of 25 experienced youth researchers from as many countries across Europe, who together cover a wide range of research areas linked to young people's well-being and participation in society. The research profiles and contact details of members of PEYR are presented on this website, and they can be contacted by institutions, organisations and other interested parties who want to draw on their vast expertise – either as lecturers/speakers or as authors of written contributions.

Publications

The youth partnership releases a number of publications every year, designed to facilitate the dissemination of knowledge and to promote good practices in the field of youth. It also publishes training materials for the youth sector on a regular basis as well as an annual magazine for youth workers called Coyote.