Around 50 youth trainers working at European level met recently at the Trainers’ Forum 2026, a gathering of people active in youth work, adult education, non-formal learning and Erasmus+. Our Learning & Capacity Building coordinator, Alina, took part to present the SALTO PI work and to hear directly from the field.
Listening as much as informing
SALTO PI used the session to introduce the Participation Resource Pool and the new sections dedicated to all sectors of the Erasmus+ and special page for practices from National Agencies, the Youth Participation Strategy with the 2025 addition – Quality standards (add links), the Inspiration stories for involving young people in decision making process (add links) as well as the Youth Participation Toolkit, which can be shipped to you by mail, for this fill in the form (add link to the form. We also used the opportunity to discuss the mandate of SALTO PI, which focuses on the National Agencies and all sectors now, and to share more about the expansion of the SALTO network from 2021. Many trainers work closely with a single or several SALTOs but have limited visibility into how the network operates. With SALTO mandates due for renewal, the forum gave trainers a chance to flag what support they want going forward.
Strategic questions, day-to-day struggles
Discussions moved between systemic issues — political shifts affecting youth work in several countries, the limitations of Erasmus+, and the precarious position of freelance trainers — and more concrete concerns about working with National Agencies or SALTO. The forum also connected SALTO PI with trainers specialising in critical education, Betzavta methodology, critical media literacy, critical youth work, rural youth participation and future skills, several of whom offered to join an expert pool SALTO PI hopes to formalise.
Rural youth participation came up repeatedly, including questions about how SALTO PI’s work aligns with the Council of Europe’s recommendation on rural youth—a topic that sparked reflections on our work going forward.
The Commission’s plans for Erasmus+ 2028–2034
Charalampos Papaioannou, responsible for the EU-CoE Youth Partnership at the European Commission, presented the Commission’s proposal for the next Erasmus+ programme, part of the broader EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). Key points:
- Erasmus+ sits within Heading 2 of the new MFF (“Competitiveness and prosperity”), alongside AgoraEU, a renewed Horizon Europe and a new European Competitiveness Fund.
- The Commission proposes €40.82 billion for Erasmus+ over 2028–2034, with no earmarking by field or management mod3.
- The programme retains its “dual DNA”: building skills and competences for a competitive, sustainable and digital economy, alongside democratic engagement, critical thinking, EU values, preparedness, solidarity and a sense of belonging.
- The European Solidarity Corps would be merged into Erasmus+, as a proposal for a single-entry point for EU opportunities for young people, including volunteering and humanitarian aid volunteering.
- Funding would be streamlined into two pillars — “Learning opportunities for all” and “Capacity building support”
- The Commission’s stated ambition is for everyone to have at least one Erasmus+ experience in their lifetime, whether as a school pupil, VET learner, volunteer, student, or through up/reskilling.
Cooperation with Salto green and a possible competence framework
What’s next
Sparked by the presentations for tools developed by the trainers, SALTO PI began scoping a Toolkit with SALTO Green on “preparedness,” addressing overlapping crises through the lens of participation and pedagogy of hope. Additionally, Trainers’ use of existing frameworks such as DigComp and GreenComp also prompted discussion of a possible Participation Competence Framework — a tool that could be developed in the upcoming years.
SALTO PI plans to follow up with the trainers who offered expertise, and to continue developing cooperation with SALTO Green and the participation competence framework idea. The forum reinforced a working principle SALTO PI already holds that participation should shape how support structures and strategies are designed, not only what they promote