New Power in Youth
Year of production: 2026
NPiY logo
Duration (years active)
2021-2027
Description
The main aim of New Power in Youth strategic partnership is to foster youth participation in democratic life.
The partnership is designed as a framework to support and advance initiatives that aim to increase the quality of youth participation, at all levels, and specifically address new democratic challenges.
It contributes directly to the EU Youth Strategy and EU Preparedness Strategy through three wider objectives (organised in three work packages):
- Empowering beneficiaries of Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps;
- Supporting Strategic Development for Democratic Engagement;
- Enhancing Cross-Sectoral Cooperation.
What is one thing about democratic participation that everyone should know?
Democratic participation is strongest when young people co-create it and when it’s enhanced through cross-sectoral collaborations.
Why is it important that Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps programmes promote participation in democratic life?
- Youth co-creation drives authenticity: the programmes empower young people to co-create democratic processes, ensuring participation feels genuine and impactful rather than tokenistic.
- Renews democracy: by prioritising marginalised voices via KA154 and other key actions, they build resilient, representative systems, directly addressing gaps in belonging and institutional trust.
- Sustainability ensures lasting change: programmes support creates skilled youth workers and lasting practices, turning short-term projects into enduring democratic renewal across Europe.
How is your LTA/SNAC supporting this?
WP1: Support quality of youth participation projects (E+ KA1 youth exchanges; KA154 youth participation projects, ESC local projects) via Online Project Challenge, Online Partner Finding, and Trainings «Dive into Youth Participation».
WP2: Strategic development of youth participation: Youth Engagement in NAs, Mapping good practices; practical tools; communities of practice.
WP3: Create spaces and knowledge for cross-sectoral dialogue and cooperation; address new democratic challenges, providing practitioners with new insights and skills.
What are some results of your LTA/SNAC you want to share Participation Pool readers?
Reports in PDF:
- Fostering Youth Participation: Achievements and Insights from the New Power in Youth Strategic Partnership presenting a comprehensive overview of NPiY and the first 3 years of activity.
- Analytical paper “Youth Participation and Citizenship Education: A Cross-sectoral Perspective”.
- The research report «Mapping of Direct Youth Involvement in the Work of National Agencies».
- The report outlining the conclusions from NPiY second edition of the Forum “Enhancing Youth Participation through Cross-Sectoral Collaboration”.
- The Mapping Study “Fostering youth participation through cross-sectoral practices”.
What would you tell to organisations who want to start working with this topic?
Start with young people’s needs—co-create on issues they care about for meaningful responsibility and feedback.
Build early cross-sectoral cooperation: map roles, create dialogue spaces for youth workers/teachers to sustain beyond one-off projects.
How can we find out more about your LTA/SNAC?
Follow updates from New Power in Youth via LinkedIn and Instagram!
Check out all the collection of interviews and event summaries on our YouTube channel.
Main contact person:
Veronica Stefan – [email protected]
National Agencies involved:
9 Youth NAs: Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Romania, Bulgaria
3 SALTOs: SALTO ID, SALTO PI, SALTO SEE
Sectors covered: Primarily Youth sector.
Cooperation with the E&T sector has started in 2025 through participation in WP3 events. NPiY SNAC is open to include NAs and stakeholders from E&T and VET sectors.