The project had the following main objectives: 1) To investigate the legal and administrative environment in which youth councils function on local and national level, by performing series of research activities (desk research, surveys, focus groups) 2) To compare the legal and administrative environment for youth councils in different countries based on the conducted research. 3) To develop a collection of good practices from different countries consisting of good examples of cooperation between youth councils and authorities. 4) To create an innovative training program for development of key civic competences - advocacy, participation and capacity building of youth councils and use it to upskill youth leaders from the participating countries (built-in the study visits that we conducted). 5) To propose an EU wide intervention on the topic of independence of youth councils through development of policy papers. Through this initiative, we sought to provide added value to youth policy stakeholders, especially the YFJ, by generating insights that would not only reflect the current state of youth councils' independence but also support the creation of stronger structures for youth participation and advocacy.
The project aimed to explore and analyze the current capacity of national youth councils to participate in the decision-making process, the support provided by the state and the preservation of independence. Despite the growing emphasis on youth participation in democratic processes, for the past over 20 years desk research showed there is no significant and explicit study about the topic. With this project we wanted to create concrete added value - outcomes that will benefit all youth policy stakeholders by gaining a more up-to-date view of the current situation. Thus, the project benefits towards a more adequate organization for the improvement of the capacity of NYCs (and their member organizations also) to participate in the decision-making process concerning the life of young people and to stay independent. In addition, we aimed to revise already existing documents of the European Youth Forum (YFJ) as the last policy paper regarding the independence of national youth councils was over 20 years old. The outcomes of the project are to benefit both the member organisations of the YFJ and their relevant stakeholders from public authorities and civil society in order to improve the role of youth representatives in decision-making.