Youth policies and youth participation: from beneficiaries to actors

Recent research shows that young people tend to be scarcely involved in political matters, thus remaining invisible. There are indeed forms of youth activism, but they tend to involve different ways of participation. Participation has gradually become a more central issue at the political level, but the question remains of its relevance from the point of view of young people. Youth work is a privileged setting for the analysis of youth involvement. The paper first reviews the Italian debate on youth participation and youth policies. Secondly, it focusses on two contexts of informal aggregation in the Emilia Romagna region, to assess their value in terms of participatory experience, non-formal education and youth work. The analysis highlights how youth work experiences enable young people to participate more actively in social life, as they promote critical awareness and empowerment. Collective motivation also plays an important role, since acting together allows more vulnerable individuals and groups to gain more strength and power.