a)

promote and facilitate fair treatment of young people in the labour market and strive to eliminate all forms of discrimination and inequality within the workplace;

b)

ensure the provision of equal opportunities to develop the skills necessary for the labour market needs so as to create better access to quality and sustainable jobs with fair and healthy working conditions;

c)

promote specific education and information of young people and relevant labour market actors about young workers’ rights;

d)

promote and preserve a healthy lifestyle of young people (including mental health) by shaping the conditions for resilience on the labour market and well-being of young people at work;

e)

promote decent working conditions, including flexible in-work arrangements, where appropriate, in order to achieve better work-life balance (10);

f)

undertake action to prevent employment relationships that may lead to precarious working conditions and to vulnerability and insecurity of young workers;

g)

commit to protect young people’s working rights, taking into account the changing nature of work, and promote access to adequate social protection of young people while bearing in mind their diverse backgrounds;

h)

continue to include in their national education and skills policies key competences for life-long learning, as well as different practical, vocational and transversal skills of young people relevant to the labour market needs;

i)

enable better access for young people to work-based learning opportunities, such as internships, apprenticeships, international training and job-shadowing – including for those who cannot access these opportunities due to financial constraints – while providing appropriate support during learning programmes;

j)

promote improved career orientation, guidance, services and vocational re-training opportunities for young people, before and throughout their professional career, in cooperation with employers and by means of different mentoring programmes, such as those run for young social entrepreneurs;

k)

promote access to open-ended labour contracts by implementing EU and national long term projects designed to promote the employment of young people, with a view to ensuring decent employment opportunities.

a)

promote increased access to research, knowledge and expertise on youth work and to implement the principles and measures proposed in different European policy documents in the field of youth work, so as to further develop its quality, accessibility and recognition at all levels;

b)

support and facilitate access to quality youth work through continued cooperation between non-formal learning and formal educational institutions as well as through enhanced visibility;

c)

promote quality standards for youth work and other quality assurance frameworks for youth work;

d)

promote cross-sectoral and multi-professional cooperation between youth field and other sectors that are relevant to young people’s lives at local, regional, national and European levels;

e)

further promote digital youth work, including digital platforms and smart solutions, which can contribute to improving the overall level of digital skills and competences of young people; as well as other forms of youth work and facilities such as youth centres, info-points, youth work corners in schools and higher education institutions;

f)

increase efforts to further empower and motivate youth workers by improving their working conditions and ensuring fair remuneration (11)

g)

further promote the important role that youth work plays in supporting active youth participation;

h)

encourage young people in engaging and shaping of various forms of youth work;

i)

promote more inclusive youth work through specific, diversified and continuous education and training for youth workers, including on the needs of different disadvantaged groups. This can be, where appropriate, supplemented through outreach youth work.

a)

enhance connectivity to facilitate young people’s access to educational and job opportunities as well as other necessary services, including leisure time activities, for instance through improved means of public transport, including eco-friendly means and, where possible, co-sharing of private transport;

b)

promote vocational careers and life-long learning programmes responding to the needs of local communities, for instance by offering scholarships, programmes or providing additional relevant information;

c)

explore different forms of work and promote rural areas as suitable places for new businesses, start-ups and green jobs (13) , including sustainable farming and related agricultural activities. Where appropriate, search for better links between education and training opportunities and agricultural issues, for example through traineeship and entrepreneurship programmes;

d)

consider incentives and support for young people to facilitate the choice to remain in their local communities during and after their studies, and ease their transition between education/training and employment;

e)

improve access to information on employment, education and training opportunities, including those related to youth entrepreneurship programmes, as well as on relevant EU programmes, such as European Solidarity Corps and Erasmus +, to create additional opportunities for personal and professional development;

f)

increase opportunities for youth participation through different means such as local and regional youth work, volunteering, creation of youth spaces and access to digital tools;

g)

promote a variety of youth-related facilities, where appropriate, through more decentralised youth work services, spaces and info-points for young people;

h)

promote positive images and narratives of rural areas and rural customs and traditions.

a)

promote non-formal learning methods and explore ways in which to secure formal recognition of non-formal education/learning and volunteering activities. For instance, improvements can be made to the Youthpass and similar available tools;

b)

further support and facilitate meaningful youth participation in the development and evaluation of labour market policies, with an emphasis on the development and implementation of the Youth Guarantee.

a)

consider measures to further develop quality youth work through, for instance, quality standards and other quality assurance frameworks, increased recognition, promotion of youth research and digital skills and competences;

b)

continue to promote and exchange experience on good youth work practices across the EU by all available means, including through relevant EU programmes such as Erasmus +;

c)

promote practices and tools used in different Member States at national or regional levels.

a)

support meaningful youth participation through different means available at all levels, for instance through supporting local youth councils or rural youth representation networks, and creating synergies with relevant EU programmes such as LEADER (CLLD) (14) , the European Solidarity Corps and Erasmus + as well as with EU structural instruments such as European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund.

a)

pay particular attention to young people in the development of employment and social policies, in order to facilitate young people’s access to quality employment, through (preferably remunerated) internships, better cooperation between and involvement of all relevant stakeholders, including educational institutions and social partners

a)

intensify the cooperation with the Council of Europe in order to enhance the education and training of youth workers and thus improve the quality youth work in Europe

a)

take into account the European Youth Goals and the findings of the EU Youth Dialogue when exploring synergies between relevant policy and programme areas, such as agricultural and youth policy by, for example, establishing multi-sectoral pilot programmes in order to increase opportunities for young people in different regions