As the European Union prepares its next Youth Strategy, set to launch in early 2027, the Brussels Office of the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) convened a roundtable on 30 June to explore a fundamental question: what role should young people in every city and village across Europe play in shaping its future?

Titled Reimagining Youth Participation at the Local Level, the discussion brought together around 35 representatives of European Youth Capitals, youth organizations, national youth councils, municipalities, and other civil society organizations. Participants examined how young people come to understand their role in society and how they can be empowered to rethink existing systems and contribute, alongside other generations, to Europe’s advancement.

Opening the discussion, Miguel Reis of the BIC Brussels Office said: “When we think of youth participation, we need to start from the assumption that young people are not merely beneficiaries of policy, but irreplaceable contributors to decision-making.”

This idea framed a discussion about the conditions needed to enable each of the EU’s more than 70 million young people to become a protagonist in the life of society—and to ensure that their experience and insights inform policy.

Agnieszka Parol-Gorna, Director of Youth Policy at the City of Lublin, Poland, noted that the country’s first national youth policy had recently come into effect and highlighted the central role of cities. “There will be more connection and impact at the local level,” she said. “It is important to align local, national, and European policy strategies to build a better future for young people.”

“Cities need to continue learning from each other,” added Olivia Grenier of Eurocities, calling for greater support for peer learning and experimentation between cities to test and scale new approaches.

Participants stressed that even a well-coordinated system for youth participation will be effective only if it can be continually reshaped by young people’s insights and contributions. A central question was therefore how to reach growing numbers of young people.

“To reach every young person, we have to move beyond engaging only youth representatives and begin seeing every young person as a valuable contributor,” said Aram Aflatuni of the Gutsy School Organization. Drawing on his experience of seeking to engage all young people within a locality, Mr Aflatuni explained that this had led his organization to work through schools—one of the few settings capable of reaching young people on such a broad scale. “We could see every school as a place that engages young people in learning and enables students to become protagonists of social change in their own cities,” he added. Broadening the range of settings and actors involved was also emphasized by José Valero of Youth Agenda: “We have to work with private entities to foster youth participation.”

Inclusive engagement, participants noted, also requires flexible approaches that reach young people in the settings where they naturally gather, as well as a genuine willingness to listen and respond. “Young people do not always feel heard or listened to,” said Amira Bakr of OBESSU, reflecting on her experience of working with young people at the local level. Meaningful participation, she explained, does not require every proposal to be adopted, but young people should receive feedback on how their contributions were considered and why particular decisions were taken.

The discussion also highlighted the perspectives young people can bring to challenges facing their communities. One example concerned brain drain and the negative perceptions that can become associated with regions experiencing prolonged economic and social difficulties. Drawing on his experience with the European Commission’s Harnessing Talent Platform, Neysan Khabirpour said: “Young people can help reshape the perceptions and narratives attached to places that, over years of economic transformation or social realities, have become ingrained in the fabric of society [...] this change is something young people can drive from the local level.”

Contributing to community life can, in turn, help young people discover their own capacities and aspirations. Inês Sousa Martins of the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, pointed to volunteering programmes as one setting in which this can occur. “When young people engage in these programmes, they also begin to understand more about themselves and what they want to do in the future,” she said.

Participants concluded that youth engagement should be understood as an ongoing process through which institutions and society listen to young people, learn from their experiences, and adapt their approaches. Looking ahead to the forthcoming EU Youth Strategy, Alessandro Benedetti of the BIC Brussels Office raised the question of how this process could foster broader ownership: “Considerable progress has been made in engaging people at all levels in drafting policies. But how can we ensure that the Strategy is not owned by institutions alone? What would it mean for everyone to participate in carrying it forward?”

This roundtable discussion was part of a series of efforts leading up to the Bahá'í International Community's recently published statement addressing the upcoming EU Youth Strategy.