Dear Colleagues,

Youth Work initiatives appeared during the Industrial Revolution and the 19th urban concentration. They were organized activities, aiming to instil values and principles to young people living in big towns. In these early times, Youth Work was faith-based, or based around military values. Since that time, there has been enormous growth and tremendous changes in the field. In one way or another, Youth Work activities are organized and implemented all around the world. In addition, philosophies, aims and objectives of Youth Work practices are context-dependent and more diverse than ever. On the one hand, the term Youth Work, although significantly controversial and open to interpretation, offers a minimum of universal understanding. On the other, Youth Work is still far from a common definition among different contexts.

Diverse social, political and historical realities of each community, country and region, shape differences in Youth Work conceptualization and practice around the world. In the theoretical domain, historical and cultural realities define the way in which policy-makers, stakeholders and citizens perceive Youth Work. In the field, the planning and implementation of Youth Work activities, depend on the local, national or regional needs of young people. Moreover, capacities of providers and receivers of Youth Work, determine the methods and tools used for the activities.

The aims of the conference are: (1) To analyze different definitions of Youth Work; (2) to offer space to anthropological approaches to Youth Work; (3) to host the presentation of distinct Youth Work practices; (4) to facilitate a debate on various field work experiences from different contexts; (5) to juxtapose practitioners’ and researchers’ perspectives; (6) to consider comparative macro, meso and micro analyses on Youth Work theories, policies, practices and challenges; and (7) to bring together approaches by project managers and trainers from the field of youth.

*The Mission Responsible Project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

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• African Youth Work approaches: theory and practice
• Asian Youth Work approaches: theory and practice
• Anthropological approaches to Youth Work practices
• Comparative Youth Work analyses
• Faith-based Youth Work
• Histories of Youth Work
• Interdisciplinary approaches to Youth Work
• Political approaches to Youth Work
• Project Management models for Youth Work
• Psychology and Youth Work
• Public Policies and Youth
• Social Approaches
• Social Policies for Youth
• Syntheses of Youth Work Strategies
• Theorising on Youth Work
• Youth Work Best Practices exchange in a globalised world
• Youth Work methods and learning tools case studies
• Other innovative approaches to Youth Work