According to the Directorate for Youth, Non-Formal Education and Voluntary organisations (DJEPVA – Direction de la jeunesse, de l’éducation populaire et de la vie associative) under the French ministry of Sports, Youth and Voluntary organisations, youth policy encompasses all actions that contribute to supporting young people's pathways to autonomy, particularly through education, training, social and professional integration, housing, health, safety, educational, sporting and cultural leisure activities, mobility and commitment, with a view to reducing inequalities, whether social or territorial. Promoting this autonomy implies acting on all the levers enabling young people to be actors in their own lives, to meet their needs and to fulfil their potential as individuals.

This policy is applied in many ministerial fields, both at national and territorial level. In a logic of transversality between the different fields of public action, it is structured around the following axes:

• contributing to young people’s personal development and encouraging their engagement and mobility;

• giving priority to education, guidance and training;

• promoting employment and labour-market integration;

• combating inequalities along the pathway to autonomy;

• improving living conditions

Many ministries are active in the area of youth, but each one is only responsible for its own area. In order to implement the State's policy for young people and to translate it into coherent and legible interministerial action, the Director for Youth, Non-Formal Education and Voluntary organisations also serves as the Interministerial Delegate for Youth (Délégué Interministériel à la Jeunesse – DIJ).

Youth policy is based on numerous schemes and actions, managed and funded by different ministries. The content and method of implementation of these schemes are varied, and they may be centralised or decentralised, purely state-run or part of a contractual framework involving public and semi-public bodies, local authorities or associations.

According to the Decree of 8 January 2025 relating to the responsibilities of the French Minister for Sports, Youth and Voluntary organisations (currently Madam Marina Ferrari), “the Minister for Sports, Youth and Community Life prepares and implements the Government’s policy regarding the promotion, organisation and access to participation in physical and sporting activities.” For the exercise of her powers, the Minister for Sports, Youth and Community Life:

1. has authority over the Directorate of Sports and the Directorate for Youth, Non-Formal Education and Voluntary organisations (DJEPVA);

2. jointly with the Minister of State, Minister of National Education, Higher Education and Research, has authority over the General Secretariat and the ministerial private offices referred to in Article 1 of the above-mentioned Decree of 17 February 2014;

3. has at his/her disposal the Directorate-General for School Education, the Directorate-General for Higher Education and Professional Integration, the General Delegation for Employment and Vocational Training, and the Directorate-General for Health.