On this page

1. Existence of a national youth strategy

2. Scope and contents

3. Responsible authority for the implementation of the youth strategy

4. Revisions/ updates

Existence of a national youth strategy

According to the Youth Law, the minister (responsible for youth) has to prepare a national action plan every five years, which sets the youth policy direction. The current national action plan on youth (2022-2025) sets out the strategic objectives which are to guide the government's youth policy up until 2025. This action plan (also called "Jugendpakt") defines a transversal policy, based on knowledge of the situation of young people and active consultation of young people on issues concerning them. The action plan addresses young people, as defined in the 2016 Youth Law (Art. 3).

The plan is implemented by the interministerial committee for youth and is also monitored on an annual basis by this committee. 

Scope and contents

The national action plan sets out priorities that complement other pressing political issues on the agenda, such as housing. The 2022-2025 action plan defines three areas of intervention which aim at improving the well-being of young people.

1) Promoting well-being at school by

• implementing a better, healthy and sustainable diet in school canteens
• strengthening the intervention and psychological support system in the event of a crisis
• helping young people to develop their socio-emotional skills
• defining a frame of reference for the tasks of psycho-socio-educational professionals in secondary schools
• promoting and disseminating the principles of confidentiality and professional secrecy to all members of the school community
• offering continuing training on well-being and mental health
• introducing the "Jugendtreff" (youth club) in secondary schools in cooperation with non-formal education actors. 
   

2) Promoting well-being within youth and socio-educational structures by

• expanding the range of training courses in sports activities
• developing a "Jugendaarbecht vade mecum" (Handbook of youth work)
• defining a "youth work of the future" strategy in collaboration with young people and partners
• strengthening skills in the use of social media and promoting digital literacy
• setting up a mobile psychological team
• developing the promotion of life skills 
• offering specific modules of socio-educational youth work certified in collaboration with the University of Luxembourg
• strengthening the collaboration with the providers of basic training in education in secondary school ("Lycée Technique pour professions éducatives et sociales")
• making young people's resources visible and deconstructing negative stereotypes.
   

3) Giving young people a voice and networking partners by

• facilitating the networking of actors and strengthening channels between formal and non-formal institutions
• developing appropriate methods and means for joint activities that contribute to the well-being of young people.
   

The visibility of existing offers and measures at different levels should be improved through five actions:

1. strengthening the collaboration of stakeholders in preventing addiction
2. creating a network of mental health ambassadors
3. bringing together in a national catalogue all the assistance and support measures for young people
4. providing an information and guidance application for young people in emotional and other distress
5. providing information on mental health and setting up a documentation centre. According to the participatory approach of youth policy, different ministries, the young people themselves, the National Assembly of Young People, various youth organisations and youth services working with young people or on their behalf, actively participated in this extensive counselling process to set up the action plan. 

Responsible authority for the implementation of the youth strategy

The youth department within the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth is the responsible authority for the implementation of the youth strategy. It also supervises the implementation of the Youth Pact and its actions. Interdepartmental agreements formalise the collaboration between the participating ministries and other public stakeholders on specific issues and actions to be implemented. These agreements will serve to clarify the objectives, define joint actions and the roles of partners and provide the necessary resources to implement the actions for a defined period.

Revisions/updates

The current 2022-2025 action plan was preceded by other strategies (2012-2014 Youth Pact and 2017-2020 Youth Pact). As the action plans are based on the results of the national report on the situation of young people, the thematic focus changes according to the issues addressed in the reports. The first strategy looked at a number of major topics, such as the successful transition from school to working life, the well-being of young people, young people as stakeholders and scientific monitoring of youth policy. The second strategy emphasised employment, housing and the participation of all young people through the prism of transitions. The current action plan focuses on the well-being of young people.