Special feature

The main public authorities involved in policy-making in the field of youth and the world are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Dutch schools are obliged to pay attention to the topic of citizenship, laid down in the Act Active Citizenship and Social Inclusion (2006). However, more attention could still be paid to this topic and schools experience difficulties in fulfilling this task (Paragraph 9.4). A national study (2015) showed clearly that youth behave in a more sustainable manner than in previous years, when research was also conducted. See Paragraph 9.1 for more information about the research. 

Highlights

In The Netherlands, municipalities have a growing interest in the concept of Child Friendly Cities. In Child Friendly Cities, municipalities value and actively promote the participation of children and youth. They can for example have a children’s mayor. Regarding youth and the world, the National Youth Council (NJR) is an organization with multiple initiatives. They facilitate exchanges on global issues and citizenship at domestic and international level. They, for example, facilitate and organize the National Youth Debate and the Night of the United Nations.