The EU Youth Strategy encourages Member States to remove any obstacle – be it administrative, financial, or cultural – preventing young individuals to engage in volunteering, both within each country and across the European continent. Important factors in making volunteering more accessible and appealing are improving the recognition of the skills gained while serving in voluntary projects, assuring the protection of young volunteers and the quality of the projects they get involved in, and raising awareness about existing opportunities.

The Youth Wiki national descriptions illustrate the main national policies and programmes that support the participation of young people in voluntary activities by describing:

2.1 General context

The historical and cultural development of volunteering concepts useful to understand countries' approaches

2.2 Administration and governance of youth volunteering

The way the system of youth volunteering is organised

2.3 National strategy on youth volunteering

If there are strategies to foster and organise youth volunteering

2.4 Youth volunteering at national level

How young people participate in voluntary activities, for example through a national programme or service

2.5 Cross-border mobility programmes

Whether programmes are available to young people who wish to participate in volunteering in a foreign country

2.6 Quality assurance

Main mechanisms in place to monitor and ensure the quality of national and cross-border youth volunteering programmes

2.7 Social inclusion through volunteering

Measures and initiatives aiming at enlarging the participation to national and cross-border volunteering to all young people, including those with fewer opportunities

2.8 Raising awareness about youth volunteering opportunities

How national governments raise awareness amongst young people about existing opportunities for volunteering

2.9 Skills recognition

How the skills young people acquire through participating in voluntary activities are formally recognised

2.10 Current debates and reforms

Brief information on emerging policy developments