1. If you want to go fast go alone.
If you want to go far go together
(African proverb)
Conditions and Principles
for successful cross sectoral cooperation in the field of youth
work between municipalities and their (local or regional)
partners in employment, education and care
Outcomes of the European Youth Work Expert Meeting
“The innovative role of municipal youth work in partnership with education, employment and social
welfare”, 27 – 30 June 2016, Tilburg, the Netherlands.
The meeting has been organised by the Netherlands Youth Institute, National Agency of Erasmus +
Youth and R-Newt youth work, Tilburg & Dordrecht.
Foreword
27 participants from 11 countries, municipal policy makers, and practitioners in youth work took part
in the Expert Meeting. Together they have developed these conditions and principles, but also
concepts, possible challenges and risks for successful and sustainable cross-sectoral cooperation to
empower and socially include all young people.
The ‘EU Strategy for Youth: Investing and Empowering’ and the 2nd European Youth Work Convention
(EYWC 2015), have been the core reasons for organising this European Expert Meeting. The EU
Strategy regards youth work as an instrument within a cross-sectoral approach that fosters better
participation and social inclusion of young people. The EYWC 2015 “sends a strong message of
support to policymakers and practitioners to continue developing and renewing youth work in
Europe” (see Declaration). Other reasons to organise this meeting are current reforms in the youth
and social field within the Netherlands, that create newly emerging local social welfare landscapes.
Within those policy changes, youth social work should ‘rethink’ its future role. Views from other
countries are meant to inspire the Dutch innovation debates on the future of its youth social work.
Youth work mechanisms are ‘strength-based’ and start from the very notion that all young people
should have the possibilities to live free lives and have reasons to value this (Martha Nussbaum). They
have abilities and need to have and make choices. Through non-formal education principles and
approaches, youth workers can support young people in identifying what are the options that exist for
them and in making the right choices towards an active life. Youth policy makers can provide the
necessary conditions to make this happen.
Youth workers and youth policy makers recognise the need to bridge the growing gap between young
people who are ‘doing fine’ and those who need extra support in developing and living an active life
with inspiring future perspectives. Youth workers and policy makers also acknowledge that they

2. cannot build these bridges alone and that they need other sectors and need to open up, evolving
towards a systemic approach and strategic and operational frameworks with cooperating partners.
There are big challenges for the future of youth work in these times of change and also youth workers
need to (re)define their work concretely. Youth workers realise nowadays more than ever before that
they need to show the value of youth work within frameworks that favour cooperative networks. They
need to positively ‘reframe’ and ‘reclaim’ their identity and competences towards further quality and
impact of their profession, which will support making youth work sustainable as a profession within a
systemic approach towards young people’s rights and well-being.
Principles and Conditions for Cross Sectoral Collaboration
Youth workers and youth policy makers in the drivers’ seat
Youth workers can initiate cooperation with youth policy makers and other partners, as they are the
ultimate experts in young people’s lives and in understanding their needs, their rights and their
choices, together with the young people themselves. Youth workers contribute to giving a voice to
young people and advocate for them. They are bridge-builders with a holistic view of young people.
They follow the perspectives of young people’s realities. They know what young people’s wishes are
and support them discovering their own options and making their own choices towards an active life.
Youth work also supports young people in their leisure time in empowering them towards active
participation in society, education, and employment. With this knowledge and experiences, youth
work can create – with its partners – youth-needs based services and thus claim possibilities and
opportunities for young people within the community.
Shared vision
Youth workers and youth policy makers at the seminar shared the values and principles laid down in
the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CrC) as a general framework for their
‘rights’-based work with young people. To work in cooperation with other fields is vital to establish
together Why partners want to collaborate, what are the shared ‘dreams’, what is the common goal?
There is a need to articulate these dreams as concretely as possible with positive and future-oriented
formulations e.g. by fostering the need to develop competences of young people to create better
opportunities to access education and employment. This shared vision reflects a view about what to
reach and which values to share within the given cooperation framework. An agreement or
‘memorandum of understanding’ between the partners can support this process.
Community & citizen/youth driven goals
Any pursued objective through cross-sectoral cooperation should reflect and highlight the contribution
to [vulnerable] young people to the development of their community. Having a systemic approach
helps to position the cooperation strategically with a shared agenda. When youth-driven goals are to
be developed, they should be developed with young people. Hence, young people’s participation in the
development and the implementation of such systemic approach is crucial.
Recognise each other’s professions
In cross-sectoral cooperation frameworks, partners have different professional and educational
backgrounds, different qualifications, different values, different languages, different knowledge bases,
and diverse professional and ethical codes. Combining these different perspectives brings more than
the sum of its individual parts. Open-minded listening to understand each other’s perspectives and
views supports acknowledging and recognising these differences and each other’s qualities and
expertise. Each partner is accountable for their contribution in achieving common goals. Sharing
information, showing a genuine flexibility and transparency support understanding each other’s

3. restrictions and opportunities. Peer learning and intervision are two approaches that particularly
support the development of competences in self and collective learning.
Develop a common language
Agreements about a shared theoretical framework – a ‘theory on good life’ - support the development
of a cooperation that evolves towards shared concepts and thinking frames that allow understanding
the common views and strategies. This also supports the development of shared outcomes and
generating visibility through practice-based evidence. Examples are the Presence Approach (Andries
Baart, NL), Capabilities Approach (Martha Nussbaum, USA), Resilience Approach (Michael Ungar,
Canada) or Developmental Assets Framework (Peter Scales, USA). The Netherlands Youth Institute
developed core protective factors for positive youth development that may also serve as a framework.
Agree to disagree
Where different realities in working cultures, concepts, and methods meet through cross-sectoral
cooperation, uncertainties and contradictions will emerge. These are ‘learning-by-doing spaces’ to
embrace in order to be able to cross or move boundaries. Disagreements are starting points for
genuine transparent debates. They help to develop trust, togetherness, openness, readiness, and
willingness to share and welcome each other’s differences in a non-judgmental way.
Build on (new) evidences
Evidences support showing the values of the collaboration and making its progress visible. It is about
using knowledge available and building on new evidences, which generate opportunities to market the
relevance of the collaboration towards fulfilling the aspirations of young people and the community.
Evidences support strategic planning by setting knowledge-based priorities for future steps. They also
support the evaluation of the effectiveness and impact of the collaboration and the outcomes for young
people. They allow building local knowledge on young people’s needs and wishes. The information
may evolve from local data statistics on young people, storytelling, or other mixed methods of data
collection in action-research and surveys. Documenting the progress by the PDCA-cycle (plan, do,
check, act) is also important and supports building new evidences from the evolving practice.
Political commitment and management support
Municipal councils and policy makers need to know how young people and youth work contribute to
the improvement of their neighbourhood. Having a systemic ‘community goal’ supports young
people’s commitment and helps to further develop cross-sectoral policies and infrastructures as
necessary conditions for sustainable collaboration. This also implies the allocation of (future)
resources and availability of cross-sectoral budgets. It is therefore important to keep council members,
policy makers, and managers regularly updated about the progress in all stages of the cooperation and
of the actions undertaken, as this will also allow giving them a voice in the development.
Regular Risk Assessment
Cooperation takes place in complex environments. Different realities exist; these differences are
legitimate and they are changing as well. During the process, changes emerge in people, functions and
responsibilities (human capital), power mechanisms, political views and instruments, or funding
resources. They may cause misunderstandings, (new) fears, lack of clarity (for instance in defining the
common mission), personal difficulties and organisational ones in further development, e.g. lacking
trust and commitment or lacking organisational possibilities to share future perspectives. Changes
related to ‘time and money’ may also occur. Moreover, in the list of legitimate risks to be listed should
also appear the importance and the challenge to keep principles and conditions in focus at the start
and during the process of the cooperation. They need to be regularly and openly updated and assessed
as ‘incentives for improvement’ in the learning process.

4. LET and DO-Energy
Have fun in working and learning together! The point is not to work for systems and structures, but to
let them work for you - and first of all for young people. Embrace the ‘learning-by-doing’ approach and
avoid setting up new (rigid) structures, policy plans or legislations based on a rather rigid past and
present. Think and act out-of-the-box. This will support having a genuine ‘welcome’ and ‘let be’
attitude as to get ready for what is to come (emerging future).
July 13, 2016, Netherlands Youth Institute
More information:
Ms. Pink Hilverdink and Ms. Mireille Unger