Across Europe, many young people are growing up in a time of uncertainty and rapid change. Rising living costs, unstable employment, wars, climate anxiety, discrimination and unequal access to opportunities are making it harder for many to build secure and fulfilling lives. While these challenges affect society as a whole, young people are often among the most impacted, especially those living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods and communities affected by poverty, exclusion and limited access to quality services, participation opportunities and public support.

In this context, growing social insecurity is increasingly linked to declining trust in democratic institutions and reduced participation in civic and political life. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, in his annual report “The New Democratic Pact for Europe in Times of Rupture” (2026), highlights that democratic resilience cannot be separated from social justice and that equal access to social rights is a precondition for democratic stability, social cohesion and meaningful participation in public life. The report further underlines the importance of enabling people, particularly young people, to understand, claim and exercise their rights in practice through inclusive policies, education, participation and local democratic engagement.

The European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life, adopted in 2026 by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, highlights the essential link between meaningful youth participation and the realisation of social rights. It calls for young people’s social rights to be guaranteed, including housing, education and training, health, employment and work, leisure, and culture, without discrimination on any grounds.

At the High-Level Conference on Social Rights held in Chişinău in March 2026 member States recognised that combating poverty and social exclusion is fundamentally a matter of human dignity and acknowledged the disproportionate impact of the cost-of-living crisis on vulnerable groups, including children and young people. The Declaration also stresses the need to strengthen child and youth participation in policies and measures aimed at realising social rights through institutionalised, regular and meaningful participation mechanisms at all levels of governance.

Adopted by the Committee of Ministers in 2015, Recommendation CM/Rec(2015)3 on the access of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to social rights (hereafter “the Recommendation”) provides a comprehensive policy framework for addressing these challenges. The Recommendation recognises that many young people encounter multiple and intersecting barriers when accessing their social rights during the transition to adulthood. These barriers may include inadequate housing, limited access to quality education and training, precarious employment conditions, poor physical and mental health outcomes, weak institutional support, restricted access to cultural and leisure opportunities and limited participation in democratic decision-making processes.

The Recommendation promotes a holistic and rights-based approach recognising that social rights are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. It calls for coordinated public policies addressing education and training, employment, housing, health and mental health, information and counselling, culture, sport, leisure and participation. Importantly, the Recommendation recognises young people not merely as beneficiaries of policies but as rights holders and active contributors to democratic societies whose participation is essential in the design, implementation and evaluation of policies affecting their lives.

A central dimension of the Recommendation is its emphasis on the role of local and regional actors in ensuring effective implementation. Access to social rights is experienced primarily at local level, where young people interact daily with institutions, services and opportunities. Effective implementation therefore requires coordinated local ecosystems capable of bringing together youth policy, housing, social services, education, health services, youth organisations, community actors and young people themselves in developing sustainable and participatory responses to social inequalities.

The second review of the implementation of the Recommendation, conducted in 2026, identified several structural challenges limiting its impact. One of the key findings concerned the limited visibility and recognition of the Recommendation itself. More than half of responding civil society organisations and public authorities reported being unfamiliar or only superficially familiar with the Recommendation, despite often carrying out work closely aligned with its principles. This visibility gap weakens opportunities for shared understanding, peer learning, policy coherence and the systematic development of evidence-based practice across Europe.

Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe is uniquely positioned to support the implementation of Recommendation CM/Rec(2015)3 at territorial level, where access to social rights is experienced most directly by young people. Through its monitoring activities, policy recommendations and ongoing political dialogue with local and regional authorities, the Congress has consistently promoted the protection and realisation of social rights, youth participation and inclusive local governance. It has also regularly addressed developments related to social rights, democratic participation and youth inclusion, highlighting the central role of municipalities and regions in combating inequality, exclusion and discrimination. The review further acknowledged that the Congress, given its close cooperation with local and regional authorities across Europe, is particularly well placed to support and reinforce capacity-building efforts linked to this training course, notably by fostering political commitment, cross-sectoral cooperation and the dissemination of good practices for implementing youth social rights at local level

The review also highlighted persistent coordination deficits between sectors and institutions. Despite the interconnected nature of young people’s realities and needs, youth policy frequently operates separately from housing, health, employment and welfare systems.

Importantly, the review underlined the need for practical training and capacity-building initiatives capable of translating the principles of the Recommendation into operational local practice. It specifically highlighted the importance of tailored training opportunities for front-line youth workers, local administrators and other local stakeholders, as well as stronger cooperation mechanisms capable of developing coordinated local policy responses to challenges affecting young people’s access to social rights.

In response to these challenges - ACCESS! - Training course for local action on young people’s social rights is proposed as a capacity-building and policy-support initiative aimed at strengthening local implementation of the Recommendation through multi-stakeholder cooperation.

Building on the experience and legacy of the Enter! long-term training courses, ACCESS! introduces a renewed approach focused on local policy development, intersectoral cooperation with active participation of young people and youth workers in shaping local action for social rights. The course is designed to support local ecosystems capable of addressing barriers to young people’s access to social rights through coordinated and rights-based responses.

ACCESS! is based on the participation of small local teams composed of representatives of local authorities, youth organisations, youth work providers, social and community services and other relevant local actors. Participants engage in the course as local partnerships working on concrete policy challenges affecting young people in their communities.

The course combines training, peer learning, mentoring and local action processes. It supports participants in analysing local realities, strengthening cooperation across sectors, involving young people meaningfully in decision-making and developing policy responses addressing social inequalities and exclusion. Through this approach, ACCESS! aims not only to strengthen individual competences but also to reinforce institutional cooperation, local democratic participation and long-term implementation capacities at community level.