Benefits and challenges in implementing youth Local Council projects

Abstract

Various findings show that the participation of young people in different aspects of democratic life is decreasing. To solve this problem several participatory structures such as the National Youth Council, political parties youth sections, secondary school students’ councils and the youth local council project were set up in Malta. Inspired from the involvement in the third edition of the youth local council, this research project was a personal motivation in order to gain more knowledge and improve on the proper youth work practices. In order to answer the research questions and to understand the positive outcomes and problems young people face when participating in such projects, data for this study was collected from eight youth councilors who implemented a project with their respective youth local council. The researcher chose to take up a qualitative approach and used semi structured interviews as a research tool to collect information from young people. The research explored the skills young people obtain by participating in such project, if any, along with the perception of young people on how such abilities are useful for their future. This study aims at providing a clear picture of the benefits and challenges that young people face while implementing a youth local council project within their community. Although young people mentioned a considerable amount of problems that they face it is clear that the benefits during the implementation of a youth local council project outweighed the challenges.