Since its establishment in 2005, Moby Dick ETS has been committed to fostering dialogue between politicians and young people, as one of its objectives is to promote non-formal education in the service of constructive discussions. In recent years, we have successfully implemented the projects ‘We, Young Europeans: growing, participating, innovating’, ‘We, Young Europeans: What’s next’ and ‘We, Young Europeans: Youth at Work’.

The project, which is based on the Structured Dialogue methodology, stems from an idea shared by institutional stakeholders who, from the outset, have supported the creation of this format to the extent of calling it the ‘National Youth Meeting’. The partners actively involved in organising this meeting are: the Municipality of Salerno, the Campania Region, the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI), the National Youth Agency, the University of Salerno through the OCPG, the Campania Region Youth Forum and the National Youth Council.

The main aim is to initiate a serious and careful reflection on the implementation of national collaboration in the field of youth policies within a purely European context. To this end, every year stakeholders involved in youth policies in various capacities are brought together: institutions, politicians, administrators, representatives of the third sector, youth forums and students from all over Italy and, in some cases, from other European countries.

The outcome of each meeting is the drafting of ‘policy papers’ by the stakeholders involved, with the aim of encouraging them to pursue regulatory pathways based on a broader principle of participation and active citizenship.