Youth participation in the Nordic Region is widely supported in formal terms, but remains uneven in practice, particularly outside of urban centres. While strong democratic institutions provide an enabling foundation, impactful participation depends on how it is implemented within local and regional governance. This analysis highlights three persistent governance challenges (leadership, consensus and scope) that shape whether participation becomes influential or remains largely consultative – or worse, tokenistic. Addressing these challenges requires moving beyond formal structures to focus on how participation is embedded, understood and connected to decision-making in practice. By combining empirical evidence with lived experiences from rural and intermediate areas, this project aims to identify practical pathways that will strengthen youth participation and, in turn, reinforce democratic resilience in those areas where it is under the greatest pressure.
The next stage of the project will address this gap by focusing on participation as it unfolds in practice. Step 2 will collect youth participation stories from across the Nordic Region, with a particular focus on rural and intermediate contexts. These stories will examine how young people engage across different settings, how participation is organised in concrete contexts, and how influence is enabled or constrained. The aim is to capture both the diversity of participation practices and the points at which participation becomes limited, fragmented or difficult to sustain.
Step 3 will bring together youth organisations and public authorities in a joint diagnostic process aimed at developing a shared understanding of how participation operates within public administration, where it breaks down and how different dimensions of participation interact with governance conditions in practice.