Expert event "Participate with quality": Further development of quality standards for child and youth participation at federal level

The project, which was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMBFSFJ), aimed to qualify the quality standards in a practical manner and improve their applicability in real participation contexts. Experiences from existing participation formats of the Federal Youth Council and other pilot processes with federal ministries, carried out by the Youth Participation Centre, were incorporated into the further development.

In their welcoming addresses, Wendelin Haag and Daniela Broda, chairpersons of the Federal Youth Ring, emphasised: "Youth participation at federal level cannot take place without the young people organised in youth associations. Youth organisations provide a central basis for effective youth participation. They ensure transparent processes and create long-term structures for knowledge management and transfer. In our structures, young people learn to formulate their interests, negotiate conflicts and take responsibility. This makes youth participation not only sustainable, but also effective and democratically legitimised."

In addition to the two chairpersons, Parliamentary State Secretary Mareike Lotte Wulf also gave a welcome address in which she emphasised the central importance of youth participation and the need to involve young people more closely in political decision-making processes.

During a panel discussion, the presented results of the application qualification were discussed in detail by Wendelin Haag, Florian Brod, Youth Delegate for Sustainable Development, Judith Hammann, Head of Division BMBFSFJ, and Silke Ramelow, Head of Division BMUKN. In the interactive thinking workshops that followed, participants from youth organisations, professional practice and federal ministries had the opportunity to reflect on the conditions for success, structural challenges and prospects for future participation formats based on the application qualification presented.

The further developed standards for child and youth participation at federal level will be published on the website www.standards.jugendbeteiligung.de in February 2026.