Companion for Navigating Innovation and Futures Thinking in Youth Work

The Companion for Navigating Innovation and Futures Thinking in Youth Work is a reflective resource developed by the field, for the field.

The European Academy on Youth Work was created to support future orientation in youth work. Through structured learning experiences, collective reflection, and dialogue across practice, policy, and research, the Academy has functioned as a living environment for exploring how youth work understands and approaches change and innovation, and what role it plays in shaping the futures of its field.

The messages presented in this Companion result from gathering, connecting, and distilling learning from the diverse sources and resources created in the Academy over the past years. It brings together insights, messages, and guiding questions from the European Academy on Youth Work learning cycles between 2018 and 2025.

The Companion is designed to support youth workers, organisations, trainers, facilitators, policy actors, networks, and institutions in exploring how youth work can respond to change, uncertainty, and emerging futures.

Rather than offering ready-made answers, it invites reflection, dialogue, and collective sense-making.

How to use it?

The Companion can be used in team meetings, training contexts, organisational reflection and development, and youth policy dialogue to open conversations, provoke debate, question assumptions, and explore whether there is a common understanding of the role, values, and future directions of youth work.

Each entry follows a simple structure:

• Chapter – main thematic categories
• Topics
• Message – a clear statement that sets the tone and direction
• Description – a short narrative that connects the message to youth work realities
• Question – an invitation for reflection, dialogue, and collective sense-making

The messages are meant to be used to stimulate thinking, support collective reflection, and help organisations and systems clarify what they want to strengthen, safeguard, transform, or let go.

Where can I download the Companion?

You can download our Companion by clicking on the button below, or by clicking on the picture on the right.

The Cards

The messages can also be used in a card format to facilitate interactive sessions, group dialogue, and participatory reflection processes.

You can download the Cards by clicking on the button below, or by clicking on the picture on the right.

If you would like to get the card deck printed at a printer’s shop, please contact us to receive the format needed for printing!

Also, if you have used the cards and want to share your opinion about its usage, please don’t hesitate to reach out! We are always happy to hear how our resources have been used.

Every journey into the future is better with a Companion. We hope you enjoy this one!