SALTO Participation & Information

📢 Apply now: Study Visit on Inclusive Participation in Democratic Life
16–20 November 2026 | Antwerp, Belgium

SALTO Participation & Information and SALTO Inclusion & Diversity are inviting youth workers, trainers, and youth leaders to a 3.5-day study visit exploring how young people with fewer opportunities can be meaningfully included in democratic life.
You'll meet local organisations and practitioners in Antwerp, exchange practical tools and methods and bring it all back to your own community.

Application deadline: 6 September 2026 👉 Apply here: https://www.salto-youth.net/tools/european-training-calendar/training/study-visit-on-inclusive-participation-in-democratic-life.15183/

Meet The Team

Meet our learning & capacity building coordinator, Alina Besleaga

𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟

I am a power-literate educator with a strong belief in co-creation and a systemic approach.

I am from Moldova, where for about 10 years I supported youth participation and civic engagement through Volunteering programs, the National Council of Pupils, Erasmus+ international mobility projects, and a variety of local and national projects. After an International Erasmus Mundus Master in Adult Education for Social Change, I landed in SALTO PI, where since July 2024 I am the Learning and Capacity Building coordinator, because I love working at the intersection of policy on democracy and human rights, and concepts & practice of youth work and critical adult education.

I am mindful and intentional about my contribution to both my work and the world around me.


𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐩𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧?

Book: The Power of Critical Theory for Adult Learning and Teaching by Stephen D. Brookfield - it helped me position the rights-based approach of participation in the complex and dynamic social contexts, where intersectionality is at the heart of understanding rights, freedoms and equity.

The Right to Participate

There's a difference between inviting young people into a conversation and giving them a real say in what happens next.

That's the line that our Quality Standards for Meaningful Youth Participation sit on.
It looks at young people's right to participate as something grounded in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and wider human rights law. And States have a duty to protect it.

The same underlying question comes up with regard to the youth sector: do young people actually get to influence the decision, or just attend the meeting?

Take a look at our article and let us know what you think about the right to participate.
https://lnkd.in/dh3ShdMH

Earlier this month, SALTO Participation & Information travelled to Riga, Latvia for the annual meeting of the RIA-AE Network — bringing together around 50 people from 21 countries, all working to understand the real impact of Erasmus+ on adult learners.

This year's big question: how is Erasmus+ shaping "participation in democratic life, common values and civic engagement"?

The answer we found was encouraging: a lot of adult education projects are already contributing to this priority, just not always in obvious ways. Instead of political campaigns or activism, it happens through everyday things like community projects, intercultural dialogue, and building new skills.

As Christopher Radovici from SALTO PI put it: "Adults have the experience, motivation and opportunity to translate learning into civic action."

Democratic participation is already happening in adult education across Europe. Now we just need to make it visible.
Let us know what you think in the comments!

Article Link here:
https://participationpool.eu/2026/07/23/counting-what-doesnt-count-why-erasmuss-democratic-participation-numbers-are-bigger-than-they-look-2/

Looking for practical ways to strengthen participation in your projects, organisation, or educational setting?

The Participation Resource Pool has been revamped and now brings together valuable resources for both youth and education professionals. From research and quality standards to toolkits, co-creation methods, and inspiring project examples, there’s something for everyone working to make participation more meaningful.
Explore seven standout resources here

https://participationpool.eu/2026/07/20/seven-useful-participation-focused-resources-you-dont-want-to-miss/

💬 Which resource will you explore first?

Wonderful event to organise! Looking forward to the next one

📢 Jesteś badaczem, ekspertem lub reprezentujesz instytucję zajmującą się tematyką demokracji i aktywności obywatelskiej? Ta informacja jest dla Ciebie!

SALTO Participation & Information prowadzi nabory związane z priorytetem „Uczestnictwo w życiu demokratycznym” w programach Erasmus+ i Europejskim Korpusie Solidarności.

Możesz:
🔹 zgłosić publikacje i materiały do europejskiej bazy wiedzy Participation Resource Pool,
🔹 ubiegać się o realizację projektu dotyczącego opracowania ram wskaźników jakości,
🔹 aplikować do przeprowadzenia międzysektorowego monitoringu projektów realizowanych w ramach tego priorytetu.

To doskonała okazja, aby podzielić się swoją wiedzą, wesprzeć rozwój europejskich programów i mieć wpływ na działania wzmacniające uczestnictwo obywateli w życiu demokratycznym.

📅 Termin składania zgłoszeń do naborów dla badaczy upływa 2 sierpnia 2026 r.

➡️ Szczegóły dotyczące wszystkich naborów znajdziesz w komentarzu.

SALTO Participation & Information

Meet the Team!
Meet the wonderful Maarja Laos, our Senior Specialist.

𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟
I have studied travel management and worked for a travel agency for about 5 years.
After my career of organising everything for tourists visiting Estonia and the Baltics I spent 10 months as a volunteer in a European Voluntary Service programme in the Czech Republic, working in a relatively small town with local Roma youth at a youth centre, Romani being the biggest ethnic minority group of that area.
After that, I´ve mostly been in one way or another involved in education - either as a study consultant for the private university or the management assistant creating a brand new state high school.

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐎 𝐏𝐈?
I joined SALTO PI in May 2025 and have not looked back. This was an entirely new world to me with amazing team members, feeling really lucky that way.
I love the organising side of the work, the bureaucracy (that sometimes might seem dull), and the ticking of the boxes.

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡.

One barrier young people still face that we don’t talk about enough.
Minorities´ youth, such as Romani, are facing discrimination, living in poorer conditions, and not really knowing their rights.

The Participation Resource Pool has been revamped!

It covers 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐄𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐦𝐮𝐬+ and European Solidarity Corps sectors.
This new Pool offers refreshed content, a broader focus, and easier access to tools, inspiration, and knowledge on participation in democratic life.

Explore nearly 300 resources, including 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬, 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬, 𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐩𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬.

Whether you're an educator, trainer, youth worker, researcher, or a National Agency, you'll find resources to support and strengthen your participation work.

🤿 Dive in at participationpool.eu

📢 Call for Researcher(s): Development of the SALTO PI Quality Indicators Framework for the Participation Priority

What does quality participation look like in practice? How can we better assess and strengthen projects that promote participation in democratic life?

SALTO Participation & Information (SALTO PI) is looking for a researcher, research team, institution, or company to support the development of a Quality Indicators Framework for the participation priority in Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps.

This work will contribute to a stronger understanding of what meaningful, high-quality participation looks like across different sectors and contexts.

🌍 Open internationally

📅 Check the full call and application details below

🔗 https://participationpool.eu/2026/07/13/call-for-researcher-development-of-the-salto-pi-quality-indicators-framework-for-the-participation-priority/

Please share with colleagues and networks who may be interested.

Call for Researcher: Development of the SALTO PI Quality Indicators Framework for the Participation Priority Share Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Copy URL to clipboard Leave Feedback How would you rate the resource? Give opinion * Leave your email for future user research (optional): Submit Thank you!