The participation of young people is the their right to have a say of the decisions affecting young people, whether it be at home, at school, in their hometown or rural municipality, in the county, but also more broadly in Estonia, Europe and why not, all over the world. In the
case of active participation, young people make their own decisions and offer solutions, while in the course of passive participation they take part in the activities offered by the society.

Initially, only the term “participatory” was used to refer to a youth participation. Today, there is also discussion of “forms of participation”, which are associations with an agreed structure and principles that do not necessarily meet regularly or do not have the capacity to make effective decisions, such as youth activist groups or youth groups. There is also talk of “opportunities for participation”, which are irregular activities with an agreed structure or format, such as participatory cafés or youth parliaments.

The Estonian National Youth Council has been developing the participation of young people since 2008 in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Research, the Estonian Youth Work Center, local governments and young people themselves.