Youth work is community support activity aimed at older children and adolescents. Depending upon the culture and the community, different services and institutions may exist for this purpose. In the United Kingdom youth work is the process of creating an environment where young people can engage in informal educational activities. Different varieties of youth work include centre-based work, detached work, school-based work and religion based work. Throughout the United States and Canada, youth work is any activity that seeks to engage young people in coordinated programs, including those that are recreational, educational, or social by nature and design.

“Youth work” is defined as activities that intentionally seek to impact young people. This is primarily a set of loosely affiliated activities that have been defined, redefined, examined, and reinvented in subsequent generations.

In Ireland the Youth Work Act of 2001 states that, youth work means a planned programme of education designed for the purpose of aiding and enhancing the personal and social development of young persons through their voluntary participation, and which complements their formal, academic, or vocational education and training; and is provided primarily by voluntary youth work organisations.“ However, critics of this particular definition report that, this definition sees youth work primarily in terms of the development of the young person. However some would argue that this is a limited view and that central to a definition of youth work is the notion that youth work should aim to engage with society and bring about social change in an unequal society.” These same critics report that youth work should seek “real Youth participation liberation and youth empowerment

Youth work is historically said to focus on five areas, including a focus on young people; an emphasis on voluntary participation and relationship; a commitment to association by youth and adults; friendly and informal atmospheres, and; acting with integrity.

Youth work is a practice that places young people and their interests first. Youth work is a relational practice, where the youth worker operates alongside the young person in their context. Youth work is an empowering practice that advocates for and facilitates a young person’s independence, participation in society, connectedness and realisation of their rights.

Youth work is a distinct educational process adapted across a variety of settings to support a young person’s personal, social and educational development:

• To explore their values, beliefs, ideas and issues
• To enable them to develop their voice, influence and place in society
• To acquire a set of practical or technical skills and competencies, to realise their full potential

The principles of youth work are supported by reflective practice and peer education, establishing and maintaining relationships with young people and community groups:

• Knowledge of how young people develop during adolescence and appropriate support
• Trusted relationships and voluntary engagement of young people
• Understanding how to establish boundaries, challenging behaviour and de-escalate conflict
• The importance of safeguarding in providing a safe environment for young people

Youth worker is someone whose job is to help young people deal with problems with their families, at school, or with the law. The usual American word is counselor.

A youth project is a project whose main target is represented by young people. Thus, a youth project aim is to involve young people in the definition of a series of activities, which can range from culture, sport, education and several other sectors of citizenship. Youth projects aims are to involve young people in society, to make them aware of their potential and to know how they can have an impact on their community, both local and national. Moreover, we can state that a youth project is a project designed “for” young people and “with” young people. Young people represent not only the target of the project itself but an essential actor which contribute to drawing up and managing the project during his entire life. This is the reason why those projects are characterised by a bottom-up approach, namely by horizontal cooperation between all of his components, where the qualities of each one of them are shared to achieve a common goal. Sports activities represent one of the main axes of several projects; collaborating with other young people strength the capacity to work in a team, to cooperate for the achievement of a common goal, and to reinforce their self-esteem. In recent years, USMA has put its experience in the youth sector at the disposal of national and international partners, both public and private, and together with them is carrying out activities and projects that concern a multiplicity of aspects relating to the youth dimension linked with sports activities. The first project resulting from this collaboration is the CULTNET project, which aims at training and professionalizing young people in the field of cultural events production.

Youth project is an activity which is ideated and implemented by young people who spotted the need in their community and are motivated to react to it. It is an activity in which “everybody wins” though a special focus is placed on learning experience. It's about using design thinking methodology to make positive change and to learn new skills, competences and attitudes. Youth project is about giving protagonism to young people and empowering them.