The nations of Europe, in both the European Union and the Council of Europe, are committed to developing a range of modes for encouraging the engagement of young people at all levels. There is a wide range of support for international, national, regional, local, and even neighbourhood engagement: finance to encourage international sharing of good practice; training to facilitate improved quality of work with and by young people; research to assist in the effective evaluation of diverse schemes; and a political commitment to challenging exclusion and promoting inclusion. In the Council of Europe’s excellent publication ‘Have Your Say!’, the author strikes the cautionary note that is quoted at the top of this Introduction (Goździk-Ormel, 2008: 5). Those twenty-five words encapsulate an extremely complex project: they explain that ‘participation’ per se is not the purpose, or principle objective, but simply a process; and that that process is both sophisticated and purposive – changing lives, changing society. Indeed, it might not be too outrageous but to suggest that such an ambition is radical in its intent; whoever heard of young people changing society, and being encouraged so to do?The cover of ‘Have Your Say!”, describes it as a “Manual on the revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life”; it was adopted in May 2003 by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. So the Charter enjoys high-level political support across the continent. It is important to note that it is not a legal instrument; the Charter’s recommendations are expected to be considered as a set of principles, as exemplars of best practice, and as guidelines to enable credible delivery of participation, particularly at local and regional levels.