Increasing youth participation in local and regional life remains an important challenge for local and regional elected representatives. The Congress proposes strategies and lines of action to stimulate young people's interest and commitment and the local and regional level, notably looking at legal issues, means of implementation and the role of the European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life. The revised Charter offers elected representatives a flexible and coherent framework, based on the principle that every policy area should have a youth dimension. For local and regional authorities, the priority areas for applying these participation principles are in the promotion of youth employment, education and professional training, sport and leisure. They should use practical tools for improving youth participation such as training courses, advice centres, youth projects and using local media created for and by young people. Better dissemination of the Revised European Charter and some good practice examples should help those local and regional authorities that have yet to take action to put in place appropriate structures for its implementation. The setting up of a network of Youth Councils in Bosnia-Herzegovina, based on the recommendations of the Charter is a good example of how such a network can be implemented at the national level. Such actions point the way forward to giving the Charter the impact that it deserves.