"To represent the voice of the Don Bosco Youth, via the members and to defend their interests at international level." As such defined the founding members of Don Bosco Youth-Net ivzw one of its statutory aims. Through our first ad hoc efforts it became clear that if we want to make our voice heard, we need to structure this type work.

First we needed to create a common voice. We did this with our policy document "Few words and a lot of action ...". This document is a charter which describes the common working style of Don Bosco Youth-Net ivzw. It serves as a framework through giving our member organisations a common language. It was based on 3 key aspects of our network:

1. the heritage of Don Bosco (our background)
2. the partner organisations (our members)
3. the young people connected to the partner organisations (our target group).

Now we have a voice, we need to develop how we can make use of it. In other terms: What is our message and how will we get it across ? This document formulates answers to these questions in a set of guidelines. These guidelines are focussing on capacity building and empowerment on internal level, and on networking and advocacy on external level. Next to that we need to ensure participation of young people on both levels, to be in line with our way of working. Lastly, there is an important role for the international secretariat which is responsible for supporting the implementation of these guidelines.