For a young person, the closest level of participation is the local government or municipality, playing a major role in youth participation. By involving the youth, local officials ensure that youngsters have the opportunity to feel like full members of the society not just hearing or learning about democracy and citizenship.

Local level youth participatory councils aka local youth councils are advisory bodies to the rural municipality or city council whose members are young people. The purpose of the local youth council is to analyze issues concerning young people within the competence of a rural municipality or city and to make proposals to the rural municipality or city council and the rural municipality and city government.

In addition, participation may be expressed as belonging to an active group, its involvement is similar to that of a local youth council. However, an active group has no statues to operate by.

County level youth participatory councils aka county youth councils enable young people to participate in decision-making processes and defend their interests in the areas that affect them at the county level.

In addition, participatory councils are also based on the district, they are called youth advisory board. The Youth Advisory Board is an advisory body made up of young people at the district government.

As of 2022, Estonia has:

• 55 local youth councils;
• 21 active groups;
• 5 county youth councils;
• 4 district based youth advisory boards;

This means that only three municipalities don’t have a participatory council.