The contribution stems from research on the participatory components of local development policies, offering a comparative qualitative analysis of two key approaches: the co-design process of the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI), the LEADER approach, and the EVV LAG in Piedmont. While sharing the common goal of revitalizing rural and marginal areas, these strategies differ in how they engage local communities and stakeholders: SNAI emphasizes co-design with authorities, actors, and local communities to address socio-economic challenges, while the LEADER approach adopts a bottom-up model, involving local actors through the territorial animation activities of the LAGs. Through this comparative analysis, which employs qualitative and ethnographic methods, the research evaluates the strengths and limitations of each approach, particularly in terms of participatory mechanisms and stakeholder involvement. Although SNAI has contributed to defining marginality based on a citizenship rights deficit (De Rossi, 2018), the introduction and novelty of the participatory component of the policy expressed through the co-design process with ‘local innovators’ in the territories, in some areas, failed to pay particular attention to the conditions of young people residing in inner areas or to involve them in the formulation of the Area Strategies. Specific attention is addressed to the Grand-Paradis Inner Area in the Aosta Valley, where the participatory methodologies used to engage stakeholders during the co-design phase of the SNAI Strategy were analyzed, as well as the territorial animation actions of the EVV LAG in Piedmont. Finally, the contribution proposes a ‘creative strategy’ to encourage young people to think about the local development of their territories and the opportunities for local development offered by actors such as the LAGs.