Youth – Decentralised

Young People and Youth Workers Mobility (KA1)

Two types of projects can be supported under Mobility Project for young people and youth workers:

  • Youth Exchanges
  • Youth Workers activities
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Mobility projects for young people and youth workers

Mobility of young people: Youth Exchanges

Youth Exchanges allow groups of young people from different countries to meet and live together for up to 21 days. During a Youth Exchange, participants jointly carry out an activity programme (a mix of workshops, exercises, debates, role-plays, simulations, outdoor activities etc.) designed and prepared by them before the Exchange. Youth Exchanges allow young people to: develop competences; become aware of socially relevant topics/thematic areas; discover new cultures, habits and life-styles, mainly through peer-learning; strengthen values like solidarity, democracy, friendship etc. The learning process in Youth Exchanges is triggered by methods of non-formal education. Youth Exchanges are based on a transnational cooperation between two or more participating organisations from different countries within and outside the European Union. Youth Exchanges can be itinerant, implying the movement of all participants at the same time, throughout one or more countries participating in the Exchange. The following activities are not eligible for grants under Youth Exchanges: academic study trips; exchange activities which aim to make financial profit; exchange activities which can be classed as tourism; festivals; holiday travel; performance tours.

 

Mobility of youth workers

Youth Workers’ Training and Networking supports the professional development of youth workers, through the implementation of activities such as transnational/international seminars, training courses, contact-making events, study visits, etc. or job shadowing/observation periods abroad in an organisation active in the youth field. All these activities are arranged by the organisations participating in the project. The participation of youth workers in such activities contributes to capacity building of their organisation. The learning outcomes should be further disseminated.

Strategic Partnerships (KA2)

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS IN THE FIELD OF EDUCATION, TRAINING AND YOUTH

WHAT ARE THE AIMS AND PRIORITIES OF A STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP?

Strategic Partnerships aim to support the development, transfer and/or implementation of innovative practices as well as the implementation of joint initiatives promoting cooperation, peer learning and exchanges of experience at European level.

Depending on the objectives and the composition of the Strategic Partnership, projects may be of two types:

    • Strategic Partnerships supporting innovation. Projects are expected to develop innovative outputs, and/or engage into intensive dissemination and exploitation activities of existing and newly produced products or innovative ideas.
    • Strategic Partnerships supporting exchange of good practices. The primary goal is to allow organisations to develop and reinforce networks, increase their capacity to operate at transnational level, share and confront ideas, practices and methods.  In addition, there is a specific Strategic Partnership format that may be realised under this type of partnerships; Transnational Youth Initiatives.
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    Irrespective from the type of project chosen by the applicant and the field impacted by the project, Strategic Partnerships are open to any type of organisation active in any field of education, training and youth or other socio-economic sectors as well as to organisations carrying out activities that are cross-sectoral.

    To be funded, Strategic Partnerships must address either a) at least one horizontal priority or b) at least one specific priority relevant to the field of education, training and youth that is mostly impacted.

    FIELD-SPECIFIC PRIORITIES

        • Promoting quality youth work. Priority will be placed on projects that: support the capacity building of youth workers and in youth work; support youth workers in developing and sharing effective methods in reaching out to marginalised young people and in preventing racism and intolerance among youth; foster the inclusion and employability of young people with fewer opportunities (including NEETs) giving particular emphasis to young people at risk of marginalisation and young people with a migrant background, including newly arrived immigrants and young refugees; promote intercultural dialogue and strengthen knowledge and acceptance of diversity in society; open up youth work to crosssectorial cooperation allowing greater synergies across all fields of actions concerning young people; easier transition of young people from youth to adulthood, in particular the integration into the labour market; developing their competences, setting quality standards, ethical and professional codes; reinforce links between policy, research and practice; promote better knowledge about the situation of young people and youth policies, recognition and validation of youth work and informal non-formal learning at European, national, regional and local levels.
        • Promoting empowerment: strengthen the cross-sectorial cooperation allowing greater synergies across all fields of actions concerning young people, with a special focus on access to rights, autonomy, participation – including eparticipation – and the active citizenship of young people, notably those at risk of social exclusion, through projects that: foster stronger participation of all young people in democratic and civic life in Europe; broaden and deepen political and social participation of young people at local, regional, national, European or global level; foster volunteering among young people; increase social inclusion of all young people, taking into account the underlying European values; promote diversity, intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, common values of freedom, tolerance and respect of human rights; enhance critical thinking and media literacy of young people; strengthen their sense of initiative notably in the social field; enable young people to connect with, express their opinions to and influence elected policy-makers, public administrations, interest groups, civil society organisations, or individual citizens within any of the political or social processes affecting their lives.
        • Promoting entrepreneurship education and social entrepreneurship among young people. Priority will be placed on projects in the form of transnational youth initiative that allow groups of young people to put ideas into practice, including through social enterprises, tackling challenges and identified problems in their daily lives.

       

    • Transnational Youth Initiatives
      These Strategic Partnerships in the field of youth aim to foster social commitment and entrepreneurial spirit of young people. The distinctive feature of this format of Strategic Partnerships is that a Youth Initiative is initiated, set up and carried out by young people themselves.For example, these initiatives may concern:

          • The establishment of (networks of) social enterprises, associations, clubs, NGOs,
          • The development and delivery of courses and trainings on entrepreneurship education (notably social entrepreneurship and use of ICTs;
          • Information, media literacy, sensitization actions, or actions stimulating civic commitment among young people (e.g. debates, conferences, events, consultations, initiatives around European topics, etc.);
          • Actions for the benefit of the local communities (e.g. support to vulnerable groups such as elderly people, minorities, migrants, disabled, etc.);
          • Artistic and cultural initiatives (theatre plays, exhibitions, music performances, discussion fora, etc.).

Structured Dialogue (KA3)

STRUCTURED DIALOGUE: MEETINGS BETWEEN YOUNG PEOPLE AND DECISION-MAKERS IN THE FIELD OF YOUTH

WHAT IS THE AIM OF STRUCTURED DIALOGUE MEETINGS?

This Action promotes the active participation of young people in democratic life and fosters debate around topics centered on the themes and priorities set by the Structured Dialogue and the renewed political framework in the youth field. Structured Dialogue is the name used for discussions between young people and youth policy-makers in order to obtain results which are useful for policy-making.

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The debate is structured around priorities and timing and foresees events where young people discuss the agreed themes among themselves and with policy-makers, youth experts and representatives of public authorities in charge of youth. More information about Structured Dialogue is available on the European Commission’s website. In addition, in line with the annual Work Programme adopted by the Commission, priority will be given to projects that pursue one or more of the relevant priorities described in the introduction chapters on “Youth” in Part B of this Guide.

WHAT ARE STRUCTURED DIALOGUE MEETINGS?

Structured Dialogue projects can take the form of meetings, conferences, consultations and events. These events promote the active participation of young people in democratic life in Europe and their interaction with decision-makers. As a concrete result of these events, young people are able to make their voice heard (through the formulation of positions, proposals and recommendations) on how youth policies should be shaped and implemented in Europe.

A Structured Dialogue project has three phases:

      • planning and preparation;
      • implementation of the activities;
      • evaluation (including reflection on a possible follow-up).

For more information regarding this project, refer to the Erasmus+ Programme Guide which can be accessed from here.

Youthpass

Youthpass is a tool to document and recognise learning outcomes from youth work activities. It is available for projects funded by Erasmus+: Youth in Action (2014-2020) and Youth in Action (2007-2013) programmes. It is a part of the European Commission’s strategy to foster the recognition of non-formal learning, putting policy into practice and practice into policy:

      • While creating their Youthpass certificate together with a support person, project participants are given the possibility to describe what they have done in their project and which competences they have acquired. Thus, Youthpass supports the reflection upon the personal non-formal learning process and outcomes.
      • As a Europe-wide recognition instrument for non-formal learning in the youth field, Youthpass strengthens the social recognition of youth work.
      • Youthpass supports active European citizenship of young people and of youth workers by describing the added value of their project.
      • Youthpass also aims at supporting the employability of young people and of youth workers by raising their awareness of and helping to describe their competences, and by documenting their acquisition of key competences on a certificate.

For more information please visit the Youthpass website.