Learning in Youth Work of the 21st Century

Learning in Youth Work of the 21st Century

Project Overview

“Learning in Youth Work of the 21st Century” is a project designed to modernize youth work in response to challenges amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognizing the gap in skills and knowledge for adapting youth work to online platforms, this project aims to effectively transition youth work to a digital environment. It provides youth organizations and their staff with the tools needed to develop or adapt educational activities for online engagement, catering to the changing habits of young people who are increasingly active online. The project underscores the need for youth workers to be familiar with digital tools and online learning methodologies, though not necessarily as experts, to offer relevant and effective educational opportunities for today’s youth.

Project: Learning in Youth Work of the 21st Century

Duration: 28.02.2022 – 27.02.2024

Reference Nr. 2021-1-DE04-KA220-YOU-000029101

Grant Amount: 233,665 EUR

Donor: Jugend für Europa – German National Agency

What's about

The project focuses on addressing the current crisis in youth work, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. With many organisations unprepared for such societal disruptions, there is a notable lack of knowledge, skills, and experience in adapting educational activities to online platforms. This gap has left numerous youth workers ill-equipped to develop educational activities in a virtual environment.

The primary goal of this project is to transition youth work to an online setting effectively. It aims to equip youth work organisations and their staff with practical tools for either developing new or adapting existing educational activities to fit the online environment. A key aspect of this project is to provide a unique tool that enables organizations and individuals to engage with as many young people as their resources and conditions allow.

The innovative nature of this project is highlighted by recent European findings, which suggest that the youth work sector needs to innovate its approach to engage with young people. These young individuals are increasingly spending more time online and less time in traditional settings like local youth centers and clubs. Quality youth work in the modern era must, therefore, incorporate digital tools and online learning methodologies.

However, it’s not necessary for every youth worker to be an expert in online learning. Rather, they should be able to support the online aspects of young people’s lives and offer new educational opportunities using the online environment. This approach will ensure that youth work remains relevant and effective in meeting the needs of young people today.

Enhance the youth work sector and participating organisations through improved knowledge management. This involves introducing innovative resources for developing educational activities and training models/curricula in youth work. The aim is to provide high-quality educational activities tailored to meet the specific needs of each target group.

Support youth workers and educational trainers in acquiring and developing essential competences. This includes skills in training other youth workers, creating and utilizing e-learning materials and online courses in youth work, as well as marketing strategies and tools for greater involvement and promotion of youth activities.

Engage in extensive dissemination and exploitation activities for both existing and newly developed products. This effort aims to attract more youth organizations and workers to use these innovative tools and approaches, thereby enhancing the quality and quantity of educational activities in the field of youth work.

The objectives

Partners:

Youth Power Germany e.V. (DE)

YOUTH POWER/UNG KRAFT (SE)

INSTITUT ZA RAZVOJ CIVILNOG DRUSTVA (RS)

Udruga Ringispil 8 (HR)

Project RESULT

The project has produced innovative resources to modernize youth work, including manuals and online courses. The “How to Design Learning Experience” manual guides youth workers in creating diverse learning environments, while the “Online and E-Learning in Youth Work” manual focuses on developing effective online learning modules. The “Digital Marketing and Using Digital Tools in Youth Work” manual provides practical advice on promoting youth work activities online.

These manuals are complemented by online courses, enhancing accessibility and practical application. The project aims to improve knowledge management in youth work organizations, ensuring the dissemination of these new methodologies for the education and empowerment of youth workers.

Materials are available in English and translated into several languages to reach a wider audience. The project’s impact is significant, with over 40 multipliers using these resources in their communities, and about 75 youth trainers and coordinators empowered to train others, potentially impacting up to 350 youth work providers. Additionally, over 160 local multipliers have been introduced to these outputs through various events, fostering discussions on the future of youth work in the 21st century.

This initiative demonstrates a commitment to advancing youth work in the digital era, leveraging innovative educational tools and methodologies.

Visit our “Resources” section to find the Manuals developed within this project and explore our learning platform to participate in the online course we have developed.

Von der Europäischen Union finanziert. Die geäußerten Ansichten und Meinungen entsprechen jedoch ausschließlich denen des Autors bzw. der Autoren und spiegeln nicht zwingend die der Europäischen Union oder der Europäischen Exekutivagentur für Bildung und Kultur (EACEA) wider. Weder die Europäische Union noch die EACEA können dafür verantwortlich gemacht werden.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

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Young Service Designers

Young Service Designers

Project Overview

The ‘Young Service Designers’ (YSD) project has been co-funded by European Youth Together (EYT) Sub – programme of ERASMUS+ Programme – under Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency – EACEA (GA n°624732). The project started on 15th May 2021 and will run for 24 months under a consortium of 6 partnering organizations.

Project: Young service designers

Duration: 15.05.2021 – 14.05.2023

Reference Nr. 624732-EPP-1-2020-1-IT-EPPKA3-EU-YTH-TOG

Grant Amount: 479,963 EUR

Donor:

What's About

The YSD project will address these objectives by targeting young people (16-20 y.o.), youth workers, cities & local administration. The approach is meant to involve young people to propose sustainable and innovative solutions for their cities, with the support of the local administrations and youth workers.

Youth workers will experiment new methods and acquire knowledge and skills to attract the interest of young people in active citizenship and to stimulate their desire in proposing solutions for tackling local challenges.

Youngsters will acquire new capabilities with YSD, providing them with the necessary tools to become active citizens and to participate in local decision-making.

Stakeholders such as public authorities, schools and universities, enterprises and local organisations will be involved in the activities and informed about the new methodologies experimented.

The project follows the approach and the methods of service design applied to the public sector.

The main result of the project will be the YSD Toolkit created at the end of the activities, through which stakeholders working with the youth in the EU can improve the quality of their services to young people and to carry out new projects and activities to promote active citizenship among young people and raise interest in policies.

More specifically,

Young Service Designers’ (YSD) scope is to boost hyperlocal structures for tackling local specific challenges, putting the youth at the center of the renewal of their cities.

YSD aims to support young people (16-21 years old) through a civic education and engagement approach fostering their competences and offering them the opportunity to experience a real participation in local decision-making to rethink their cities and public spaces towards healthier streets, revitalised buildings and more resilient neighbourhoods.

YSD takes inspiration by the UPSHIFT programme created by UNICEF: an experimental learning for social innovation to help young people unemployed and NEETs.

Boost hyperlocal structures for tackling local specific challenges, putting the youth at the centre of the renewal of their cities.
Engage – connect – empower young people to play a more active role in their local community.
Engage young people as co-designers and doers of pilot actions for tailoring public services.
Strengthen authentic democratic activities in 6 cities.
Include disadvantaged groups.
Build a sustainable and green Europe.

As tangible results, the project will have:

18 youth workers in 6 EU Countries (IT, EL, SK, DE, FI, PL) trained to mentor young people
120 young people (20 per country) acquiring skills as YSD in a 40 hours training
6 Youth Public Innovation Labs at local level
6 Pilot Services co-designed by young participants (at least 1 per country)
Involvement of civil servants from the cities supporting YSD
Creation of an E-learning Collaborative Platform
Elaboration on a Toolkit for “Young Service Designers and Cities as partners and allies”

Through the envisaged activities, the project aims to fulfil the following outcomes:

To enhance democratic processes. Representative democracy is strengthened when young people become active in their communities. Young people’s right to participate is closely linked to freedom of expression and the right to information.
To improve decision-making. Participation leads to more accurate, relevant decisions, which are better informed and more likely to be implemented and owned by those concerned.
To let young people, participate in the decision-making process. Young people are experts on their own challenges and circumstances, and on ways to reach others their age.
To improve services in the post-COVID era. Consulting with young people enables services to be improved and adapted to meet changing needs.
Boost hyperlocal structures coordinated by young people to support communities in a more inclusive landscape.

The Objectives