This strategic partnership addresses the challenge related to shrinking cities across the European Union and aims at identifying and analysing drivers leading to this phenomenon. The past few decades have marked an increased social mobility combined with the drop of population in many cities across the EU. As a result, the project will focus on studying the shrinking cities through collection, analyses, and comparison of both the similarities and differences in policy and development, especially related to the youth work in shrinking cities. To do that, there is need for data collection, gathering information and showcasing processes of different shrinking cities through a comparative perspective by mapping out and addressing various drivers and impacts. The project is initiated by youth organisations and organisations working for youth. The project team is comprised of 8 NGOs, having different yet complementary competence and experience to offer in the project. This transnational team will bring a broad knowledge and coverage of various subjects across different sectors related to the problem of shrinking cities. The overall objective is to contribute to building new strategies of social inclusion and civic engagement for youth residing in Europe’s “shrinking cities”. The objectives of the project are: 1. To expand knowledge on the „shrinking cities” phenomena in the selected European countries, with emphasis on successful youth work practices contesting their unfavourable social, economic and political dynamics; 2. To create, test and disseminate quality toolbox for youth workers working in shrinking cities based on the mapping and analysis of best practices in selected countries. To achieve the objectives mentioned above, the project will implement the following activities: 1. Developing mapping methodology approach and conducting researches - a mapping methodology that comprehends the similarities and differences among EU countries and study of shrinking cities phenomenon in each of the selected countries along with best practice examples/cases of youth work contesting dynamics of shrinking cities. 2. Preparation the toolkit „Youth-work in/for the shrinking cities” - develop a toolkit consisting of the publications with methodological instructions for youth work based on mapping under activity 1 and researches under activity 2. 3. Testing the toolkit – organisation of a three-day seminar for associates and activists of partner organizations, aimed at testing different elements of the toolkit and empowering associates and activists for use of the toolkit. 4. Dissemination – engagement at the local level and social networking. Main dissemination channel will be the use of existing web platforms where initially all the materials are published and made widely available. The project activities will have an important methodological feature as they will have both national and international dimension; they will foster mutual learning among project partners and ensure complementarity of expertise to maximise the impact of the work which ultimately will enable re-application and transferability of project outputs. The project is expected to yield the following results: 1. Strengthened capacities and competences of 8 European organisations in youth work by generating innovative approaches and enhanced cooperation at transnational level about the challenge of shrinking cities. 2. Developed a mapping methodology containing country specific contexts with concrete phases of implementation having a special emphasis on the participation and actions of youth-work in shrinking cities. 3. Four (4) mapping reports prepared (HR, ES, PT, DE) in line with the developed methodology containing analytical description of shrinking cities phenomenon in each of the selected countries; analytical description of best practice examples/cases of youth work contesting dynamics of shrinking cities along with a photo and video archive of cases. The report will be also published in English containing all countries. 4. Prepared and published (PDF/print) the toolkit “Youth-work in/for the shrinking cities” comprised of methodological instructions and materials for youth work activities based on the mapping. 5. Established a European network of youth workers working on challenges of shrinking cities at the community level The project will provide an opportunity for youth workers, volunteers, members and staff of organisations to research, reflect, and develop tools that will help improve the youth work while working in several European countries. Finally, the project will shed some light about what shrinking in an urban context means and, furthermore, what are the features a shrinking city hold. With this approach it is intended to provide a wider perspective about shrinkage issue and how to address it and help understand the process of depopulation in a city.
The strategic partnership in the frame of the project "Strengthening the role of youth work in contesting dynamics of shrinking cities" addressed the challenges related to shrinking phenomena and practices of youth work in shrinking cities of Europe. Accordingly, the project was focusing shrinking cities not only through the question of causes and consequences of shrinking but also through the mapping of good practices of youth work in the selected shrinking cities which contribute to the sustainable perspectives of the local youth. The project was initiated by youth organizations and organizations working for youth. The project team was comprised of eight partner organizations, having different yet complementary competence and experience to offer in the project. The consortium provided a broad knowledge and coverage of various subjects across different sectors related to the challenges of youth work in the shrinking cities. The overall objective of the project was to contribute to building of new strategies of social inclusion and civic engagement for youth residing in Europe’s “shrinking cities”. The more specific objectives of the project were: 1. To expand knowledge on the „shrinking cities” phenomena in the European context, with emphasis on successful youth work practices contesting their unfavorable social, economic and political dynamics; 2. To create and disseminate quality toolbox for youth workers working in shrinking cities based on the mapping and analysis of best practices in selected countries. To achieve the objectives mentioned above, the project implemented following activities: 1. Developing mapping methodology approach and conducting researches - a mapping methodology that comprehends the similarities and differences among EU countries and study of shrinking cities phenomenon in each of the selected countries along with best practice examples/cases of youth work contesting dynamics of shrinking cities. 2. Preparation of the toolkit „Youth-work in/for the shrinking cities” with methodological instructions for youth work based on the conducted survey. The additional aspect of the project was the dissemination of the project results through the multiplier events on the local level and through different communication channels including project results platform and Salto youth platform, mailing lists and social networks. The project created following results: 1.The project has strengthened capacities and competences of 8 partner organizations in the field of youth-work by generating innovative approaches and enhanced cooperation at transnational level. The project fostered mutual learning process among project partners and ensured exchange of expertise to maximize the impact of the work which ultimately enabled re-application and transfer of project outputs. 2. The project carried out a mapping methodology applicable in the transnational survey, disregarding national and local specific context of youth work and shrinking phenomena in different countries and regions of European Union. . 3. The project carried out mapping reports prepared in line with the commonly developed methodology containing analytical description of shrinking cities and related challenges in each of the selected countries; analytical description of best practice examples/cases of youth work contesting dynamics of shrinking cities. The delivered mapping reports have been published in the publication under title "Strengthening the role of youth work in contesting dynamics of shrinking cities" (ISBN 978-953-7872-19-9). Beside the English version, the publication is available also in Spanish language. 4. The project resulted in the creation of the toolkit “Youth-work in&for the shrinking cities” (ISBN 978-953-7872-12-0) which contains recommendations and methodological instructions for youth workers and educators. Beside the English version, the toolkit is made available also in Spanish, Portuguese, German and Croatian language. 5. The project provided a space for discussion about interrelation of shrinking and youth (work) in the frame of transnational project meetings and multiplier events, Thereby it can be said that the project could be considered as an important step towards a sustainable European network of youth workers working on challenges of shrinking cities at the community level 6. The project contributed to the increasing of the awareness of the citizens about the challenges of shrinking in the transnational European context, but also about the existence of good practices of youth work that can contribute to the sustainable development of the shrinking cities and regions.