The Council of the European Union adopted recommendations in the field of smart youth work in November 2017. The fact is that today we are confronted with a rapidly changing society and youth workers, working with young people, need additional knowledge to be able to be mentors to young people on their way to their independence. With the current plan of the European Union for Youth 2016-2018, which contributes to meeting the challenges and taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the digital age, we decided to develop a project idea into the project called Smart youth work in youth centres. With it we will answer the questions considering the challenges with which the youth policy, youth work and young people are faced. Because the field of digitalization is not yet completely developed, we decided with the project partners Estonia, Germany and Finland to define the tools, methods and competences we need to answer the challenges of smart youth work. By carefully obtaining information on the needs of young people as well as defining the tools and methods of smart youth work, we will be able to develop the key competences that youth workers need to work in the field of digitalization of youth work, and with that consequently young people gain. Youth centres respond quickly to the challenges of modern society through various activities and projects. The use of digital media and modern technology is also not foreign to them, as they are aware that young people are one of the pillars of innovation and development of society and that young people are the catalysts of change. Since technological development provides new opportunities for developing the skills and competences of young people, we have decided to connect with relevant organizations from abroad and prepare a strategic partnership project that offers opportunities for networking and interaction, expressing opinions, experience and consequently active citizenship of all involved. We are aware that only well-informed citizens and young people can be active. With this aim, we approach the project of smart youth work in a new field of work, with new methods and working with young people in youth centres. In addition, we are aware that digital tools, which are used by young people and youth centres already exist so through the project, we will develop the competencies of youth workers and young people on a systematic basis. In the framework of Smart youth work in youth centres project, we will conduct a study visit with the purpose of viewing good practices, international training for youth workers who are responsible for the development of programs in youth centres. There they will develop programs and national trainings where qualified youth workers will pass on their acquired knowledge to other youth workers. A set of ideas, activities, methods and insights into concrete content and successful content of youth centres will enable us to prepare a document with tools, methods of work and competences in the area of smart youth work. The set of practices will enable the development of youth centres and more effective work in addressing the contemporary challenges of the digital age. Consequently, the role of youth centres in the field of smart youth work will be strengthened. It will establish youth centres as competent interlocutors in this field against other stakeholders (various organizations working in the field of digitalization of youth work, decision-makers, etc.) and encourage local communities and, more generally, a more pro-active approach to developing policies and programs for smart youth work, which would lead to a more active and inclusive society. Through the project and project activities, we will co-shape part of the European dimension of smart youth work, as we are going to develop concrete programme contents based on a needs analysis. We will be analysing all the key documents in the field of digital youth work at national and European level (EU Youth Strategy 2010-2018, Development of digital youth work, analysis of EU databases on digitalization, etc.). We will develop guidelines, which will be used more broadly and will guide the development of smart youth work and the digitalization of the youth center.
The Council of the European Union adopted recommendations in the field of smart youth work in November 2017. The fact is that today we are confronted with a rapidly changing society, thus youth workers, working with young people, need additional knowledge to be able to be mentors to young people on their way to independence. With the project we addressed the challenges and opportunities offered by the digital age, we decided to develop a project idea into the project called Smart youth work in youth centres. With the project, we aimed to answer the questions considering challenges faced by youth policy, youth work and young people. Because the field of digitalization is not yet completely developed, we decided with the project partners from Estonia, Germany and Finland to define the tools, methods and competences we need to answer the challenges of smart youth work. Since technological development provides new opportunities for developing the skills and competences of young people, we have decided to connect with relevant organizations from abroad and prepare a strategic partnership project that offers opportunities for networking and interaction, expressing opinions, experience, and consequently active citizenship of all involved. We are aware that only well-informed citizens and young people can be active. With this aim, we approach the project of digital youth work in a new field of work, with new methods for working with young people in youth centres. Furthermore, we are aware that digital tools, which are used by young people and youth centres already exist, but the project is taking a step further and strives to will develop the competencies of youth workers and young people on a systematic basis. Thus, as part of the Smart Youth Work in Youth Centres project, funded by the Erasmus +: Youth in Action program, we carried out a study visit in order to view good practices in Finland. We also conducted international training for youth workers who are responsible for the development of programs in youth centres, where they will develop program content. During the project, we created a document with tools, methods of work and competences in the area of smart youth work. The set of practices will enable the development of youth centres and more effective work in addressing the contemporary challenges of the digital age. Consequently, the role of youth centres in the field of digital youth work was strengthened. Through the project and project activities, we also considered a part of the European dimension of digital youth work.The project has long-term effects, as we have developed a model for recognizing the competencies of digital youth work and thus also finding the strengths and weaknesses of youth workers in researching and reflecting on the current importance of digital youth work. The impact of the project is broader, sectoral, we are currently in a situation that contains the content of youth work moving to the online environment.