Back to search

Quality for Change in Erasmus+

2019-3-RO01-KA105-0779942019Youth mobilityfinalized
Countries: RO|PS|EL|AZ|TR|JO|AM|PT|ME · Grant: €19,756
Inclusion - equityEntrepreneurial learning - entrepreneurship educationSocial entrepreneurship / social innovation

Objectives

Romania, many EU countries and many neighbouring countries got affected by the financial crisis of the last years. The group of people affected the most were youth aged 18 to 30 years old who cannot find a job or any educational opportunity. The EU observed that the number of youth who are not working, making training, or studying is rapidly increasing and decided to create a new term to first recognise this group and then to take action. Youth Not in Education, Employment and Training (so on called NEETs) was our main focus during the project. According to the official data of the Eurostat Service (2016), 18,3 percent of young people on average in all EU states can be described as NEET. However, in Romania it reaches 23,5% for the ages of 20 to 34, with female youth reaching a high of 31,8%. Additionally, the Covid19 pandemic and the lockdowns created an additional negative background, especially for young people in the NEET situation. This added an extra objective to our project. All partner organisations are youth work organisations which are working with youth with fewer opportunities or wish to develop quality projects for NEETs in their local environment. The seminar is covering the need of the participant organisations to develop further their capacity in working with NEETS, to exchange knowledge and good practices as well as to develop networks for common action in the future. All partner organisations are involved in the development of this project as they need trained staff in order to face the increasing needs, especially now, that the youth population, are added disadvantaged youth from different backgrounds, also considered as NEETs (for example refugees). Quality for Change in Erasmus+ was aiming to face the issue of unemployment, and the lack of skills of young people and promote the use of non-formal education as a structured tool for youth workers, responding this way, directly to the objectives of the Erasmus+ Youth Programme. Usually all of the above are interconnected. Non-formal education is essential for youth organisations, especially when working with disadvantaged youth. According to Green Reginald H. (1979) "NFE helps to organize such people to act to advance their own welfare". Indeed it perceives NFE as relating to basic human needs. Through the NFE young people are developing skills necessary for the labor market as well as for entrepreneurship. According to the report released by the Youth Business International (YBI) and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2013), only "17.3% of young Europeans believe there are good business opportunities available and that they have the skills and knowledge required to start a business". This is the lowest percentage of the other continents (60% central Africa, 40% Latin America, 30% Middle East, same report). So we believe, in order to answer the need of unemployment, we need to promote nonformal learning and skills' building activities through youth organisations and associations. These organisations often lack the capacity and the knowledge to do it. This project was aiming to answer this need and contribute to the increased quality of Erasmus+ projects developed for young people with fewer opportunities The aim of Quality for Change in Erasmus+ was to share experiences, and knowledge and exchange good practices for the creation and management of socio-educational activities which directly support the NEETs and achieve the highest possible impact for them and their local communities. It was targeting skills development for youth workers and competencies that assist them to improve their daily work. The objectives were: - to create the proper environment which enhanced the common understanding among 32 participants, the sharing of good practices, and the understanding of the theoretical background youth work services for NEETs require. - To reflect on the consequences of the Covid19 pandemic on young people and especially the ones in NEET situation. - to introduce a measurable and quality methodology for youth workers which will contribute to the capacity building of the organisations, especially after the pandemic period - to analyse data and information on national and European strategies for NEETs and form a recommendation document with specific suggestions for youth organizations in order to make use of all the accessible programs and resources to face the needs of their target groups in NEET. - to develop at least 4 innovative, solution-based, youth work tools, using non-formal learning, and create a booklet with good practices which will be available to all youth workers. - to build a follow-up process which resulted in further cooperation between the partner organizations and increased the impact of this project.

Project partners (9)