Erasmus+: Youth In Action Strategic Partnership project "Promotion of Youth Services and Outreach Youth Work" will be implemented for 12 months, from 1st July 2020 to 30th May 2021. Organisation Creative minds for culture (CMC) form Latvia, Center for Sustainable Community Development Association (CSCD) from Romania and Elektrenu kulturos centras from Lithuania have developed a cooperation in order to create methodological material for the development of outreach youth work with youth at risk. The challenges faced by the organizations highlight the need for outreach youth work implemented in environment where the youth is located. There are different forms of outreach youth work that can be used depending on the specificity of youth work in a given neighborhood. The project partner organizations aim to provide quality youth work and leisure activities for every young person. In ordert to bring changes at local level, there is a need of sharing expertise and developing competences at international level, what is important for improving the quality of youth work in EU countries. Project participants will develop their competences in outreach youth work, share their good practices and generally improve the quality of youth work in their area. During the project there will be organized 2 transnational partner organization meetings, a study visit "Outreach Youth Work Practices in Rural Areas" and a training course "Outreach Youth Work and Promotion of Youth Work Services" with the aim to develop methodological material "Introductory guide to outreach youth work practices in rural areas". The project will improve the quality of outreach youth work in Latvia, Lithuania and Romania by fostering access to services for youth at risk; will develop the competences of those involved in youth work through mutual learning and exchange of experience; will strengthen the capacity of youth organizations in Latvia, Lithuania, Romania working with youth at risk; will raise young people's awareness of the services available to them and of their use. Almost 50 youth workers, representatives of partner organizations, volunteers, formal and non-formal educators and those involved in working with youth at risk will participate in the project activities. The results of the project will have a significant impact in project partner countries, improving the quality of youth work with youth at risk and on a wider scale, through results that will be made publicly available online.
Project objectives: - to improve the quality of street youth work in Latvia, Lithuania and Romania, promoting the availability of services for young people at risk; -develop the competence of the persons involved in working with young people for street youth work, using mutual learning and exchange of experience; -strengthen the capacity of Latvian, Lithuanian, and Romanian organizations that work with young people from risk groups in street youth work; - develop methodical material for street youth work for work with risk group youth; - to improve the awareness of young people about the services available to them and the possibilities of using them;
A large part of the territory of European countries, including Latvia, Romania and Lithuania, is filled with rural areas, villages and sparsely populated regions. As the population in these regions decreases, issues related to the employment, health, social and educational services become more relevant. Changes in rural areas also have a strong impact on youth, especially those belonging to different risk groups. Organizations from Latvia, Romania and Lithuania, working with young people in different areas, in their activities face the challenges of youth work that are specific to rural areas and work with young people at risk. The collected challenges of organizations clearly indicate the need to go beyond youth centers and youth spaces, implementing youth work in their environment or where they are. Such work with youth has various forms and approaches, which can be used depending on the specifics of youth work in the defined neighborhood. In order to develop high-quality youth work for every young person, within the framework of the project, the exchange of experience of participants and their improvement of competences were promoted in order to implement changes at the local level and improve the quality of youth work.