Our project aimed to increase the online project management, collaboration, and communication competences of youth workers in 4 NGOs at an international level as key skillset leading to significant progress in implementing Erasmus+ projects and increasing quality of youth work. We achieved: -Increased quality of projects unfolded by NGOs by familiarizing youth workers with project management strategies at international context (Objective 1) -Increased efficiency of NGOs by integrating online collaborative tools into their current workflow and created a common approach to set working procedures, quality assurance and management (Objective 2) -Increased communication competences of youth workers in 4 NGOs adapted to digital online context and different target groups (Objective 3). Our project proposed ways and strategies for quality youth work and addressing digital transformation by using online collaborative tools, integrating them into NGOs operations, and setting working standards, quality assurance, and management. We focused on up-to-date online collaboration tools and international project management methods and integrated them strategically into the processes of our NGOs.
Despite bringing great technological breakthrough, 21st century is full of challenges, marginalized groups of people, needs and problems to be addressed. NGOs and youth work play a significant role in addressing the challenges faced by marginalized groups and solving societal problems. However, these organizations faced new challenges due to the shift to online communication and collaboration brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Youth workers had lower levels of digital competences than needed, which affected their ability to use online tools and communicate effectively with target groups. The survey conducted by the partners revealed that while youth workers had a sufficient base of digital competences, they lacked the skills to apply them in a management-based approach, especially in a digital and international context. This lack of competences led to overwhelmed workers, difficulty reaching and engaging young people, miscommunication with international partners and an inability to efficiently transfer work online. The project aimed to address these issues by providing youth workers with the necessary competences to carry out youth work in a digital context.