The partner organizations recognized that the new E+ program presented a great opportunity to systemize their activities and continuously engage young people. However, they also acknowledged their lack of competence in participating in the program at a high level, preparing plans for accreditation, and developing yearly plans of activities. This deficiency in strategic planning and thinking competencies could lead to inefficient participation in the E+ program and scattered activities of the organizations, negatively affecting the quality of youth work. The goal was to increase the quality of youth work of 4 partner organizations and their readiness to actively and purposefully participate in the new E+ programme and organize their activities in a strategic manner. Our project had two concrete objectives that were achieved: O1. We increased strategic thinking and planning competences of 29 youth workers from 4 countries. O2. We facilitated exchange of good practices and discussed possible collaboration when preparing strategic plans of activities of each partner organization.
We recognized the changes in the new E+ program and saw it as a great opportunity for small-mid size organizations working with young people and KA1 type of projects to systemize their work and involve more young people. However, we also realized that youth workers and small-mid size NGOs lacked the skillset needed to adjust to the new program, particularly in the areas of strategic thinking and planning. Our project addressed the main need of youth workers in partner organizations who had low levels of those competences. We organized two learning mobilities. The 1st mobility (C1) focused on Strategic Planning Essentials for Long-Term Youth Work Success: Effectively mapping out activities, determining optimal participant involvement, and strategically establishing partnerships, while the 2nd mobility (C2) was dedicated to Strategic Planning Collaboration: Shaping Future Activities in Youth Work through developing strategic plans of activities for youth workers’ organizations. This directly addressed the need of partner organizations to have youth work more structured, target groups identified, objectives set, and activities planned to reach them.