The main goal of the project was to enhance the communication effectiveness of local YOs by developing tailored strategies and increasing youth participation and impact on the local community. By supporting local YOs to strengthen their communication capacities offering resources of knowledge through tailored learning modules developed within this project, and providing training on their implementation, the main achievement of this project was to enhance their communication effectiveness and contribute to the long-term sustainability of local YOs. We started by assessing the current reality of local YOs in terms of their communication capacities and identifying any strong or weak points on this level, which would lead us to the basis of developing educational resources to further support them. Concretely - we wanted to offer free digital access to all key topics through learning modules to develop and advance the skills and capabilities of the staff in charge of external communication. By addressing the key needs and priorities expressed in the CET research, the learning modules are relevant and comprehensive and at the same time free and globally available to provide support and address any YOs challenges.
We applied for this project to support local youth organizations (YOs) in strengthening their skills and capacities for external communication - communication with their target groups and external stakeholders. The overall goal was to enhance YOs competencies in external communication and through that skill improvement, help YOs increase youth participation rates, social media interactions, and impact on the local community.. Despite communication channels being versatile and easy to use as the majority are digital, online tools, local YOs are struggling with the efficiency of their communication efforts. YOs' capacities are often hindered by the lack of skilled staff and financial resources to train and boost their external communication. The period under COVID-19 proved that digital skills and innovative communication strategies are much needed for YOs. The project addressed the needs of YOs to understand and define various stakeholders, define the profile of their target audiences, personalize the communication styles and channels for each stakeholder, improve social media content by focusing on quality, and create more effective communication strategies in this all-encompassing sense.