Back to search

Empowered Hands, Inclusive Hearts: Shaping Communities through Active Citizenship and Inclusion

2025-1-AT01-KA153-YOU-0002978962025Mobility of youth workersfinalized
Countries: AT|TR|HU|BG|RO|MK|PT · Grant: €17,474.5
Inclusion of marginalised young peopleEuropean identity and valuesQuality and innovation of youth work

Objectives

By implementing this project, we wanted to strengthen the capacity of youth workers to build more inclusive, participatory and socially engaged local communities. The project was designed to support the professional development of youth workers by giving them practical competences, non-formal education methods and concrete tools they could use in their daily work with young people, especially young people with fewer opportunities and those facing social exclusion, discrimination or low civic participation. A central objective of the project was to deepen participants’ understanding of inclusion, active citizenship and community engagement, and to help them translate these concepts into practical youth work activities. We wanted participants to better understand the barriers that prevent many young people from taking part fully in social and civic life, and to explore ways of reducing these barriers through accessible, participatory and empowering youth work approaches. The project also aimed to strengthen participants’ ability to use non-formal learning methods in a structured and purposeful way, so that learning activities are not only engaging, but also lead to clear educational outcomes. Another important objective was to improve the quality of youth work within the partner organisations. Through the mobility activity in Vienna, we wanted to create a space where youth workers could exchange practices, reflect on their own experience, learn from different national contexts and develop new ideas together. The intention was not only individual learning, but also organisational development. We wanted the participants to return to their organisations with methods, ideas and action plans that could improve the quality, inclusiveness and social impact of their future activities. The project also had a strong cooperation objective. We wanted to strengthen trust, exchange and long-term collaboration between the partner organisations by working together on a common theme of high relevance for youth work. By bringing together participants from different countries, we aimed to encourage intercultural learning, mutual support and the sharing of practical solutions to common challenges in the field of inclusion and active citizenship. These objectives were directly reflected in the implemented 5-day programme in Vienna. The activity combined sessions on inclusion, barriers to participation, active citizenship, community involvement, non-formal learning methods, reflection, Youthpass and follow-up planning. In this way, the project aimed both to improve the competences of the participating youth workers and to create sustainable results that could continue after the mobility through dissemination, local follow-up activities and the transfer of learning into everyday youth work practice.

Project partners (7)