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Non-Directive Facilitation in Youth Work

2026-1-DE04-KA153-YOU-0003943042026Mobility of youth workersongoing
Countries: DE|RO|AM|GE|PL · Grant: €49,987
Inclusion of marginalised young peopleQuality and innovation of youth workDemocracy and inclusive democratic participation

Objectives

The project aims to strengthen youth workers’ professional capacity to facilitate youth-led learning and participation processes through non-directive approaches that preserve young people’s ownership, responsibility, and decision-making autonomy. The objectives are defined at the level of youth work practice, focusing on behavioural, methodological, and organisational dimensions rather than abstract educational aspirations. A primary objective is the development of facilitation competences that enable youth workers to accompany reflection, clarification, and decision-making processes without unintentionally shifting into directive or solution-imposing roles. The project addresses a recurrent tension in youth work practice: while participation and youth agency are central principles, facilitation behaviours often remain influenced by adult-led habits. By strengthening competences related to non-directive questioning, active listening, goal clarification, and reflective dialogue, the project seeks to stabilise facilitation approaches that align with participatory youth work values. A second objective concerns the reinforcement of methodological awareness. Youth workers are supported in critically examining their own facilitation patterns, identifying moments where guidance becomes control, and differentiating between supportive structuring and directive intervention. This objective is directly linked to everyday youth work realities, where practitioners continuously navigate complex group dynamics, decision processes, and learning environments. The project therefore aims to enhance practitioners’ capacity for deliberate facilitation choices rather than promoting prescriptive techniques. An additional objective is the creation of a practical and transferable professional resource. The collaborative development of the Practice Toolkit is designed to consolidate learning outcomes into an operational instrument supporting continued use in youth work contexts. The toolkit functions as both a competence support mechanism and an organisational memory device, ensuring that project results extend beyond the mobility timeframe. This objective contributes to the stabilisation of facilitation practices through reusable structures rather than isolated learning experiences. At organisational level, the project aims to support quality development of youth work processes. By equipping youth workers with non-directive facilitation approaches, participating organisations strengthen their capacity to design learning and participation environments where young people can genuinely influence decisions, articulate perspectives, and learn from their own experiences. The project therefore contributes to improving the coherence between youth work principles and facilitation behaviours implemented in practice. The project also pursues an objective related to professional exchange and alignment. Through transnational cooperation, youth workers compare facilitation cultures, decision-making norms, and participation practices across organisational and national contexts. This exchange supports reflexivity, reduces methodological isolation, and enables co-development of shared professional understandings without imposing uniform models. Importantly, the project objectives are framed within realistic operational boundaries. The project does not aim to redefine youth work systems or introduce therapeutic or counselling practices. Its scope is deliberately focused on strengthening facilitation competences, reflection processes, and decision-support mechanisms applicable within non-formal education and youth work environments. Overall, the project seeks to create durable improvements in youth work practice by aligning facilitation behaviours with participatory principles, strengthening methodological awareness, embedding results into organisational processes, and enabling structured professional exchange.

Project partners (5)