Regionálne centrum mládeže
Pod Sokolice 14, 91101 Trenčín, Slovakia
Towns in Slovakia have developed youth work, but only till 15 years of age. Consequently, the youth work with young people is not systematic, and only in some places is replaced in towns by citizens associations, which does not work. On the other hand, we can see the growth of radically oriented groups, young people who do not manage to control their problems and close themselves in the virtual worlds, leave from small towns and do not have an interest in coming back, and other problems. The aim of this project is the support of local youth work by creating cooperation on the regional and local levels. The regional municipality is the founder of high schools, where the students of primary schools come, of which the town is the founder. At the same time, the regional municipality does not know how to fulfill strategic aims without cooperation with the local level.
Please describe your good practice based on the above given information (Explain your practice as such, in ‘technical’ terms and as clear and simple as possible.)
The whole cooperation is built on the support of town mayors, who find and employ coordinators for youth work, who is in terms of content and methodology supported by the regional municipality, which gains the overall knowledge about the needs of young people in the region from them. The space for sharing knowledge, good practices, recognition of youth work, support of participating process not only on local but also on the regional level is created. At the same time, the mapping of needs and reacting to them improves the conditions for high-quality life of young people in the region.
Please describe eventual challenges and problems related to the creation, implementation, and/or running of your good practice? (Explain the eventual difficulties that you have come across, so that others know what to think about if they want to implement your practice.)
This example can be implemented only with the help of all municipalities and by creating conditions on the national level. We proceeded from the bottom to the top – that means, that through good practices we tried to persuade all levels about the need for coordination of youth work and the synergic effect of the given cooperation. Momentarily, the management of towns understands the importance of youth work and long-term high-quality heading and its support. However, not all towns are opened to this model. Even though the mayors support the idea and are involved, we still have a long journey to gaining recognition of the benefits of youth work from deputies of the parliament, municipalities, and others. However, the project also deals with different topics such as volunteering, inclusion, development of student parliament and others, which impacts are visible to the general public, which helps the whole process. At the same time this model encountered positive response on national level in Slovakia, and Ministry of education SR has already reacted by involving a coordinator and responsibilities of towns in the Act of support for youth work and also in the grant schemes, on which the towns can react and get financial support for their activity, but also financing new posts.
Please give the names, roles and tasks of eventual partners involved in the creation, implementation and/or running of your good practice.
It is a specific project and we do not know whether it would be applicable in circumstances of other countries.
Please give an overview of the resources needed in order to establish and run your good practice. (Please describe the human, financial and other resources that are needed. Please also explain if you have got external financing from sources available for others, and if so, from what funding scheme(s).)
The project has been financed by Erasmus+ KA3
For young people:
development of competencies
For youth workers:
improvement of competencies for developing youth work on the local level
For your organisation as such:
development of cooperation, competencies of individual members of the organization, gaining publicity
For youth work in general:
development of cooperation in the field
For society/your community in general:
recognition of youth work