The Europe Goes Local strategic cooperation project is arriving at a new milestone. After launching the European Charter on Local Youth Work in 2019, the network started to build an on-line toolkit to support the implementation of the Charter. This on-line toolkit, which we will call the Changemakers Kit includes good practices, explanatory and background information, a library of policy documents and an interactive tool for self-assessment and planning future actions.
The launch of the Changemakers Kit will happen via a live streamed webinar on the 20th of October at 14:30-16:30 CET. Besides introducing the features of the new tool at the webinar, we also intend to create a moment for reflection on the situation of local youth work and to have a live a panel discussion between key stakeholders, presenting good practices from the municipal level and some messages from decision makers.

Open access via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/98578086587

and the Facebook event.

Europe Goes Local is looking for various experts to implement its upcoming activities:

On-line activities of the Europe Goes Local project in October 2020

• Facilitator to run on-line sessions
• Digital facilitator to support the successful implementation of the on-line activities
• Visual recorder who prepares a visual report about the events

Training of Charter Ambassadors (residential training course – April 2021)

• Facilitator/trainer
• Rapporteur

How to apply?

Please, send your proposal via e-mail to the project coordinator, Judit Balogh (judit.balogh@jint.be) by the 28^th of August 2020.

Please, find all details of the calls in the attached files:

Call for experts to implement on-line activities

Call for experts: Training course for Charter Ambassadors

One of the initial goals of the Europe Goes Local project was to help the recognition of youth work as an important domain of the personal development of young people and a crucial tool to build flourishing communities. Europe Goes Local created a framework in which the National Agencies of the Erasmus+ programme and the stakeholders of municipal youth work could respond to the needs of the youth work sector of the local level. MOVIT, the Slovenian National Agency for the EU programmes Erasmus+: Youth in Action and European Solidarity Corps decided to create a literature review about the impact of youth work first. The study was first published in Slovenian and now the TRUTHS ABOUT THE IMPACT OF (LOCAL) YOUTH WORK, written by Tomaž Deželan and Nina Vombergar, is also available in English.

Uroš Skrinar, the director of MOVIT describes the rationale behind the publication in the introduction of the publication:

“It was when we discussed with Europe Goes Local partners about how to approach convincing the others, the unconvinced, as well as support youth workers on the local level in their advocacy in support of youth work, that we agreed that we need a short document about what youth work is and what impact it has. This gave life to this publication, which provides a clear and rich overview of the relevant literature on the characteristics and impact of youth work. With it we wish to contribute to the added value of youth work both on the national and local level becoming better understood and more valued. It can serve as a set of arguments in advocating youth work, which really needs to be strengthened; it can serve as a guide for youth workers for higher quality of their work; and, yes, it can also serve as a source for further research into the impact of quality youth work—our work.”

The on-line version of the publication is accessible via issuu.com.

The Europe Goes Local network had planned to meet in Paris this spring to exchange views about the current state of play and to share thoughts about the future of the project.  These plans had to change and the initial ideas were transformed into an on-line process which included a virtual meeting on the 28^th of April which brought together 50 participants from the participating countries of the project network.

The participants of the seminar worked together on recommendations regarding the future of the project. The key messages of the group are the following:

Recommendations on the future aims and objectives of Europe Goes Local at the European Level

• Emphasize on policy impact through reinforced advocacy activities at the European, national and local levels.
• Develop structured and coordinated activities at the European level (conferences, trainings, study visits, online activities, networking and partnership building, peer learning etc.) and support network members in the development and implementation of activities that address specific needs of the diverse local youth work realities.
• Further develop the concept of the European cooperation platform to support quality development in local youth work, keep the doors open for possible new partners and strengthen cooperation with international stakeholders (YFJ, EU-Coe partnership, etc.).
• Develop a strategic communication plan and implement it at the European and national levels.
• Implement and/or support researches of local youth work to enhance evidence-based youth work development and advocacy. Explore the possibility to cooperate with educational institutions to put youth work on the agenda of the educational sector.
• Use the Change-makers’ toolkit as a starting point for building an online knowledge-database (good practices, researches, funding opportunity etc.) on quality youth work at the local level.
• Put more focus on bringing additional municipalities to Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes with activities like mapping and showcasing of successful projects implemented by municipalities, presenting benefits for them.

Reflections on future training offers for youth workers and members of the network

A training for Charter Ambassadors (for the European Charter on Local Youth Work)

• Majority of the National Working Groups expressed support for the Charter Ambassadors training concept.
• Ambassadors should support National Agencies in the dissemination and exploitation of the Charter (presenting the Charter, help to incorporate Charter principles in training activities, etc.) and provide feedback to the European level regarding the use of the Charter.
• Ambassadors should be youth workers or youth trainers who have an excellent knowledge of European and national youth work, have a sound knowledge of non-formal methodology and are able to advocate, lobby and communicate for the quality youth work development.
• It is important to keep in mind the diversity of the local youth work realities when preparing the final proposal of the activity.
• Address the concerns and questions from the National Working Groups on mission, objectives, representation, sustainability and motivation of the potential ambassadors to further elaborate the proposal.

Modular Training on Local Youth Work

• The proposal received very strong support from the National Working Grouips. The common opinion is that it represents the next step in the evolution of the Europe Goes Local network activities and supports the implementation of the European Charter on Local Youth Work.
• It should be strongly considered to provide more than 1 participant per country the opportunity to participate in the modular training. Modular design also provides an option to have different participants for each module.
• Structure and methodology should be based on youth work activities and non-formal methodology. The length of the modules should be between 2-4 days (consider the time investment of participants) and there should be 3-5 different modules. To fully utilize modular design, modules should be standalone units.
• Important question is how to develop the content that is relevant for all the participants. Some proposal on concrete activities are peer-learning, sharing and discussion activities.
• Topics for the training: (1) horizontal themes (participation of young people, cross-sectoral cooperation, etc.) and (2) specific topics: lobbying, work conditions of youth workers, knowledge based youth work, etc.).
• Exploit available resources and activities to create synergies (or use the same approach) when developing the modules. These activities are organized by network members or others: youth workers 101 (Estonian NA), lobbying training course (German NA), Charter Ambassadors training, European Solidarity Corps General Online Training (DG EAC). These and additional options should be further researched.

These recommendations will now be discussed by the Steering Group of Europe Goes Local and a new vision, aims and objectives will be finalized.

Find more information about the seminar at the Events section of our website.

The Europe Goes Local network will hold a peer-learning seminar on 27-29 April 2020 in Paris which will bring together 60 people both from Erasmus+ National Agencies and municipal institutions, organisations.

We are looking for the facilitator of the seminar who has the following background:

• Already involved in Europe Goes Local either at the European or national level in one of the member countries (essential)
• Available on the dates of the preparation meeting (14-15 January) and the seminar.
• Experienced in facilitating and moderating international events with at least 50 participants (minimum 2 previous events)
• Familiar with the youth sector in Europe, aware of the role of different stakeholders
• Experienced in both formal and non-formal learning methods applicable at the seminar
• Fluent in English

Deadline to apply: 6 December 2019

Please, check the Call for offers for details of the work and the application procedure.

The 3rd European Event of Europe Goes Local took place in Brussels on 4-6 June 2019. The conference brought together approximately 200 actors from municipal level youth work to learn from each other, plan new collaboration activities and have exchanges about the quality development of local youth work with a new support tool, the future European Charter on Local Youth Work. More concretely, the event served as a platform for discussion, deliberation, exchange of ideas and presentation of good practices. The participants represented a diverse range of expertise from the local youth work area coming from 111 different cities and towns and 28 European countries.

The full documentation of the event is available on the project website.

The European Charter on Local Youth Work has been launched at the 3rd European Event of Europe Goes Local. The Charter is meant to be a practical tool to help the quality development of local youth work.

Having the Charter is a definitely a moment to celebrate but not the final step on the way to build more bridges between European policies, funding and local youth work. The next milestone is planned to be a toolkit that can guide the work with the Charter and platform where we collect good practices from local youth work.

Stay tuned to be informed about future opportunities in Europe Goes Local, read more about the Charter here and watch our short video!

JINT vzw is looking for a service provider that would take care of the external online communication of the “Europe Goes Local” project. We are searching for an expert/company with the following experience: Social marketing, ideally in the non-profit sector (familiarity with youth work in an asset); Copywriting; Online journalism, writing articles, conducting and editing interviews; Storytelling (familiarity with visual storytelling is an asset); Creating communication plans.

Fluency in English is a requirement as that is the language of the project.

If you are interested, please, send your bid by the 6^th of August 2019.

Please, find the detailed description in the ‘Call for ‘Tenders’.

Europe Goes Local has been selected this year to run a joint session together with the ESPON research project at the European Week of Regions and Cities. Besides presenting the European Charter on Local Youth Work in our part of the session, our panel members will describe the current policy framework in European youth work. The ESPON project focuses on territorial trends in youth unemployment in European regions and cities.

“The European Week of Regions and Cities is an annual four-day event in during which cities and regions showcase their capacity to create growth and jobs, implement European Union cohesion policy, and prove the importance of the local and regional level for good European governance.” explains the website of the event. It will take place in Brussels on 7-10 October expecting 6000 participants and 600 speakers for more than 100 workshops and debates, exhibitions and networking opportunities.

Are you interested in local and regional policies and achievements in the EU? Would you be interested in networking with fellow experts, politicians, project promoters from all over Europe representing diverse policy areas? Visit the official website of the Week and register till 27 September!