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!

Europe Goes Local is much more than a group of youth workers who get together once a year at a European event. We have lots of actions happening at the European, national and local levels. From now, we will start introducing activities that were initiated and carried out by our network members. If you are interested in any of them, contact us for more information!

Lobbying for Youth Work – The European Advanced Training

Think about this vision of a flourishing society: a community whose members, youthful and old, are educated about and occupied with all the serious issues that influence their lives. Among other tools, “lobbying” is an act of attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of legislators or members of regulatory institutions.

Supporting the development and recognition of youth work, it is necessary for the stakeholders to become active in interfering with and influencing local policy making. This requires a fundamental change in youth workers’ attitude as well as adapted and new skills and abilities. It needs further education in areas such as policy intervention, policy advice and lobbying.

The Road To Change

In Germany, a model in the years 2013-2015 with these contents and with exceptionally positive outcomes was created. This preparation expects to exchange the Germany model venture to the European dimension. Jugend für Europa, the German National Agency of the Erasmus+ Youth in Action programme and its partners decided to develop an international long term training course for youth workers on the basis of the already existing model, in the framework of the Europe Goes Local project.

The point is to add to a more honed profile and to an improved political situating of youth work. Youth workers are to get out of their uninvolved position and into progressively dynamic roles as step towards developing co-makers of fellow youth work arrangement.

What Are We Aiming For with the training?

• To sharpen the profile and political position of youth work,
• To train and qualify youth work representatives / youth workers to analyze political frameworks and situations at the local level so they can influence local youth policy making through political lobbying,
• To encourage the establishment and consolidation of local networks for youth politics,
• To create a sustainable training concept at the European level in an attempt to re-politicize youth work and to explore European impulses for local youth work.

What we have accomplished:

Contents of MODULE 1 : January 2019 in Germany

• Creating a common understanding of youth policies: local, regional, national, European
• An input and overview about the political aspect of youth work (Input Prof. Lindner)
• An input on lobbying & political communication
• SWOT Analysis – where are we today?
• Defining aims for local projects

Webinar held in March.

What’s Next:

Contents of MODULE 2 : June 2019 in Austria

• SWOT and Network Analysis
• Input on municipal policy/politics: chances and challenges
• Working out concrete Action Plans of each team
• Preparing the next three steps that we will take in our local reality

Webinar in October

What’s There To Come:

Webinar in January

MODULE 3: in February/March 2020 in Latvia

• Sharing results: What did the project change? Our successes. Our failures.
• An exchange on how we transfer the lessons learned, knowledge gained into everyday practice after the end of the project?
• Creating a dissemination and follow up plan

The Wrap:

The undertaking is planned as a propelled preparing and further training module and will cover the accompanying learning components and errands:

• Mapping and analysis of the (local) policy field
• Development of targets
• Analysis and development of (local) networks, development of action plans
• Policy development and political consulting

Some additional readings:

The information leaflet of the training course

The presentation of the training course

Stay tune for more updates on our programs and follow our Good Practices Series.

Catch you next time.

written by La Sheika Campbell.

We are looking for Brussels-based, English-speaking volunteers to support the implementation of the 3rd European event of the Europe Goes Local project. The event will take place on 4-6 June 2019 in Brussels, at a central location. The event will have about 200 participants who will discuss local youth work.

Volunteers are expected to support the organizing team at the registration desk, guiding the participants and setting up the venue of the event.

Please, see the details of our call here: Call for volunteers.

We are looking for a photographer and a video team to cover the upcoming 3rd European Event of the Europe Goes Local network. The event will take place on 4-6 June 2019 in the centre of Brussels. We expect 200 from all over Europe to exchange about youth work and develop cooperation.

Offers can be submitted separately for one of the tasks or for both if a company can provide the complete service.

Please, see details here in the attached files:

Call for a visual team 2019

Call for a photographer 2019