The European Mobility Advisor (EMA) is a youth worker (paid employee or volunteer) specialized inadvising young people willing to go abroad (mainly in EU countries) for a learning experience, eitherby studying, working or volunteering. The EMAs deliver mobility guidance, defined as a range ofactivities that enables young people to make mobility decisions related to study, working,volunteering and to manage their staying abroad. The EMAs play a fundamental role in promotingmobility abroad and assuring mobility is a fruitful experience for the youths, however this role /occupation has not been standardized at EU level and there are no tools to assess the competenceof those working in this role. The competence of youth workers, including the ones working as EMAsis a constant concern for the European Commission considering that in many European countriesthey: • comes from heterogeneous backgrounds, especially among volunteers • don’t hold formalqualifications for working with youths • are mainly trained by the organizations employing them, asformal and not formal training programs are scarce • don’t have the possibility to see their expertisevalidated. This project will improve the current situation by mapping the competence profile of theEMA at European level, and by developing a methodology for assessment of their competence calledExpertise checkup, a E-training course for assessors, a European certification and a Europeanregister for assessors and EMAs that have passed the Checkup. The description of the Competenceprofile of the youth educator working with EMAs will be based on ECVET, and the checkup on theEuropean Council recommendation on validation of non-formal and informal learning and to theEuropean Guidelines for Validating Not Formal and Informal Learning developed by CEDEFOP. Theconsortium is composed by organizations working with youth mobility in FR, LV, SK, IT, PL, and canrely on a wide European network. Approximately over 400 EMAs will be involved in the project andover 10.000 EMAs and other members of target groups will be informed about the project. Long termbenefits will be the professionalization of the EMAs, and delivery of better quality mobility guidance.

The need for an Open Badges project to recognise and validate youth workers' competences arose from the direct experience of partners and the analysis of policy documents produced by the European Commission. The European Commission supports the recognition and validation of youth work. The European Youth Strategy (2009) points out the need ‘to equip youth workers with professional skills and promote their validation through the appropriate European instruments (Europass, EQF, ECVET)’. The 2010 Brussels Resolution on youth work invites the Commission to develop ‘instruments for the documentation of competences of youth workers and youth leaders which would help to recognise and evaluate the quality of youth work in Europe.’Youth organisations can use the BADU Open Badges to validate competencies or achievements of youth workers (for example learning or mastering specific tasks, developing work-related basic and transversal skills, mentoring peers to support their learning, etc). Youth workers, youth educators and volunteers, who work in the youth sector can use the BADU Open Badges to validate social competencies, which are usually not certified by formal or higher education. Open Badges can be collected by different sources and can be stored into a virtual portfolio that can be downloaded and printed in pdf format. The BADU Open Badges are based on the principles of gamification- the application of game-design elements and game principles in educational and work contexts to improve user engagement, flow and learning. A BADU open badge is a file of the shape of an icon issued to prove skills and/or achievements of youth workers, youth educators and volunteers active in youth work and non-formal learning. The file of a BADU Open Badge contains metadata such as the name of the issuer, learning targets, performance requirements, evidence verifying the credential and expiry date. Youth organisations and youth centres can use the BADU open badges to recognise formal, non-formal and informal learning or achievements (for example learning or mastering specific job tasks, developing work related basic and transversal skills, mentoring peers to support their learning, etc). Youth educators, youth workers and volunteers can use the BADU open badges to show easily their own competencies, as open badges can be shared on social media and online platforms. The BADU project consortium comprises 4 youth organisations from Germany - Jugend- & Kulturprojekt e.V. that is the coordinator, Italy - EduMoby, Latvia - Zemgale NGO Centre and Spain - GoEurope. The project consortium has developed a Guidebook which explains briefly and concisely to youth organisations how to issue and award Open Badges that are divided into 2 categories: youth mobility and non-formal learning; and showcases to youth workers, youth educators and volunteers, how to claim their BADU Open Badges. It also highlights the advantages of using the BADU Open Badges and explains how the Open Badges can validate youth workers, youth educators and volunteers' competencies. 55 BADU Open Badges and Metabadges have been created by the project consortium that refer to youth mobility and non-formal learning. At the beginning the project consortium developed 100 Open Badges in total but after receiving feedback from youth workers and youth organisations as well as from an expert in youth work from TU Dresden, the project consortium decided to reduce the number of the Open Badges so that they correspond to the needs of the target groups. This change was discussed with the NA of Germany that approved this decision. A Catalogue of Good Practices has been developed by the project consortium which includes experiences and good practices of youth workers, youth educators and volunteers inside and outside the project partner consortium where they describe how they benefited from the use of the BADU Open Badges and how the BADU Open Badges motivated them to further develop themselves. The Catalogue of Good Practices includes additionally information about the status and situation of youth work in the countries of the project partners as well as schemes and diagrams of all 55 BADU Metabadges & Open Badges.