“The “Voluntary Youth Work Recognition for Employability” was a long-term Erasmus+ Capacity Building Project in the Field of Youth. It was developed by Social and Youth Workers and its European partners. Due to several meetings, the consortium set the most important goals of the project. The main objectives were to increase recognition of voluntary youth work in society and among youth field employers, to acknowledge and validate youth volunteering at local, regional, and national levels, develop volunteers' competencies and link them to the labour market through validation of the skills and knowledge gained as a part of non-formal learning.The main driving force to start this project was the high need to gain the acceptance of voluntary youth work in society and among youth field employers because the appreciation of volunteering varies from country to country. While in Western and Scandinavian countries there are plenty of recognition tools created for volunteers, Eastern Partnership countries have some problems with structured recognition methods of voluntary youth work. That’s why all the partners decided to improve the quality and validation of youth work, non-formal learning, and volunteering locally, and undertake this project to enhance particularly voluntary work, their synergies, and complementarities with the labour market and government. The project brought in a united platform and dimension variety of stakeholders of voluntary youth work, including governmental agencies, public educational bodies, and civil society organisations.This project involved a wide range of countries, bringing experience and cooperation from Spain to Armenia and from Norway to Cyprus. It included 5 activities, 4 international, and 1 local awareness-raising campaign. The project included both Capacity Building (Conference, Meeting) and Mobility (Study Visit, Training Course) activities. Youth workers and youth leaders from different European youth organisations joined for the development of recognition tools and used their existing experience to develop their own. The project played a crucial role in increasing the capacities of the involved organisations to work on the recognition of non-formal education and voluntary youth work: It increased the capacity of youth organisations and gave a possibility to develop national recognition tools specified to local needs.Due to this project young people understood that volunteering is an incredible way to learn new things, develop, grow their skills and career pathways, and discover what you’re passionate about. Participants also understood that volunteering can help people to build strong networks and transferable skills, such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving, which can benefit their future careers. Another very important outcome of this project was the recognition tools created by the participants and partners involved in the project. Tools like L - EARN, Video refleCtiVe, Skills presenter, YouTHRec, and Open Online Badges were created, which had a great contribution in the realisation of the project aims. Unquestionably, this project gave us significant results, developing the capacities of all involved parties.

<< Objectives >>Raise awareness about the impact of poor resilience, adaptability and learnability skills on job satisfaction, quality of work, mental and physical health•Identifying when and how to implement effectively these three core skills•Achieving successful work-life balance•Develop and enhance resilience,adaptability and learnability skills in young employees•Train employers to develop fostering work places•Develop quality training materials•Capacity building and networking on an EU level.<< Implementation >>Establish an expert work committee of key individuals in each partner country•Focus groups in each country to record needs of young employees and mental health challenges and exchange good coping strategies•Pilot-testing to finalize project’s 'How To' kits for employees and employers and the e-learning platoform•Trainings in each country using these kits•Structured discussions in each partner country•Host online meetings•Conduct a comprehensive dissemination online campaign.<< Results >>R1:A comprehensive e-learning platform pertaining R2•R2:: 'How To' kits for yougn employees abd employers•R3: An e-campaign providing awareness on work burn-out, ways of thriving at work, how to create non-toxic work environments, and ways of enhancing resilience and adaptability and learnability skills in young employees•Additionally:Project Plan•Partnership agreements•Website•Online dissemination materials•Progress reports

The project answers to the changes in the Erasmus+ programme in which is now possible to apply for strategic partnership projects and for KA1 projects that can be built by combining different types of international activities. This increased flexibility of the programme created the need for better structured project management instruments for the succesful implementation of the new types of projects. Project instruments for Erasmus+ (PIE+) aimed to tackle the new project management challenges by developing a series of intellectual outputs that will facilitate the project implementation, monitoring and reporting process. Fifteen persons were be directly involved in the implementation of the project and the development of the intellectual outputs while the project had 236 direct beneficiaries (196 planned) and 155 indirect beneficiaries (84 planned) representing a minimum of 35 organizations/institutions working with Erasmus+. The direct and indirect beneficiaries estimated above are practitioners working or interested to work with the management of Erasmus+ financed projects. ¨The project's concept was developed based on the needs identified by the partners and having in mind the wide spread of the intellectual outputs developed in the project. The project was implemented between November 2015 and June 2017 while the intellectual outputs developed in the project will continue to be available free of charge until the end of the Erasmus+ programme.The project activities were grouped in:- transnational project meetings for the implementation of the project and the development of the intellectual outputs, - two LTTA under the form of training courses during which the participants have explored in depth the use of the developed intellectual outputs and - local multiplier events organized in each partner country. As a project management methodology we have tried to lead our work after the frontloaded work approach with regular progress check points for the monitoring and delivery of the expected results. The expected results are grouped in three categories:A Intellectual outputs:1. a manual including the instruments developed and the mapping of free software done;2. a website from where the IOs can be downloaded (erasmustools.eu);3. youtube tutorials with the description of several of the instruments;B Two training courses on the topic of project management instruments;C Ten local multiplier events (seven planned).Aditionally we expected the project to have an impact upon the participants and the organizations benefiting directly or indirectly from the project by strenghtening their project management capacity and thus giving them the possibility to deliver better results and to have a wider impact upon their target group by increasing the level of the work done by organizations. The impact of the project on the partners was great in terms of developing the staff of their skills giving them the possibility to increase the efficiency of their organisations and the quality of their partnerships and projects. Moreover, based on the feedback received during the two TCs and the ten multiplier events organized in the seven partner countries, PIE+ have positively impacted those organisations participating in different stages of our project. These was understandable, among others, from the willingness to use or not the instruments developed and presented during the TCs and the multiplier events. The below data includes the results of the comparison conducted based on the answers indicated into the evaluation forms from both training courses organized in the project. The willingness to use the instruments increased from TC1 to TC2. Participant in TC2 have a higher willingness to use the instruments such as the Project Monitoring (93% vs 89%) or the Budget Monitoring (97% vs 95%) while participant in TC1 looks more interested in the Timesheet, the Infopack, the Travel Monitoring and the Proof of payment.On the open comment of the form, many participants also testified that they have learnt about the use of software in project management and went deeper in their understanding of EU policies and the Erasmus+ programme.The feedback given during the multiplier events was overwhelmingly positive with high numbers of participants indicating that the IOs were relevant for them leading to an increase of efficiency in their organizations. The below data were collected from the multiplier event organized in Greece on the next level of agreeing or not: Scale 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly agree). 94% agreed that the instruments presented were helpful in the management and reporting of a project. 93% agreed that the instruments were relevant to their work. 92% indicated that using the instruments participants will increase the efficiency of their organization/institution and 84% believed that due to the instruments more staff will be involved in project management.

<< Background >>The “Digital Youth: Preparing Youth Workers for a Digital World” project focuses on preparing youth workers to engage in digital youth work by providing them with the necessary knowledge, skills, and competencies. It is a transnational initiative with the cooperation of five partner organisations coming from different countries across Europe: Cyprus, Ireland, Spain and Greece.This project responds to the recorded needs that the field of youth work has across Europe for the advancement of digital competencies of youth workers and young people. It is indicative that in the research conducted for the needs of the 2020 Digital Economy and Society Index Thematic Report on Human Capital, Cyprus, Greece and Spain rank below the EU average in terms of Internet user skills and advanced skills and development. Additionally, Ireland, though is above average in terms of advanced skills, has a lower than average ranking in regards to internet user skills. It also seeks to meet the European Commission’s and relevant organisations’ calls for structured activities and initiatives that will boost the digital skills of young people in Europe (CEDEFOP, 2017; ECDL Foundation, 2014; European Commission, 2017). Digital literacy and 21st-century skills play a crucial role as part of modern-day citizenship and youth work should be able to encourage this involvement according to the European Union’s Work Plan for Youth for 2016-2018 report.Young Europeans spend an increasing amount of their time-consuming digital media and use daily devices such as mobile phones, tablets, notebooks, laptops and computers (Eurostat’s statistics 2016). On the other hand, many youth workers do not yet wholly understand what digital media includes besides social media (Verke 2015) and as a result a lot of youth work practitioners lack the digital skills to fully benefit from and utilize the opportunities created by digital technologies. Consequently, youth workers lack the competencies needed to design and deliver digitally-oriented interactive and engaging actions and services that will best meet the needs of youth. According to the Council of Europe report in 2016, ‘youth work’ is a relatively well-defined distinct practice in some countries (such as in Ireland) while in others (such as in Cyprus, Greece and Spain) is not well defined as a term and its practice is not formally recognised. Therefore, there is a prevalent need to improve the competencies of youth workers and to further elevate the appreciation and role of youth work in participating countries. Moreover, youth workers themselves need to enhance their digital skills and introduce new activities and ways of learning that will be more effective in this constantly shifting environment.‘Youth Work’ is mentioned in the European Youth Strategy of 2019- 2027 and has its own agenda to support youth empowerment through quality, innovation and recognition of youth work. Thus it is essential that action is carried out to bring additional value to the activities and work of youth workers and most importantly to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, practices and experiences between countries (Official Journal of the European Union, 2017). By cooperating in a transnational youth-oriented participatory context, quality improvements in youth work and innovation and exchange practices will be fostered with the aim to develop youth workers’ knowledge and improve the impact of their work.<< Objectives >>•Promote the importance of Digital Youth Work in the partner countries and Europe•Build the competencies of youth workers to use digital tools in youth work•Develop quality resources for digital youth work•Improve the overall quality of youth work conducted in the participating countries.<< Implementation >>To further and achieve its objectives, the project will carry out the following activities:- Establish a Youth Work Committee that will consist of stakeholders, youth workers and youth in each participating country- Host Focus Groups in each implementing country to record the needs and the challenges youth workers face in regards to the incorporation and use of digital tools in their work- Host Focus Groups in each implementing country to collect-record suggestions, good practices and effective approaches that will be documented in a policy paper - Carry out pilot implementations in each partner country to test and finalize the Training Package to be produced by the project- Organize and facilitate blended learning training sessions with Youth Workers in each of the implementing country using the material of the Training Package and the resources of the eLearning platform of the project- Organize and host Multiplier Events in Ireland, Spain and Greece- Organize and host an International Conference in Cyprus- Hold face-to-face partner meetings in Greece and Cyprus- Hold 6 online partner meetings- Carry out a comprehensive dissemination campaign that will involve participation in a wide array of events as well as the engagement of the project's target audiences and relevant stakeholders<< Results >>DigitalYouth will produce and make available a comprehensive set of tools and resources that will have a strong positive impact on youth work across Europe. It will help further the digital skills and knowledge of youth workers elevating their capacity to plan, design and implement action utilizing digital tools in a manner that will enhance the quality of youth work as well as the recognition attributed to it. It will also empower it main target audience to facilitate the empowerment of youth so that it can mitigate modern challenges and obstacles as well promote inclusion in training and youth work. Specifically the project will produce the following Results: - R1: Digital Youth Training Package- R2: E-learning platform and digital learning resources- R3: Policy and Practice Recommendation PaperAdditionally, the following will be produced:A Project plan: A detailed plan clearly presenting the scope, objectives and work of the project that will guide partners through the implementation of all the tasks entailed as well as provide concrete quantitative and qualitative indicators to monitor its work. •Partnership agreements contracts: CARDET will prepare partner contracts for securing rights and duties of all partners involved in this project •Project website: a platform that will host all the work and resources of the project as well as provide relevant information about the Digital Youth and the field it is working on. The website will be available in all partners’ languages. •Digital Youth E-learning platform: An eLearning platform that will host all the resources and tools of the project, making them accessible to its target audiences •Dissemination and exploitation plan: KMOP will prepare a dissemination strategy and lists all evaluation activities, tasks, deadlines and responsibilities•Dissemination materials: CARDET will develop the project’s visual identity and a set of promotional material •Dissemination logs: Each partner organisation will report on every dissemination activity they will do to keep track of the project’s impact and a number of people and target groups reached. • 6months reports: Every six months each partner will provide a full report about all expenditure as well as all content development and evaluation activities. Through these reports (formats will be provided by CARDET), continuous project monitoring at the administrative and development levels will be possible.•Progress and final report: according to the requirements of the project as well as the documents provide by the NA, the partnership will submit progress and a final report (if appropriate)•The Digital Youth Training package which will have a direct impact on young people as well since the youth workers will be prepared for transmitting their knowledge to the young people by practising Digital Youth Work. Similarly, the promotion of such practice will engage their fellow youth workers in practising digital youth work and spreading awareness on the matter.•A report that will include a collection of lessons learned, good examples, challenges and recommendations for practitioners in the field and for policymakers.•Validation and certification of Digital youth workers through the modules available in the e-learning portal that will assess, monitor, and evaluate their learning progress. The certification process will be linked to the Youthpass certification system, the digital youth work competence framework as found in the Youth Competence Framework - by the SALTO- YOUTH network Through the aforementioned results and actions, the project will: - elevate awareness and appreciation of the work and contribution of Youth workers and the new opportunities digital tools offer- Promote the adoption and utilization of innovative and interactive, digitally-based, tools and approaches in youth work- Enhance the capacity of youth workers to reach out and engage young people and consequently elevate the effectiveness of their work

<< Objectives >>To integrate interdisciplinary arts into promoting and enhancing adaptability and other intrapersonal soft skills demanded in the labor workforce•Upskill and reskill young adults' soft skills in communication,adaptability through interdisciplinary arts•Offer non-formal training to participants and provide opportunities for them to develop their participation and talent through arts•Bolster young individuals' skills, helping them match the workforce's skills needs and improve their employability<< Implementation >>•Establish group committee of key youth sector individuals in each partner country and impact plan with quantitative and qualitative indicators.•Focus group in each country to record how arts could help young adults improve their chances of employment and bolster their soft skills in teamwork and communication.•Pilot-testing to finalise project’s R1.•Training Seminar in each country using the R1 (Manual).•Conduct a comprehensive online dissemination campaign R2.<< Results >>•Interdisciplinary arts will upskill and reskill youth’s soft skills(teamwork, adaptability) required for the workforce and improve employability opportunities•Improve the overall quality of youth work conducted in the participating countries by implementing interdisciplinary arts for heightening soft skills•Create a manual that will be made publicly available for revisiting and support youth workers and young adults in identifying ways to enhance their soft skills through interdisciplinary arts